Nintendo’s First Mobile App ‘Miitomo’ Hits 3 Million Worldwide Users
Grandfather of gaming, Nintendo’s first mobile application was always going to be a big deal. Less than two days following the game’s western release, Miitomo has hit 3 million worldwide users and shows no sign of slowing down yet. Entering the mobile gaming space was undeniably something of a big risk for Nintendo, which has seen a large deal of success in the console space. However, given the success of Miitomo, it’s definitely a risk that appears to have played off.
According to IGN, the news that Miitomo downloads had hit 3 million worldwide was announced from Nintendo UK’s official Twitter account. The total had previously stood at just 1 million before March 31 when the app was only available in Japan. Two days prior to the game’s western release, that’s a total that’s seen a rapid rise to over 3 million users.
#Miitomo has reached 3 million users worldwide! Thanks for your support & enjoy the app with your friends! pic.twitter.com/ctP3H62u1S
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) April 1, 2016
As aforementioned, Miitomo is Japanese gaming giant Nintendo’s first attempt to conquer the mobile gaming space. It was soft-launched earlier in March in Japan, before seeing a complete roll-out across a large number of western countries on March 31. Nintendo is well known for exclusively developing titles for their current Wii U and 3DS platforms, however, Miitomo is available on a wider range of both iOS and Android devices. Nintendo’s decision to release this particular title on mobile platforms, instead of their own, marks a significant shift in the Japanese gaming giant’s approach to this generation of video games.
The basic premise of Nintendo’s Miitomo is to provide an application environment that asks users a number of questions, before relaying that information to their friends on the social network. However, it allows you to do an awful lot more than just that. Miitomo features the ability to place your Mii character in a range of obscure places and snap their photograph, whilst also dressing your character in a huge catalogue of clothing and accessories.
As reported by Metro, the success of Nintendo’s first mobile application can be truly measured by the fact that it has sky-rocketed to the top of both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The success of Miitomo shows that Nintendo’s name still means a good deal in the gaming space.
Miitomo was launched alongside Nintendo’s new rewards program, My Nintendo. The platform is designed as a replacement to Club Nintendo, providing rewards for buying and playing Nintendo’s video games. Interestingly, the platform has been designed from the ground-up to work seamlessly with Miitomo, meaning that time spent in the application will be rewarded with digital and physical goodies that you can play on your Wii U or 3DS.
Nintendo definitely appears to be giving their whole online infrastructure a complete overhaul, also adding the ability to download content to your Nintendo devices directly from your mobile phone or PC.
Nintendo has confirmed Miitomo to be the first of their five planned smartphone games, which are set to be designed and developed alongside DeNA, who already have a good deal of experience in the mobile gaming industry.
Given the apparent success of Miitomo, managing to achieve 3 million users across the globe in its first couple of days of operation, it would be more than fair to say that Nintendo has a bright future ahead on mobile platforms. That being said, fans will hope that their success isn’t too dominating, fearing that Nintendo could drop support for traditional video games consoles and focus their efforts entirely on mobile platforms. For now though, Miitomo has provided promising results for something that was a leap into the unknown for Nintendo. All eyes are now on where Nintendo will head next in their mobile gaming journey.
[Image via Nintendo]
