i3 - September/October 2016 - 19

31 percent of every dollar that the
mobile game generates.
Nintendo could use all the help
it can get. The company's net sales
for its last quarter (which ended
before the Pokémon GO craze)
were down 31 percent ($587
million) compared to the same
quarter last year. Nintendo saw an
operating loss of $48 million.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR
NINTENDO?
Eevee
Nintendo is readying Pokémon
GO Plus, a $35 optional peripheral that allows gamers to play
without a mobile device. It
includes a series of blinking lights
and vibrations that notify the
player when a Pokémon is nearby
in the real world. By pushing
a button to capture the pocket
monster, a blue light indicates
a successful capture while a red
light notifies the player it got
Snorlax
away. This concept will help
players remain focused on the
real world while playing, avoiding issues that occur when they're
walking and focused more on
their screen than on the world
around them.
The company also continues to
support AR through its Nintendo
3DS and Wii U consoles. Its toysto-life Amiibo figurines connect
Meowth
to both platforms and unlock
exclusive in-game content across
multiple titles. Nintendo has sold
more than 36.9 million Amiibo
figurines and an additional 30
million Amiibo cards.
Nintendo also had mobile success with its DeNA partnership,
which saw Miitomo connect with
gamers earlier this year (although
nowhere near the phenomenon
Ivysaur
of Pokémon GO). More than 10
million users downloaded the app,
which generated $15.6 million
last quarter.
Nintendo has new Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem
mobile games slated to hit mobile devices in the coming
months as part of a new push beyond traditional console
C TA . t e c h / i 3

and handheld gaming. Both games will be
free-to-start.
The game company, which failed to connect with a mainstream audience with its
Wii U console, is going back to the drawing
board. Nintendo NX is slated to launch in
March 2017. The new console will feature
a brand new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the
Wild game.
Nintendo is also aiming for nostalgia with
its miniature NES Classic Edition, which
ships November 11 for $60 and comes with
30 games packed into the console, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda,
Metroid, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN and
Kirby's Adventure. The device plugs directly
into the TV and is expected to be a hot seller
for the holidays.

AR TO CATCH ON
Even before the Pokémon GO craze, the
worldwide market for games totaled $103.9
billion this year, up seven percent year-overyear. The mobile games market has surpassed the traditional console and PC games
markets for the first time.
SuperData Research forecasts AR hardware and software will generate an estimated $4.3 billion worldwide by 2020.
Beck Besecker, CEO and co-founder of
Marxent, says Pokémon GO's success is great
news for the AR industry because it's a real
testament to the initial consumer reaction
to merging AR applications into their daily
lives. "This is the largest scale adoption of
AR we've seen thus far," Besecker says. "But
this is just a game. What happens when
consumers realize they can use AR mobile
apps for practical activities like designing
a room in your home or building a deck in
your backyard?"
Todd Richmond, the director of advanced
prototype development and transition at the
Institute of Creative Technologies at USC,
expects to see a lot of copycat AR games in
the coming months.
"AR games have been around awhile.
The Mobile Lab at USC did one back in
2004, but people need to recognize that the
Pokémon Go success is a perfect storm of
technology maturity, consumers having heard of AR and VR
through press and industry hype, and most importantly, a
very recognizable brand/franchise that is driven by gamers,"
Richmond says.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

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i3 - September/October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - September/October 2016