In 2016, Nintendo hesitantly stepped into the world of mobile gaming with Miitomo, an odd social network of sorts that allowed you to dress up your little Mii characters and answer weird questions about your favorite fruits. It was a ton of fun right at launch, with people taking funny pictures of their characters and posting them on real social networks while getting to know their friends better thanks to their responses to the “favorite fruit” question. Unfortunately, general interest in Miitomo kind of dropped off of a cliff after about 20 minutes, especially as Nintendo and developer DeNA began to release more “real” games like Super Mario Run.
Now, just two years after the game came out and about two years after people stopped caring, Nintendo has announced that it’ll be shutting down Miitomo on May 9. Nintendo made the announcement on its website (via The Verge), explaining that nothing associated with the app will work once that date comes. Any messages you sent wlil be deleted, any in-game items you bought will be gone, and any photos you took—even ones posted on social media—will be deleted. For anyone still playing Miitomo, the in-app currency can no longer be bought with real money, but Nintendo has promised to continue providing people with free stuff so they can keep playing while they’re able.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch is getting a game that requires you to buy sheets of cardboard, so at least this isn’t an indication that Nintendo is giving up on any of its passion for ridiculous experiments.