Sorry Dr Mario World, your time is up.
Last week, Nintendo announced that the online mobile puzzle game, Dr Mario World, will cease
functioning on the 1st of November, just a little over two years after its debut.
This has left many players surprised – and many other Nintendo fans concerned about what
it might mean for the future of the company’s mobile games.
Will Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp or Fire Emblem: Heroes be turned off in the near future
as well?
The good news is that you probably don’t need to worry about Nintendo giving up on
the mobile sphere altogether.
In fact, in investor meetings, the higher ups within the company have been very clear
that they’re incredibly eager to keep making these games, as they have fantastic potential.
That said, they’ve discovered that mobile games may not serve the initial purpose that
they’d intended, and they are reworking their strategy a bit.
This is likely why Dr Mario World has been given the axe.
When Shuntaro Furukawa first took over as president of Nintendo, he insisted that mobile
games would be a huge part of the company’s business going forward.
Nikkei Asia reported that Furukawa expected mobile gaming would soon be a billion dollar
pillar of the Nintendo empire.
Furukawa said: “From what I can see, smartphone games are
the ones I want to expand the most.”
Things…did not pan out that way.
While Pokemon Go certainly has gone from strength to strength, Nintendo has found that many
of its other mobile games have underperformed.
By 2020, Furukawa stated: “We are not necessarily looking to continue
releasing many new applications for the mobile market.”
The reason for this was simple: Nintendo’s mobile efforts were hit and miss, while the
Nintendo Switch was quickly becoming a powerful competitor to mobile platforms in general.
We’re reminded of the words of Minecraft producer Roger Carpenter, who said:
“About a half a year ago you’d see children in restaurants around the UK playing Minecraft
on their tablets – now they’re playing on their Nintendo Switches!”
So, it would make sense for Nintendo to wind down their mobile efforts and focus solely
on the Switch.
Except…that’s not what the company claims to be doing.
According to Nintendo, there are fantastic benefits to mobile gaming that go beyond simple
revenue.
Speaking about mobile gaming in an investor Q&A meeting, Shigeru Miyamoto said:
“Working on mobile content reminded us again that while the Nintendo game systems may have
reached some parts of the world, there are many places where they are not widespread.
We started the mobile business because we felt it very important to conduct activities
that encourage people to understand the Nintendo brand and come to like Nintendo.”
While Nintendo’s mobile games might not be a necessary money maker when compared to
the Switch, they’re fantastic advertising.
In another investor meeting Shuntaro Furukawa stated:
“Sales from the mobile business do not account for a very large percentage of Nintendo's
overall business, but the mobile business itself is significant in that it provides
a wide range of consumers a way other than Nintendo Switch to continue to enjoy playing
games using Nintendo IP over a long period.
When global distribution of the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp app began in the fall of 2017,
for example, it introduced many female consumers and US consumers to the Animal Crossing series,
and those same consumers later went on to purchase Animal Crossing: New Horizons and
a Nintendo Switch console.”
So moving forward, it seems that Nintendo’s strategy will be to use mobile games as a
way of introducing Nintendo brands to a wider audience, in the hopes that this will lead
to more sales.
At least, that’s what Nintendo says.
We’re well aware that what is said in investor meetings doesn’t always tell the full story.
That said, it’s worth noting that Bloomberg has reported that, according to an anonymous
source: “Fearing that it would harm the brand equity
of its franchises, Nintendo asked its mobile development partners not to force players
to spend a lot in games.”
This is good news, then, for fans of Nintendo mobile games who are worried that their favourite
titles might disappear in the near future: if a game serves a solid advertising purpose,
Nintendo is likely to keep it around for a bit longer.
If there are more Nintendo mobile games in future, we can expect that these will have
less of a focus on microtransactions, as their purpose will be to serve as advertising, rather
than to earn money.
So where does this leave poor Dr Mario World?
On paper, the game seemed like a logical smartphone game, cut from the same cloth as Bejewelled
and Candy Crush.
Alas, though, there’s a lot of stiff competition in this particular genre on mobile, and Dr
Mario failed to make an impact.
It could also be argued that Dr Mario World doesn’t work quite as well as an advert
for Nintendo games as, say, Mario Kart Tour.
There’s no modern Dr Mario game on the Switch, and it doesn’t do much to communicate the
essence of other Mario games to a player who may be unfamiliar with the character
All of this should be taken with a healthy pinch of salt, but it seems that Dr Mario,
with its reliance on microtransactions and its lack of relevant brand appeal, doesn’t
fit with Nintendo’s plans for the future of mobile gaming.
The moral of the story?
Sometimes, there’s more to life than money.
Also, the contributions of medical workers are sorely undervalued by society.
The next time you see a medical professional, thank them for their hard work.