Miitomo’s Potential! A Yoshio Sakamoto and Shigesato Itoi Interview Part 4

Sakamoto on Miitomo: “There are a lot of things, quite a lot of things, that will be done in the future.”

☆ NintendObs Weekly – Monday, July 4, 2016 – Sunday, July 10, 2016.

Part 4: Miitomo’s Potential

Itoi:

How many downloads does Miitomo currently have?

Sakamoto:

Worldwide it has surpassed over 10 million users.

Itoi:

Over 10 million is a really big number, but does it feel real that there are that many people?

Sakamoto:

No, it doesn’t really feel real.

Itoi:

If this had been a Mario game, then I would have probably been able to feel how real it was by seeing that this person and that person are playing it.

I might have seen kids in my class playing it, or kids who come over to my house playing it.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

Also, the feeling is different between a game that people have to pay for and a game that people can download for free.

Itoi:

Ohh, I see.

You can feel the reality of it at a different level when you see a profit.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

Itoi:

Well, with Miitomo the app is free to download, but there is a system for in-game purchases.

I am using my money to have some fun. To get clothes, or play the drop game.

Sakamoto:

That’s Miitomo Drop. (laughs)

Thank you very much.

Itoi:

But the people around me…

They are like the people who are here now. (laughs) It doesn’t look like these people are using a lot of money.

Both:

(laugh)

Sakamoto:

Of course I don’t mind that at all, and the app is designed so you can have fun without spending money.

Itoi:

Yes, that’s the case.

It’s very like Nintendo to have it so that you can enjoy “Miitomo” for free and that you don’t have to pay to play the main parts of the app.

Conversely, you don’t have a lot of experience making decisions about in-game purchases because you have worked on Nintendo games.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

We worked with DeNA to make “Miitomo”, so I consulted about matters like how we should configure purchases and how much it is appropriate to charge for each element with people who had a wealth of experience. And we were able to acquire this knowledge.

Itoi:

So Nintendo makes methodical judgments about the in-game purchases as well?

Sakamoto:

Yes.

Specifically, the director was in charge of that.

I was one step away, so I would put in a variety of requests.

Itoi:

Your job has changed and continues to change.

I think that up until now the job of a game director was to create something good and then to have it sell out. But now you have to think about in-game purchases, and think about the services that come after the game is released.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

I spoke with Mr. Iwata in the past, and up until that point in Nintendo, the thinking was that when we were making a game we shouldn’t be too sensitive to what users wanted and that we shouldn’t do monitoring research and give users exactly what they say they want.

But in the world of smart phone applications, in short, you look carefully at customers reactions and continue adding changes.

That was a creation process that I had not experienced before.

Itoi:

It’s the opposite.

Sakamoto:

It’s the exact opposite.

There was that, and Miitomo has been completed and it is out in the world, but I feel like it’s not done at all.

There are a lot of things, quite a lot of things, that will be done in the future.

Right now I’m feeling the pride in having so many people download the application, but also the stress that comes with that.

Itoi:

Oh, really.

So while creating it more and more things come up that you have to do. And it’s hard to judge if one part is done or not.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

However we are on the same page with the DeNA team who have been with us through difficult times. So we have been able discuss things together really as a single team and are moving forward.

Itoi:

Oh, that’s good.

Because “Miitomo” is a single game, it has the business challenges that come with that, and it really is a “big adventure”, so maybe that can’t be helped.

You have to do what you can.

Sakamoto:

Yes.

“Miitomo” really still has a lot of hidden potential, and I think there are a lot of ways to bring that out.

So there are a lot of issues, but I don’t feel troubled by them.

Itoi:

Yes.

Sakamoto:

First I want people to think “wow, I can do this kind of fun stuff in Miitomo”, and at the same time I want to change it going forward. There are a lot of things that need to be considered, but I would love it if we could get past those issues and make Miitomo into something that we could leave in the hands of users, and I mean that in a variety of ways.

I think there are lots of possibilities in using it as a tool.

Source: Miitomo.