On March 31, 2016, Nintendo launched their first mobile phone app in Miitomo, a social networking app built around their digital avatars called Mii. The iOS and Android app was an instant hit, but it did not have quite the lasting power of something like Facebook or Twitter. It looks like Nintendo has noticed that, because they just announced they are pulling the plug on Miitomo this May in all regions.
Nintendo of America made this statement on their support website, when speaking of their reasons for discontinuing the service: “We see this app as accomplishing a portion of our goal of getting Nintendo IP (in this case, Mii characters) into the hands of consumers across a variety of environments worldwide. At the same time, we’ve seen the number of ongoing users for the app decrease.”
For those who had great conversations there, Nintendo is not offering a formal procedure for saving your content. Therefore, the best way to save your favorite chats with friends is to take some screen-shots and save them to your device.
If you have spent money to get Miitomo Coins, make sure you use them, or you will lose them. Nintendo has stated they will not provide refunds, as they are giving users several months notice to use their in-game currency before they close it down. As of now, though, you cannot purchase additional coins within the game. If you want to keep logging in until May 9, though, Nintendo is ready to reward you with daily bonuses of 2,000 coins and five game tickets.
My Nintendo Platinum Points from Miitomo can still be redeemed for rewards on the My Nintendo website, but not toward another Nintendo mobile app.
As far as your Mii characters and Sidekicks, you can transfer them to your Nintendo account or save them as a QR code that can be transferred to your 3DS/2DS or Wii U.
One of the cool features of Miitomo was Miifoto, a place where you could create images using your Mii characters in a variety of poses on various backgrounds. If you have posted Miifoto images to Facebook, though, they will disappear. Those posted to Twitter will not. In order to make sure you don’t lose any precious memories, save all Miifotos to your device before the app and service goes away.
For more information about this shutdown, visit the following two websites:
What do you think about this news? Are you shocked and sad to see it go, or did you forget about Miitomo? Let us know in the comments!
Steve is the Senior Editor of NintendoFuse and co-host of the NintendoFuse Podcast. He’s been a Nintendo gamer since age 6 and has been on staff with NintendoFuse since 2008.