Nintendo Is Leaving Its Comfort Zone, and We're All Better OffGames for mobile devices, theme park attractions, escape rooms -- the Japanese company is finally expanding its horizons.
Super Mario will finallyjump to iPhoneson Thursday, and I will get to live out my boyhood dreams of exploring the game series's Mushroom Kingdom in the real world sometime in the future. Today, Nintendo revealed initial plans for itsfirst-ever theme park attractions, which will open in Osaka's Universal Studios Japan in 2020, with other locations to follow.
There will also beLegend of Zelda-themed escape rooms. My inner child justcan't even.
You see, the Japanese company that's also behindPokémonandDonkey Konghas majorly shifted its strategy in the past few years, at a time when the smartphones in all of our pockets increasingly threaten its grip on the handheld games market and itsWii U console failed to live upto the success of its predecessor.
Related:Everything You Need to Know About Pokémon Go, the App That Earned $200 Million in its First Month
Now, Nintendo is no longerjusta company that makes video games -- it's a company that leverages its legendary libary of intellectual property.
"We have reshaped our overall business mission and key strategies that are driving it," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé recently toldTechCrunch. "Our business mission is to make people smile through the use of our IP."
Even just a few years ago,Nintendo executives shot downthe idea of its characters ever appearing on a system not bearing the company's name (let's forget thoseZeldaentries on the Philips CD-i). This year, the company will have released three mobile apps: its social network-likeMiitomo, that little augmented reality gamePokémon GoandSuper Mario Runon Dec. 15.
It took a while, but Nintendo is adapting to survive and thrive. It's following in the footsteps of the Walt Disney Company, which started out making cartoons starring Mickey Mouse and is now a licensing behemothvalued at around $150 billion.
Of course, the Big N isn't out of the video gamegame. It will release its newest console,Switch, this March.
