The Nintendo Investor’s meeting was held In Japan late Wednesday evening as fans and industry leaders kept their eyes peeled to what would be announced. Many expected Nintendo to make its first formal announcements regarding the plans that it and mobile company, DeNA were up to and that’s what we got.
But what was the biggest announcement during the Nintendo Investor’s meeting was the announcement of Nintendo Account, the first cloud-based service.
While many news outlets will easily focus on the first mobile app from Nintendo , that would be Miitomo an app that will allow players to customize their own Mii and talk to other Miis in a social media-esque app that is similar to the Streetpass Mii Plaza that’s already on 3DS systems.
Or the delays that Nintendo is implementing in rolling out Miitomo -- once scheduled for the end of 2015, now pushed back to Spring 2016 -- but we want to focus on Nintendo Account.
The Wall Street Journal was present at the Nintendo meeting in Japan and they live blogged what was said. You can find all of that, here but here’s the WSJ account of Nintendo Account.
“Nintendo’s new membership service will be called “Nintendo Account” — it will connect hardware users, as well as PC and smart device users, Nintendo’s new chief executive, Tatsumi Kimishima said.
Nintendo will use this cloud-based data service to transfer game data between mobile games and console games.
This is huge news for Nintendo. Yes, they are behind on the whole cloud-based service that other game consoles have but this is the perfect time to finally roll it out in conjunction with its new mobile line.
Imagine if you could sync your Pokémon Shuffle mobile with the 3DS version? Or if the upcoming Pokémon Go! can sync with the upcoming Pokémon Z?
You can go catch Pokémon on Go! and then train them while on-the-go and then just transfer it to your 3DS game. It seems like a no-brainer, a perfect marriage between Nintendo and what they want to do on the mobile side of gaming. With Nintendo being the king of handheld gaming, the cloud service will not only boost sales of core titles but of the home consoles, which Nintendo won’t abandon despite what pessimists may think.
The possibilities and applications of the Nintendo Account service and mobile game plans seem endless but unfortunately we will have to wait till 2016 to find out more. But it’s safe to say that the Nintendo Account cloud service will be a welcome addition to everything Nintendo.
