Nintendo’s recent financial problems have been well documented by this site and across the net. With Nintendo looking to other avenues for their business model outside their usual ventures, one shareholder is calling for them to embrace mobile gaming.
Seth Fischer, a huge muckety-muck in the Asian financial world, recently stated that it’s time for Nintendo to embrace the huge market of the iOS and Android platforms as the next step in the company’s evolution. “Nintendo needs to embrace this thematic change in consumer demand, behavior, and expectations to stay relevant. It is readily apparent that the standard elasticity of demand principle no longer applies in the consumer entertainment market when access requires the purchase of a physical product. Says Fischer.
While his statements were addressed to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata personally, the company has yet to officially respond or make any indications of possibly seeing Mario make his way onto devices like the iPhone or tablets.
Also, Nintendo’s huge success in the handheld market must be taken into account, as the juggernaut that is the DS has maintained a stranglehold on the industry for years. One has to wonder how embracing smartphones could change the company’s strategy moving forward in regards to their own mobile systems.