As Nintendo recently announced they’re putting their Quality of Life products on the back-burner, could they perhaps be turning their elegant bodies to the world of apps?

Wii Fit was a worldwide phenomenon when it arrived on the Wii in 2008 and created a second wave of hysteria around the console. Despite the hefty £70 price tag thanks to the new peripheral, it still went on to sell millions and is one of the best selling franchises ever - This was before the smartphone boom though, and the release of Wii Fit U was a lot more frosty, with dramatic price cuts and even free software thrown in to try and lure the portly British public back into the fitness game.

Alas, it’s not the software that is at fault, but the way in which it is played. People no longer want to get fit in front of the TV screen in this modern era of technology strapped to our wrists or buzzing away in our pockets, people want to get fit on the go, and whilst sales of fitness and dance games fall ever lower, fitness apps are more popular than ever and growing every day.

Quality of Life
As Wii Fit U was met with praise from critics but less than favourable sales, Nintendo announced their Quality of Life plans back in 2014. Nintendo claimed they were planning to release a QOL product by the start of 2016, a piece of wearable technology that could track exercise and sleep patterns, similar to smart watches or the recently very popular FitBit device.

Instead of releasing fitness titles such as Wii Fit on their consoles, their efforts would be spent on this QOL device. Nintendo were keen to point out that their QOL ventures would be completely separate from the gaming division, and one would not effect the other.

Cancelation of QOL
QOL was met with scepticism from critics and fans. Fans didn’t want Nintendo spreading their resources ever further and wondered why anyone would pay for a completely new device to play titles like Wii Fit when previously they were available on Nintendo’s home consoles. Critics weren’t keen on the idea either, as with the rise of smartphones and watches, people are less willing to buy stand-alone hardware (eg: pedometers) and much prefer to buy an app on their phone, having everything in the same place.

Nintendo were quiet on the QOL aspect for quite some time until very recently when they quietly announced that the project had been put on ice for now. The new Nintendo president, Tatsumi Kimishima, spoke about the device in a recent investors meeting, despite not actually being asked a question about it, so it’s clear Nintendo wanted to make an announcement about it’s discontinuation.

"In regards to the Quality of Life [device], which was not mentioned in any of today’s questions, we do not have the conviction that the sleep-and-fatigue-themed [device] can enter the phase of actually becoming a product.

We no longer have any plans to release it by the end of March 2016. On the other hand, we still believe there are things we can do in the general category of Quality of Life, and we will continue to study the possibility of expanding into this field.”
Translated by WIRED

Nintendo first dabbled in QOL with the concept of the 'Vitality Sensor'

Going Mobile
Nintendo announced their Quality of Life device back in 2014, at a time when they were still adamant they were not going to enter the mobile sector. They were clear in every statement regarding Quality of Life that it would not effect their videogame business and would be an entirely separate sector of the company, which is a similar stance they have taken with their move to app development.

Since 2014, Nintendo has not only announced their desire to enter the mobile sector, but has partnered with popular Japanese mobile company DeNA and already delivered a Nintendo app in the form of Miitomo, with plenty more set to come out soon. It seems suspicious that shortly after announcing their desire to enter the mobile market they would cancel their Quality of Life plans.

Wii Fit on Mobile
Wii Fit is a great piece of software even now, it tracks your exercise and weight loss well whilst giving you fun and inventive ways of doing so - The problem with recent releases is the way in which they are played, which is antiquated in this modern era of smartphones and watches.

Quality of Life was a good idea in a sense, Nintendo had a vast knowledge of fitness software thanks to the immense success of the Wii Fit franchise as well as their smaller fitness projects so it made sense that they would take that knowledge outside of the videogame world and into a wider demographic.

Now that Nintendo is in the mobile space, they can take their great software and quirky ideas and translate them to an existing wearable device, such as mobiles and smart watches, quickly solving their previous problem of creating an entirely new piece of technology in an already crowded market.

Nintendo's QOL concept

Likeliness
We haven’t heard anything about a fitness app from Nintendo yet, they’re still focusing on the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem apps, but given that their Quality of Life project was in development since at least 2014 and cancelled at the dawn of their entrance into the mobile market, I’m certain that their previous wearable technology efforts will be transferred to mobile in some form.

The question is, will they be able to re-capture the immense success they found with Wii Fit? Only time will tell, but if there is any way to do so, this is surely it.

Related:

Going Mobile: Animal Crossing

Throwback Thursday: Wii Fit