Nintendo Is “Experimenting” With Bringing Games To IOS

Nintendo has been finding themselves between a rock and a hard place in recent years when it comes to handheld gaming versus mobile gaming, as is Sony with their PS Vita.

While the DS, 2DS and 3DS are great devices and are enjoying great sales, it could always be better. Smartphones and tablets have been taking potential profits away from their portable consoles little by little over the past few years.

The belief by many is simple, who wants to carry an additional device dedicated to gaming when our phones have everything we need already? Well I guess it really depends on the type of consumer/gamer you are and where you are going. If it’s a quick commute, maybe a quick round of Angry Birds, Candy Crush or my favorite Nimble Quest is enough but most gamers do not consider these types of games as true deep playing games along the lines of, lets say a Zelda or Mario Kart for 3DS on the go are.

To remedy (somewhat) this problem, Nintendo is looking at various experimental ways they can add their brand on mobile devices but, and here is the tricky part..not take sales away from their own devices. A catch 22.

In a recent interview, Reginald “Reggie” Fils-Aime, president/chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, suggested a shift in Nintendo’s current strategy. Fils-Aime explained that while the ultimate goal will be to draw gamers to Nintendo hardware, the company is aware of the need for expansion. “We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there, and so what we’re doing is we’re being very smart in how we use these devices as marketing tools for our content.” He went on to say, “We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware.”

Fils-Aime was also quick to point out “We believe our games are best played and best enjoyed on our devices,” so it’s unlikely that Donkey Kong 3D and Mario Kart 8 will be available in full mode on a future iOS.

Many consumers and analysts are suggesting that Nintendo get out all together from the console market and focus on the great games they make just as Sega has done. But as John Brownlee a writer for Cult of Mac suggests and I tend to agree:

“Many people will wonder why Nintendo doesn’t just give-up, and just start releasing games for iOS, but that’s too cynical. Nintendo is, in many ways, Japan’s Apple, tightly integrating hardware and software to create a magical experience. Telling them to just give up on hardware is like telling Apple to start licensing iOS to competitors and stop making iPhones. But Nintendo does need to be smarter about what a gaming console even looks like in a world saturated with smartphones, and it looks like they have finally started.”

App Store wall of icons

Mobile users are downloading more apps than ever before, but an increasing number of them are free — are developers out of luck trying to sell their apps for even 99 cents in the age of freemium?

Tapity developer Jeremy Olson delivered a crushing blog post Wednesday for those of us who prefer to purchase our apps without having to contend with advertising or in-app purchases. Could it be curtains for paid apps?

“I have been talking to a lot of the most successful app makers out there — who many would assume are millionaires off their top apps — and I’m hearing the same thing again and again: people just aren’t buying as many apps anymore,” Olson writes.

“By piecing together a few anecdotes I have heard, the top ten best-selling apps are selling roughly 25 percent as many copies as they did a year ago,” the developer continues. “If a number five app sold 16,000 copies a day a year ago, number five might only sell 4,000 copies a day today.”

While those are still respectable numbers, the data does paint a disturbing trend in how mobile users “purchase” their apps. Without the ability to try before you buy, users are left with little choice but to stick to free apps, then purchase upgrades in-app for those they actually like.

The folks at productivity app maker Readdle have also chimed in on the subject, and they view the problem from a different angle: Developers should focus on building products, not apps.

“The value of a product goes beyond your device,” writes Readdle’s Denys Zhadanov. “It allows you to experience things in real world. Would you want to keep your passwords? Would you want to keep your notes or documents? Would you want to get your cash back by scanning and faxing the restaurant bill? The answer is yes.”

Both blog posts are well worth a read in their entirety, but the bottom line appears to be that the “gold rush” days of the App Store have wound down, and now developers must find new ways to thrive in a market filled with casual users looking for the next Candy Crush. Here’s hoping they do…