What is Nintendo Planning with Mobile Games

Mobile game Dr Mario World is drawing to a close, while Shuntaro Furukawa, the President of Nintendo, insists that the company is not yet done with mobile gaming.

Of course, he's also said that there won't be many more mobile games in the future, so perhaps there's still some debate within the company about how best to approach smartphones.

What's clear, though, is that Nintendo does have a strategy for mobile gaming which deviates from the standard microtransaction-riddled loot box system. That's a relief - we maintain that games with microtransactions and especially games with Baby's First Slot Machine mechanics are inherently family unfriendly.Sadly, though, it seems that Nintendo's planned future for mobile gaming, in which games serve as advertisements for Switch titles rather than significant revenue sources in their own right, do not have much room for games like Dr Mario World.

This title seemed like the perfect fit for gaming - what is Dr Mario, after all, but Nintendo's home-grown Tetris? What, similarly, is Dr Mario World, other than Nintendo's home-grown Candy Crush?

It turns out, though, that Dr Mario just couldn't compete with the puzzle game juggernauts, and without a notable modern Nintendo game to shill, Dr Mario World was deemed unfit for purpose.

At least, that's the impression we get. It's not like Shuntaro Furukawa is always completely clear of Nintendo's intentions when addressing investors.