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Miyamoto: I fear that smartphones are becoming the norm for games

"I have a sense of fear in that 'hand-me-down smartphones'... are becoming hardware systems on which to play games due to their prices being lower than that of our most inexpensive video game system." - Shigeru Miyamoto.

Mike Rose, Blogger

July 3, 2014

1 Min Read
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"I have a sense of fear in that 'hand-me-down smartphones'... are becoming hardware systems on which to play games due to their prices being lower than that of our most inexpensive video game system in our history."

- Shigeru Miyamoto talks smartphones to a room of Nintendo investors. During the recent Nintendo general meeting of shareholders, the company once again found itself under fire from investors who want to know why Nintendo isn't making smartphone games. Miyamoto admitted that he is now fearful of the impact of the mobile industry on Nintendo's business, but he added that there will always be a place for traditional video games. "I do not believe that will completely control the future of video games," he said of mobile games, adding that mobile devices do not provide enough security when used by children, and this is an important factor to Nintendo. "Taking into consideration that more and more children have a good command of these kinds of media, which help these media to spread, the most important task for Nintendo is how to provide new styles of entertainment by using these technologies, and how to make these new kinds of entertainment yield significant sales and profits," he added. Shinya Takahashi, director of Software Planning at Nintendo, added that his company has successfully provided unique entertainment for TVs and handheld devices for many years, and that the company's current work on smartphones will be no different. "We are currently developing an application for smart devices," he said. "Through such an application, we would like to connect with many consumers around the world, including those who do not own Nintendo’s video game systems, and communicate the value of our entertainment offerings."

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