[roninb]

There is literally no way anyone could have expected it to do this well. Nintendo has steered clear of mobile gaming because they expected all of their IP to flop in the mobile world.

That said, what you said is still true. If you're thinking you're going to have 100k users, you might be willing to allow a lot more data to be transmitted and/or processed than if you had 10m users. Just looking at tracker alone, having to transmit and measure distance between a dozen points and ordering them is a lot more work than checking whether a dozen coordinates are within a range and listing them in any order.

[jandrese]

> Nintendo has steered clear of mobile gaming because they expected all of their IP to flop in the mobile world.

I don't believe this for a second. Nintendo knows where its goldmines are. IMHO it is far more likely that they steered clear of mobile because they didn't want to cannibalize their Game Boy sales. It's a classic case of a big corporation being slow to react to change or even trying to stop it because they hold a dominant position in the old system.

Nintendo would much prefer if "mobile gaming" still meant Game Boys but the world has already made their decision and they can't stop it. They can't ignore the sales figures on what would have otherwise been an obscure goofy spinoff fitness app on the Game Boy. They've ignored the mobile market for too long and now there is pent up demand. Without Pokemon Go I doubt you would have seen the sudden scramble to develop and release a Mario game for iPhone.

[kaishiro]

>> Nintendo would much prefer if "mobile gaming" still meant Game Boys but the world has already made their decision and they can't stop it.

I'm not sure this is entirely accurate. The Nintendo 3DS (I assume what you mean by "game boy"), has been a very successful product for Nintendo. And sales of the 3DS have actually spiked as a result of Pokemon GO.

[CannisterFlux]

While it may be a success, the 3DS has sold half of what its predecessor the DS did (~60 million vs ~130 million units worldwide). The NX will probably sell half again of the 3DS. The market for handheld gaming systems is dead or at least terminally ill. And I say this as someone who plays on a New 3DS daily (don't get into Monster Hunter if you want a life).

The reason Nintendo has avoided mobile gaming is probably down to fear of piracy. The DS was ruined (from Nintendo's POV) by flash carts, and with the changes they made on the next generation the barrier to entry for copying games is now lower on Android/iOS than on the 3DS. I think that when they do finally go mobile, the games will have a lot of server-side checks going on. The games will be a pain in the neck to play even if you are paying. For example, always-on internet required will only work on non-rooted devices, that sort of thing.

[kaishiro]

For sure - we're on the same page, although I'm a little more bullish on the future of some sort of hardware gaming platform, like the upcoming NX. I'll be the first to admit that could be wishful thinking, but I just can't go over the thought that my phone isn't a serious gaming device. Monster Hunter is actually a perfect example. When we get the crew together we'll rock for 5 or 6 hours, swapping out chargers. I can't see myself ever doing that comfortably holding a piece of glass.

[roninb]

That's a fair opinion and maybe it's true, but it comes from the horse's mouth that they were afraid Mario and Pikachu wouldn't do well on a phone.

[merb]

well Pokemon Go compared to the good old Pokemon Silver/Gold is just crap and that was a Gameboy Color Game.