If there is something like a traditional company in the virtual world, it must be Nintendo. The Japanese giant, that just landed a coup with the augmented reality version of Pokémon, has been in the video games market since the 70s and developed countless classics from Super Mario to Zelda.
And its tradition does not only base itself on a rich history but also on the decisions made nowadays: Until today – Thursday the 15th of December 2016 – good old Mario has never run across the iPhone screen with Nintendo’s permission.
It is soon a decade ago, that Apple laid the cornerstone for today’s smartphone market. However, Nintendo has been relentlessly refusing to bring its popular game characters to the small computers. The Japanese hoped for the attraction of Super Mario, Zelda and Co. – who wants to play it, must buy a Nintendo console. In addition, they would get the sale of a console game equal to 40 to 60 euros or dollars.
In the meanwhile, the “free-to-play” model has been introduced to smartphone gaming, where the game itself is free and the providers then try to earn the money via virtual products or help to jump levels. A few games like Candy Crush collect millions, for many others it is a tough business.
The customers, however, definitely like to play on the smartphone – and Nintendo is now experiencing a steep fall in sales of its consoles and games. That’s why entering the business with mobile games has become almost inevitable.
Nintendo still wants to enter the market according to its own rules though. Only an initial level of Super Mario Run is free, sort of a demo. If you want to play the game completely, you will be charged 10 euros or dollars. This is much more than is common today with a mobile phone game.
Nintendo remains a renegade in this streamlined market – and already announces to tackle it with a new console, Switch, which will try to be a mobile and home device at the same time. The Japanese continue to jump and run between outside innovation and own tradition and seem to be more innovative than most while doing so.