Nintendo, a Japanese giant in the gaming industry, has recently decided to axe its first-ever mobile game titled "Miitomo."
The smartphone app of Nintendo will be shut down permanently just after two years since its launch on March 17, 2016. The game was downloaded for over a million times during its initial release, steadily taking the top spot in Apple's App Store. However, interest from the large audience slowly waned, causing the app to "die."
Despite Nintendo's massive success in home and portable consoles, the company does not have a great track record when it comes to mobile devices. In fact, Nintendo does not have any platforms in that regard.
"Miitomo," a social networking game featuring avatars inspired from the classic Nintendo characters called "Mii," makes use of interaction as its best selling point. The game allows people to talk to friends by answering questions that are shared in the app. This is possible by connecting the app to the person's Twitter and Facebook. An in-game currency that's called "Mii coins" are also part of the game that allows in-game purchases.
The supposed charm of Nintendo's first mobile app was to give people a virtual "self," one that uses live avatars as opposed to static pictures. This created a lot of excitement among Nintendo and social networking enthusiasts. However, the expectations, along with Nintendo's other projects, crippled the actual product.
For one, Nintendo did not really create a "virtual" society that many would expect. The game focused more on a simplistic question-and-answer mechanic, which made it limited in terms of interaction. Furthermore, the virtual home of the character cannot be customized as easily as it should be.
Other factors include Nintendo's other major projects including the Nintendo Switch, which was released just a year after "Miitomo." Several other games in development at that time such as "Fire Emblem" and "Animal Crossing" could have also hindered the company to focus on the game, which is understandable since both are classics that already have a large fanbase.
"Miitomo" is set to officially close on May 9, and the remaining users will be given a refund for the coins that were left unused.
