A few years back, Nintendo made their intentions known in regards to wanting to make mobile games. They had teased them in the past, but now, they wanted to make their own lineup of games based on their worldwide IP’s like Mario, Zelda, and more. They did a collaboration first that resulted in Pokemon GO, then made Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, and finally Dragalia Lost. In regards to the last one, a weird things has been noted by the developer.
As CyberAgent notes, people were starting to get mad at the summon rates and lottery rates that would allow them to get certain characters in the game. So, Nintendo had them adjust it:
“Nintendo is not interested in making a large amount of revenue from a single smartphone game. If we managed the game alone, we would have made a lot more.”
The Wall Street Journal elaborated on why this is:
In some cases, players can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars trying to win special items. Fearing such behavior will damage Nintendo’s brand image, the company has asked its partners to adjust the games so that users won’t spend too much, according to people familiar with Nintendo’s strategy.
Nintendo sees smartphone games primarily as a way to increase interest in its game characters so that players will consider buying traditional console games, the company’s main business, according to one Nintendo official. The company is concerned it might be criticized for being greedy in smartphone games.
This is a curious statement, because their most popular and successful mobile game, Fire Emblem Heroes, is a moneymaker in every way. It constantly makes millions, and all without having to adjust its own gatcha rates.
With two more mobile titles coming out this year, it’s going to be curious to see what happens with them and how they make money.
