While Nintendo’s recently published Q&A Summary from their recent Financial Results Briefing had a major focus on Nintendo Switch 2, Company President Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about Nintendo’s commitment to mobile app development going forward.
According to Furukawa, by the end of September 2024, more than 900 million unique users downloaded apps released by Nintendo. This has been an incredible way for people to access Nintendo IP who may not have been able to previously. It has become more common in recent years for someone’s first gaming platform to be their smart phone instead of a Nintendo console and this has not gone unnoticed. As Furukawa stated:
We are currently operating three game applications: Fire Emblem Heroes, Mario Kart Tour, and Super Mario Run. In addition, Pikmin Bloom, distributed by Niantic, was developed and is being operated jointly with Nintendo. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp ended operations… but was converted into a paid application called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, which was released on December 3, 2024… In addition, we released Nintendo Music in October last year. Our intent is to utilize smart devices, which have broad penetration, to create opportunities for consumers to come into contact with Nintendo game worlds and music even outside of dedicated game systems. Going forward, we would like to continue to develop these types of initiatives, including integration with games, for individual titles.
This is fantastic news for mobile gamers and for those looking for more integration with their Switch games. While games like Destiny 2 have utilized mobile app integration for years to manage things like inventory, missions, and other key features, something like this would be an amazing upgrade for Nintendo titles.
