In a recent interview with AllThingsD, Nintendo's North America President Reggie Fils-Aime answered various questions about his company's future endeavors. When asked if Nintendo will experiment with free-to-play, Fils-Aime answered as follows:
I have two comments on that. First, we make games for Nintendo devices, and that is a competitive advantage for us. You can only play Mario on a Nintendo device, so from that standpoint, I wouldn't expect to see our franchises on other platforms, and I would argue Facebook is a platform. My second point, on whether we will experiment with other forms of monetization? Certainly. How that comes about, or which ones we do first, that's all experimentation that's going on right now in our various studios.
Remember that Mario Kart Facebook scam? Well, it seems that's the best you're going to get on Facebook: people trying to trick you into thinking Nintendo games have finally arrived on the platform.
Nintendo's stance applies to all platforms. Many believe the company is making a big mistake by avoiding iOS and Android. Nintendo is definitely missing a big opportunity to broaden its horizons and build new revenue streams, but it is doing so in order to avoid devaluing its various popular franchises. I'm sure Nintendo could offer Facebook games and figure out how to monetize them, but the company has concluded it doesn't make sense for it in the long-run.
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