At an investor meeting, Nintendo announced today that their first smartphone app will be called ‘Miitomo’ in the Japanese market, and it’ll be a free-to-play title with a focus on communication for the company’s Mii avatars. Miitomo will launch in March 2016; first screenshots are available at Nintendo’s Japanese website.
From a statement sent by Nintendo to Vooks:
Miitomo, Nintendo’s first smart device title, is a free-to-start communication application that helps friends share fun personal facts and interests. Consumers create and use their own Mii characters to engage friends in a welcoming social environment, answering questions and sharing information to discover more about each other and what they have in common. Miitomo is designed to appeal to a wide range of global smart device users and introduce them to uniquely Nintendo experiences beginning with Miitomo and carried through future applications.
From The Wall Street Journal’s live blog:
The new smartphone game will be “Miitomo”. It will be free to play, with attractive add-ons that people can pay for, Mr. Kimishima says. Other smartphone games will be pay-to-download, he says.
Looks like Miis go ahead and communicate with other Miis without your knowledge. This will help people who are hesitant to talk about themselves to communicate with others, and reveal a side of your friends you never knew, Mr. Kimishima says.
Based on information shared by the company today, Miitomo appears to be a riff on Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life, a 3DS game focused on Mii communication and collectible items.
In addition to Miitomo, Nintendo has also revealed a new ‘My Nintendo’ membership service, which will allow users to register a profile and store information about their characters and game data in the cloud, transferring it across mobile devices and dedicated consoles. My Nintendo (also called ‘Nintendo Account’ by the company today) will be compatible with popular signup services such as Facebook and Google accounts, and it’ll offer the ability to view game purchases, game information, and game-related messages on the web. Friend lists will be supported by My Nintendo, and they will work on both console and mobile platforms.
My Nintendo will also be a replacement for the discontinued Club Nintendo program to earn digital and physical rewards for buying Nintendo games. Unlike the old Club Nintendo, My Nintendo will offer points for buying and playing Nintendo games on consoles and mobile debices. Customers will be able to use points for physical goods, game coupons, and DLCs.
At this point, it’s not clear on which mobile platforms Miitomo will be released, but it’s fair to assume Nintendo will launch the title on iOS next year. Nintendo has once again confirmed they’re aiming to release a total of five mobile titles by March 2017, created in collaboration with DeNA.
Miitomo logo pic.twitter.com/TSYFIWCGrG
— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 29, 2015
Nintendo will start promoting Miitomo after the year-end holiday season. Delayed to give more time to fully promote and explain the app
— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 29, 2015
Ease of creation/use of Nintendo Accounts being emphasized. Register with NNID, Facebook, Twitter, Google, e-mail. https://t.co/NNP4uTVYTX
— Cheesemeister (@Cheesemeister3k) October 29, 2015
You’ll be able to buy Nintendo games from https://t.co/CRIVJfNpMn and they’ll automatically download to your game console. (Finally!)
— Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) October 29, 2015
