Nintendo: Mobile gaming has yet to prove itself
“The content we provide on our handheld gaming is far in advance of what you can pick up for a five minute, ten-minute fix on a mobile phone. To some extent, you’ve seen there have been games [on mobiles] for ages and ages. In our industry there’s always been talk about apps and things coming on… I think it’s grown and there’s so many of them, but the actual business model is yet to be proven to some extent. I know a lot of software developers, when they look at their sales on the mobile phone side [they see] it’s probably at this stage very marginal.” – Nintendo of Europe boss David Yarnton
Nintendo has yet to see an impact on sales from mobile gaming, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it got to that in the distant future. He’s right though: most mobile (phone) gaming is for those quick 5 or 10 minute fixes while you’re waiting somewhere or on a bus to work or something. I know I’ve never played a mobile game for more than a few minutes at a time! Can’t say the same about my DS though.
