Nintendo hints at new strategy after disappointing sales

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Nintendo hints at a change of strategy after slashing sales expectations for the Wii U and 3DS. The Japanese company is investigating how ‘smart devices’ can help the company grow again.

The Japanese company is studying the possibilities and is considering a new strategy, CEO Satoru Iwata said during a press conference reported by Bloomberg. It is unclear what options Nintendo is considering. Nintendo already makes mobile devices with the 3DS and 2DS, but they do not work on commonly used platforms such as Android, but on their own operating system. Moreover, they have no mobile connections, which means that they cannot be purchased at a discount from telecom providers, as is the case with smartphones and tablets.

It is possible that Nintendo will offer its games on mobile platforms for a fee, but that is not obvious either: the Japanese company previously rejected that option, because it would not be enough in the long run: now Nintendo makes both the hardware as the games, giving it control over its own platform. One possibility would be to make a tablet with a fork of Android that can play Nintendo’s games or create a mobile device on Android like the Nvidia Shield. Nintendo would have tried years ago to make a game phone with Nokia. Nokia ended up only making the flopped N-gage.

The change in strategy is necessary after Nintendo announced earlier this week that it is slashing hardware sales expectations. In a twelve-month period ending in March, Nintendo wanted to sell nine million Wii Us, but that will be 2.8 million, according to the new estimate. Moreover, according to its own estimates, the Japanese manufacturer will run a loss of millions.

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