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Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

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Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#21

Post by ShamelessC »

asdff wrote: post #8
bdcravens wrote: post #2

I was pretty disappointed when they cancelled mobile Dr. Mario. That said, I think aggressively maintaining control is probably the best move - mobile is a race to the bottom, where you smother gameplay with pay-to-play and/or ads.

This could have been the perfect opportunity to flip the mobile model. Screw it, charge $30 for the game and let it be a one time purchase, no micro transactions aside from content like new maps years from now, and no free version. People will still buy it because its mariokart, just like they buy the $60 version for their $300 switch, or how they buy skyrim 4x for each platform it gets rereleased on. These major dev…

That’s what they did with the Super Mario Run.

Don’t ever change HN /s

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#22

Post by asdff »

InitialLastName wrote: post #15
asdff wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could have been the perfect opportunity to flip the mobile model. Screw it, charge $30 for the game and let it be a one time purchase, no micro transactions aside from content like new maps years from now, and no free version. People will still buy it because its mariokart, just like they buy the $60 version for their $300 switch, or how they buy skyrim 4x for each platform it gets rereleased on. These major dev…

Having software that you have sold as a permanent license running on devices controlled by a third-party is just asking for permanent support issues. How often do we see apps abandoned that can't justify the software development to keep up with OS updates? If you are a company with a "consumer-friendly" image to uphold, releasing a one-time-purchase game on someone else's system in the modern era amounts to assuming…

It happens plenty of times. There are some old Monster Hunter games for example that don't run past ios 14 or so. Plenty of the "big" games from the first years of the app store no longer functionally exist today. Chances are if you can see that your population is declining you can just abandon the game. It sucks, but abandonment is nothing new for gamers and publishers, and like in an abusive relationship they buy the next game in the IP reliably.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#23

Post by jgon »

Mario Run flaming out in the mobile space should be looked at as a pretty harsh indictment of the whole mobile gaming landscape. The premier gaming franchise in the world, in a pretty well made game, with a fairly non-exploitative monetization scheme couldn't make it. All the big publishers salivate looking at the number of possible players and profits that mobile provides but if your aim is to win out via quality gaming the market just isn't there. Mobile players will not pay for your game if it is priced such that you don't need predatory monetization.

You hear a lot about "gatekeeping" and "elitism" whenever mobile gaming and traditional gaming are discussed and compared but I'll be honest I don't get why we can't just call it like we see it. The mobile gaming landscape is not a place for quality and I kind of get where some of the resentment from traditional gaming comes from when those spaces are judged against the profits of mobile gaming. Like asking why your local theatre isn't making as much money as the local casino, its just two totally different goals and mindsets and if all you care about is the bottom line then sure I guess the casino is the way to go, but lets not pretend there's capital-A Art in those games the way there is on consoles or PCs.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#24

Post by jader201 »

asdff wrote: post #8
bdcravens wrote: post #2

I was pretty disappointed when they cancelled mobile Dr. Mario. That said, I think aggressively maintaining control is probably the best move - mobile is a race to the bottom, where you smother gameplay with pay-to-play and/or ads.

This could have been the perfect opportunity to flip the mobile model. Screw it, charge $30 for the game and let it be a one time purchase, no micro transactions aside from content like new maps years from now, and no free version. People will still buy it because its mariokart, just like they buy the $60 version for their $300 switch, or how they buy skyrim 4x for each platform it gets rereleased on. These major dev…

> Screw it, charge $30 for the game and let it be a one time purchase, no micro transactions aside from content like new maps years from now, and no free version. People will still buy it because its mariokart, just like they buy the $60 version for their $300 switch, or how they buy skyrim 4x for each platform it gets rereleased on.

I disagree.

Mobile gamers are used to free or almost free mobile games. Additionally, the mobile experience isn’t (currently) designed for the harder-core audience that pays $30-$60 per game.

If they had charged $30, they would have been laughed at, and the app would have either flopped, or they would have had to eventually convert it to a free/microtransaction model.

I’m glad Nintendo is pulling out of mobile, and was disappointed when they initially entered.

If/when controllers become a mainstay for phones, things could change (for the mobile market). But I’m still not optimistic.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#25

Post by asdff »

ShamelessC wrote: post #21
asdff wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could have been the perfect opportunity to flip the mobile model. Screw it, charge $30 for the game and let it be a one time purchase, no micro transactions aside from content like new maps years from now, and no free version. People will still buy it because its mariokart, just like they buy the $60 version for their $300 switch, or how they buy skyrim 4x for each platform it gets rereleased on. These major dev…

That’s what they did with the Super Mario Run. Don’t ever change HN /s

The game had a lot of downloads, no? Plus what I'm proposing is not exactly what they did with super mario run. That game was just basically like a lite+paid mobile game release that was typical before in app subscriptions iirc. Drop the lite version, and force people to pay in if they want to play at all just like with a physical video game.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#26

Post by brucethemoose2 »

jgon wrote: post #23

Mario Run flaming out in the mobile space should be looked at as a pretty harsh indictment of the whole mobile gaming landscape. The premier gaming franchise in the world, in a pretty well made game, with a fairly non-exploitative monetization scheme couldn't make it. All the big publishers salivate looking at the number of possible players and profits that mobile provides but if your aim is to win out via quality ga…

> You hear a lot about "gatekeeping" and "elitism" whenever mobile gaming and traditional gaming are discussed

What? Whoever is discussing that is still living in ~2010.

I think itch.io is the anti-elitist platform these days... its certainly not Google Play/App Store.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#27

Post by techsupporter »

jgon wrote: post #23

Mario Run flaming out in the mobile space should be looked at as a pretty harsh indictment of the whole mobile gaming landscape. The premier gaming franchise in the world, in a pretty well made game, with a fairly non-exploitative monetization scheme couldn't make it. All the big publishers salivate looking at the number of possible players and profits that mobile provides but if your aim is to win out via quality ga…

> if all you care about is the bottom line then sure I guess the casino is the way to go, but lets not pretend there's capital-A Art in those games the way there is on consoles or PCs.

This is why the games I play on my iPhone and iPad come exclusively from Apple Arcade. There really is some great art there: Don't Starve, Stitch, Cozy Grove, Alto's Odyssey, Oregon Trail, and more.

The difference is Apple Arcade absolutely forbids the in-game microtransaction mess. You can see where it's been removed in games like Star Trek: Legends or Jetpack Joyride. What's really interesting is these are really good games in their own right once you get to play the game to earn the rewards and progress. The only thing standing in their way is the microtransaction crap, which is sad.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#28

Post by brucethemoose2 »

hanniabu wrote: post #20
zug_zug wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I don't think it's a failure because it didn't generate enough money, I think it's a failure because it a certain class of microtransaction-centric game does brand damage to perhaps the premiere game brand in the world.

> microtransaction-centric game does brand damage Now this is pretty crazy but hear me out.....they could have just not turned the game into microtransactions

Then it most certainly would have been a financial failure.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#29

Post by pid-1 »

zug_zug wrote: post #4
brucethemoose2 wrote: post #3

> Mario Kart Tour has generated $300 million Its crazy how this is considered a "failure" for Nintendo. Then again, they spend more developing the "game" part of Mario Kart Tour than most mobile games, so maybe it isnt really worth it when a match 3 game can make twice as much?

Well I don't think it's a failure because it didn't generate enough money, I think it's a failure because it a certain class of microtransaction-centric game does brand damage to perhaps the premiere game brand in the world.

Really unfortunate how that was true for all Nintendo games I've played on mobile: Mario Kart, Pokemon Go, TCG and United. Seems mobile gaming is a lost cause.

Re: Mario Is Moving Away from Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto

#30

Post by brucethemoose2 »

chrisco255 wrote: post #19

I think the Switch did at least decisively succeed in competing with mobile gaming (in particular for the demographic that Nintendo traditionally targets) and ensured that large phones and tablets would not erode Nintendo's niche there.

I think iPads still have a niche with really young kids, but yeah, when you put it that way, they more or less conquered the tablet gaming market.
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