'Miitomo' A Failure? Nintendo's First Mobile Game Soon To Be A Ghost Town [VIDEO]
Nintendo's first foray into the mobile gaming market, Miitomo, has seen widespread success when it was first released. Immediately after it became available, the game shot up to the top of iOS and Android's app stores, eventually getting 10 million users by May. However, a very disturbing trend has emerged in Nintendo's first-ever mobile game.
According to a study by Survey Monkey Intelligence, Miitomo's initial downloads were indeed very strong, but over time, players who initially downloaded the game failed to come back. So far, from the 10 million downloads the game had, only about 2.5 million users are still actively playing the game.
Compared to two popular games, Candy Crush Jelly Saga and Clash Royale, which are created from top mobile gaming developers King and Supercell, Miitomo is only played half as much in a week. Apart from that, Miitomo also has a pretty high weekly churn rate at 48 percent, compared to Clash Royale's rate of 20 percent and Candy Crush Jelly Saga's 23 percent.
With only a fraction of users coming back to the game on a regular basis coupled with a high churn rate, it would seem like Miitomo is already seeing a pretty steady decline in active users. Thus, it might not be very long before the social media/gaming app ends up as a ghost town.
Miitomo's alarming numbers are quite understandable, however, as the game's powerful initial performance could simply be attributed to the game's very strong brand. Indeed, the Nintendo name alone was most probably behind a significant number of the game's downloads, especially since Miitomo is the firm's first foray into mobile gaming.
However, the game's hybrid nature of being a social app/game might have contributed to the decline in the game's engagement. After all, once a player's Mii is completely decked out, there are only the app's games and little quests to explore.
Nevertheless, Miitomo remains a notable effort from Nintendo. If any, the game's initial success, as well as its subsequent decline, have provided the Japanese gaming giant with a valuable lesson as it continues its efforts towards dominating the mobile market.
