- Nintendo will end support for Miitomo on May 9.
- In-app purchases have been suspended with immediate effect.
- Social app users invited to participate in one final event and share MiiFotos on Twitter.
Rewind to just over three years ago and the thought that Nintendo, the Japanese video game company behind the likes of Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and countless other classic franchises, would ever make games for mobile was no more than a (warp?) pipe dream.
It's hard to remember just how crazy the idea of Mario on a smartphone was at the time, but now three games later – Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and the recent Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp – have come to the Google Play Store and, for the most part, delivered the kind of experiences you'd expect from the Kyoto giant.
Spare a thought, then, for Nintendo's forgotten first foray into the mobile sphere, Miitomo – a social app that laid the groundwork for later success and has, as of today, entered into its twilight days.
Nintendo has confirmed in an update post that the Miitomo service (on Android and iOS) will shut down permanently on May 9. In addition, all in-app purchases have been permanently suspended effective immediately. Nintendo is also planning to refund unused currency, reports The Verge.
As a final hurrah, Nintendo is hosting one final event, the "Thank You Festival", and is encouraging all players to share their favorite "MiiFotos" on Twitter using the hashtag #Miimoto_Memories.
For those that missed out, Miitomo was a simplistic social networking app where players could design and dress up "Mii" and interact with friends by asking random questions and taking wacky snaps starring their digital avatar.
Upon its launch in Japan in March 2016, Miitomo's user-base rocketed to over a million in just three days. A worldwide launch just weeks later the app bumped that number to ten million, but interest quickly waned. The number of active users dropped rapidly just a month after its global debut, with retention levels paling compared with other traditional social media apps and games.
Will it be missed? Probably not. The app's functionality was incredibly limited and aside from buying new virtual costumes with real cash, there was never much incentive to keep 'playing' after the initial hype died down. Still, we can all thank Miitomo for finally bringing Nintendo to mobile.
Do you know anyone still playing Miitomo? Let us know in the comments.
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