Everybody with a Nintendo 3DS and Wii U is super excited about Miitomo , Nintendo’s social networking application inspired by Tomodachi Life . And that’s understandable. It’s launching alongside the My Nintendo accounts, which replace Club Nintendo, and playing Miitomo will give you Platinum Points you can use on games like My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess . The game shot to the top of Japan’s Android and Apple charts when it was released. But the question is, will it stay that hot?
It’s important to remember what Miitomo is and how it works. It’s basically a social site where you answer questions about yourself and dress up a Mii avatar. You need to spend points or real cash to get new outfits for that avatar. And the only way you can get more points for My Nintendo is by playing with it every day and interacting with other players. That sort of thing gets exhausting. Who has time to constantly answer questions, while also guessing to see if they know their friends well enough to get the right answers to their quizzes?
Also, Miitomo is based on Tomodachi Life , the Nintendo 3DS life simulation. It was a cute game, to be sure, but it’s allure lay in watching all the custom characters interact. With Miitomo , your focus is on your one avatar. You aren’t seeing mini, virtual soap operas on your phone. You’re performing upkeep on one character, and it’s rather basic. The simulation part is absent, replaced with question answering and opportunities to dress up.
Not that Miitomo is going to be some sort of failure. The social app is going to have a purpose and will find an audience. People will want those Platinum Points for My Nintendo’s games and rewards, after all. It’s just that it probably won’t maintain the momentum it had at launch. Japan is a country where people relish these custom avatar apps. They haven’t really taken hold in other regions.
People need to temper their expectations in regard to Miitomo . It’s going to be a fun time sink. There are definitely people who will keep using it over the coming weeks and months. But for most, this will be one of those applications you excitedly download, use for a week or so, then leave on your phone because you can’t commit to removing it even though you never use it again.