Neff
Member
Nintendo is making all of these new moves in an effort to diversify their businesses. And that points to them expecting their console and handheld segments to see diminishing returns in the prospective future. Nintendo isn't planning to abandon their hardware lines, but they also hedging their bets. All things considered, it's not a bad idea.
Again, I don't see the mobile, Amiibo and theme park strategies primarily as an aim to make money to offset a widening gap left by their gaming business (although they will make money). I see it more as a means to repair relations with consumers who have moved on for whatever reason, and to simply remind them that Nintendo, and their games and consoles, exists.
These characters have been around for decades, and have endured because people like them (and when it comes down to it, they are videogame characters after all). It's just that, after Wii and DS, Nintendo has been assuming for a while that people will seek them out regardless, and that isn't the case. They need a bit of a nudge. But at least now Nintendo is learning to appreciate the benefit of advertising again, and they seem to be doing it well.