It's been five years since Nintendo first announced its foray into mobile gaming on iOS and other platforms. Although the company has seen some success in the business, it's also seen some misfires, and this week Bloomberg is reporting that Nintendo is now "retreating" from its mobile gaming plans.

For the near future, Nintendo will now focus on apps that have already been released. In terms of potential new Nintendo apps, developer partner DeNA has mentioned recently that players shouldn't expect a new game until near the end of the current fiscal year.

super mario run iphone x
Although Nintendo saw high profits with titles like Fire Emblem Heroes, the company's recent earnings have been declining. In total, Nintendo released iOS apps like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Dragalia Lost, Mario Kart Tour, Super Mario Run, and Dr. Mario World from 2016 through 2019.

According to Sensor Tower, three of Nintendo's biggest apps saw decreasing revenue from February through May, 2020 (including Dragalia Lost, Super Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes). This was during a period when mobile apps were otherwise noticing an uptick in user engagement due to stay-at-home orders.

In the beginning, Nintendo kicked off the smartphone gaming initiative following struggling Wii U console sales, hoping that the booming mobile gaming market could help prop up poor console numbers. In the wake of the success of the Nintendo Switch, a mobile/home console hybrid released in 2017, it seems that Nintendo has less of a reason to keep up with releasing games for smartphones and tablets.

Most recently, "Animal Crossing New Horizons" on the Switch has seen massive success. In May, the game became the best-selling entry in the franchise with 13.4 million units sold, and is the fastest selling Switch game overall.

Mobile games are expected to make $77.2 billion this year, which would account for half of the overall video game industry’s sales, according to research from Newzoo. But “since the release of Mario Kart Tour in fall 2019, Nintendo’s mobile pipeline is empty,” said Serkan Toto, a mobile games consultant in Tokyo. “In a sense, Nintendo’s enormous success on console reduced the need and the pressure to put resources into mobile.”

Nintendo originally intended to launch around three apps per year, but they were continuously delayed and players saw longer and longer wait times between releases for new games. When they did finally launch, many arrived with criticisms about an abundance of in-app purchases and poor controls.

Now, according to mobile gaming analyst Serkan Toto, new Nintendo smartphone games will come down the line, "but it's very likely these will be just alibi releases to appease shareholders."

Top Rated Comments

mdridwan47 Avatar
49 months ago
Mario Kart was a shameful excuse for a Nintendo game. Both gameplay wise and business model wise. Could’ve been great but turned out one of the worst game I’ve ever played.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deckard666 Avatar
49 months ago
Why bother with mobile phone gaming when you own mobile console gaming and pretty soon console gaming too ? 57 million and counting....
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GermanSuplex Avatar
49 months ago
Mario Run was ok. The rest I couldn’t bother with. Mario Kart was laughably bad, I thought, for a brand that prides itself on quality.

I was hoping Nintendo was going to make mobile gaming what it should have been before pay as you play won out. Instead, they offered half-baked attempts and eventually just went all in on the pay to play model.

Im sad they didn’t change the market, but I won’t miss the games. I will miss what could have been instead.


There are some mobile games i enjoy, but it’s a shame it hasn’t taken off the way I expected. I was hoping for PSP or DS quality games with an Apple Branded controller. Oh well. Some day, someone is going to crack the mobile gaming market and make games that are both profitbale and high quality. Most games are only the former, and rarely both.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
magicschoolbus Avatar
49 months ago
The switch is crushing it, no need to cannibalize sales.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
senttoschool Avatar
49 months ago

Apple's latest SOCs blow away the Switch's outdated Tegra CPU/GPU. Nintendo would actually have superior hardware if they went iOS for their latest games.

I think they want to avoid Sega's fate...
Two things:
1. Switch has buttons, which are crucial to more complex games than candy crush.
2. Nintendo doesn't have to pay 30% of revenue to Apple
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pirate! Avatar
49 months ago
I’d be happy to pay a one-time fee for their games. I was fine with $10 for Mario Run. I’d pay $15-20 for Mario Kart Tour. But the $5/mo plus expensive (which I get is subjective) IAP are a bit crazy IMO. At some point not everyone can be on a subscription model, at least I hope.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Camera Lozenge 2 Perspective Gray

Five Key Upgrades Coming to iPhone 16

Friday March 15, 2024 1:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
When To Expect New iPads Feature 1

Apple to Announce New iPads on March 26, Rumors Claim

Monday March 18, 2024 4:02 am PDT by
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
airpods 3 orange

Two New AirPods 4 Models Expected to Launch in September or October

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:56 am PDT by
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Expected to Depreciate Heavily

Tuesday March 12, 2024 9:04 am PDT by
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
iOS 17 Passkey With Apple ACCOUNT Feature

'Apple ID' Expected to Change to 'Apple Account' Starting With iOS 18

Sunday March 17, 2024 7:13 am PDT by
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

iOS 17.4.1 Update for iPhone is Imminent

Monday March 18, 2024 5:27 am PDT by
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...