Its smartphone games project was born out of necessity to shore up the bottom line amid the Wii U’s failure. 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. Ace Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda said that, in Japan especially, gacha remains the only lucrative business model in mobile games. Square Enix Holdings Co., whose Dragon Quest Walk has grown into a huge hit, has taken another route to maximizing game revenue. “New smartphone games will come, but it’s very likely these will be just alibi releases to appease shareholders,” said Toto.

Source: Hindustan Times June 22, 2020 02:37 UTC