Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa says smartphone apps and games remain a “very important” part of the business.
The Switch maker has launched a variety of mobile titles over the years including Fire Emblem Heroes, Mario Kart Tour, and Super Mario Run.
A number of those titles, such as Miitomo and Dr. Mario World, have since been axed. Others like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp are no longer in active development but remain playable.
More recently, Nintendo has expanded its mobile efforts to include media applications such as Nintendo Music.
During a recent shareholder Q&A, Furukawa explained those smartphone projects have cumulatively generated over 900 million downloads worldwide, enabling Nintendo to introduce more people to its properties and characters. That very much remains the plan.
“Our intent is to utilize smart devices, which have broad penetration, to create opportunities for consumers to come into contact with Nintendo game worlds and music even outside of dedicated game systems,” said Furukawa.
“Going forward, we would like to continue to develop these types of initiatives, including integration with games, for individual titles.”
Furukawa explained some consumers are now encountering Nintendo properties for the first time before they’ve even purchased console hardware.
It’s something the company views as a considerable boon–hence its continued investments in other areas such as theme parks and movies–and Furukawa said Nintendo will continue its efforts on mobile platforms as a result.
“Going forward, even as we transition to Nintendo Switch 2, it remains important to increase touchpoints beyond video games,” he added. “We believe that smart devices will take on a very important role in this endeavor, and we will continue to conduct research and implement initiatives.”
The Switch 2 is currently slated for release in 2025. Nintendo unveiled the console last month but won’t be sharing concrete hardware specs until later this year.
The original Switch just crossed 150 million lifetime sales and remains on track to become the best-selling Nintendo system in history.