Reggie

About a month ago, Nintendo held an investor's meeting where details were finally revealed around the highly anticipated Nintendo rewards program and Nintendo's first smartphone game from the DeNA partnership. Opinions on the smartphone app, Miitomo, were admittedly divided, though the new 'My Nintendo' account system seemed to be received positively.

Reggie Fils-Aime recently sat down with TIME to talk more about the near future for Nintendo. He mentioned how developing for smartphones is not as easy as it's made out to be, and that the company is dedicated to putting out software that's designed specifically for smart device platforms, rather than just porting over existing games.

Unfortunately there's a simplistic mentality out there, that 'Make a Mario game for smart devices' is a recipe for printing money. And it's not. It just simply is not. It's that Kyoto craftsmanship mentality that says whatever we're going to do, it needs to be a wonderful experience for consumers.

In this way, what I would say in terms of our mobile apps is that we will absolutely continue our traditional maxim of developing software that matches the hardware. We have looked at the limitations of software design on mobile platforms, and worked within those parameters. If there's a 3DS game that requires the full manipulation of joysticks and multiple buttons, that game clearly can't be exactly replicated on a touch-screen mobile device. Our strategy is not to port games developed for our dedicated systems to smart devices as they are–we have to develop new software experiences that give people the opportunity to interact with Nintendo IP and that matches the play style and control of smart devices.

He also touched on the My Nintendo account system, stating that the program is significantly more ambitious than Club Nintendo and that it will encompass virtually everything that's possibly Nintendo related and reward users for their interactions.

Meaning playing a smart device app from Nintendo, it recognizes that you've done that and you'll be rewarded for that activity. Purchase games for our dedicated game systems, My Nintendo will know, you'll be rewarded for that activity. Play games, watch videos, conceptually go to Universal Studios, the thought process is that this is a more robust and sticky way for you as a consumer to interact with all things Nintendo, for it to be tracked, and then for you to be rewarded for all that activity. Given that much larger vision, the mechanics of the program needed to be completely rethought and redone. And that's why we sunsetted Club Nintendo to create this new program.

For more information, check out the full interview here.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to the My Nintendo account? What are your thoughts on Mittomo? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[source time.com]