As expected, Nintendo's going whale-hunting with its first mobile app Miitomo.
Already available in Japan and scheduled to be launched in the U.S. and elsewhere at some point in the next week, Miitomo is a social game, modeled on Nintendo's 3DS game Tomodachi Life---you create a "Mii" avatar of yourself, which then interacts with the Miis of your friends. It's doing quite well in Japan, currently sitting at #1 on both the Apple and Google Play app stores and surpassing 1 million users in 3 days.
And although Nintendo hasn't said, it's also probably raking in lots of money. Like most big free-to-play games, Miitomo features many different ways to spend real-world cash.
"I personally was surprised" at the game's monetization strategies, said Tokyo-based game industry analyst Serkan Toto, who has been playing Miitomo since launch, in an email. "In Miitomo, you have $78 'micro'-transations, a mini-game with pachinko mechanics you need to pay for to play, a shop that is one of the main menu points, and avatar items inside that shop that cost the equivalent of $5 or more."
"Using this app is a first indication, there will be no Nintendo softness as far as mobile monetization is concerned," Toto said.
