According to video Game developer Yukio Futatsugi, his tabletop board game Machi Koro was originally going to be a digital board game available on the 3DS, but Nintendo encouraged Futatsugi and his company Grounding to go physical with it instead.

"My company has made a lot of board games, and Nintendo has told me that our games are interesting. Machikoro was supposed to be on 3DS, but the idea didn’t become a reality because it wouldn’t sell on 3DS, and so Nintendo suggested, 'Hey, Grounding, why don’t you manufacture this as a physical board game, I’m sure it will sell really well!' and that’s how Grounding came to become a board game creator."