Nintendo is finally bringing its games to smart phones and tablets. The company is teaming up with mobile games giant DeNA (pronounced “D-N-A”) to launch Nintendo mobile games and a new multi-device membership service for gamers worldwide.
Both companies will jointly create Nintendo mobile games based on Nintendo’s current games and characters. The companies say that only new original games will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U console or the Nintendo 3DS portable player.
Nintendo mobile games coming this year
Nintendo and DeNA didn’t specify whether they will focus on Android, iOS, or both mobile platforms — only that the new games will be developed for “smart devices”. But it’s a good bet that both Android and iOS users will see the Nintendo love, while users of the less popular Windows Phone / Windows 8 and BlackBerry mobile platforms will get those game releases a little later, if at all.
The companies also didn’t tell us which game titles would be the first to launch, but to stay tuned for news of upcoming games this year.
Nintendo and DeNA are also developing an online membership service that players can access from smart devices, PCs, the Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. DeNA already has extensive experience in online membership services, so Nintendo plans to launch its version of the service this fall — likely along with the first games.
Why the wait to warm up to mobile?
While the Nintendo mobile games announcement is not unexpected, it has been a long time coming. The company has been reluctant to dive into the mobile gaming world because it doesn’t want to cannibalize its relatively more lucrative Wii and 3DS businesses. As Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata told Time magazine in an interview this week, the reluctance was not fear, but caution that in the mobile world, it will have to create a different type of gaming content.
“On smart devices, the main demand is for very accessible games which smart device users can easily start and easily finish,” Iwata told Time. “These are not necessarily the characteristics that people demand from games for dedicated video game systems. Actually, this is one of the reasons why we believe that we should not port games for dedicated game systems to smart devices just as they are because doing so will not fully satisfy the needs of the smart device consumers.”
Iwata said that Nintendo will continue to heavily promote its Wii and 3DS systems for users who want longer or more immersive game play. Iwata this week also announced a new gaming platform called “NX” which will come out next year. He refused to provide any details about it, except to say that it isn’t related to the DeNA partnership.
Share and share alike
As part of the DeNA partnership, the two companies are forming a “capital alliance”, in which each company is purchasing 22 billion yen worth of each others’ shares. Nintendo will acquire a ten percent stake in DeNA amounting to just over 15 million shares, while DeNA will purchase about 1.76 million Nintendo shares — about 1.24 percent of Nintendo’s outstanding stock — also valued at 22 billion yen. The payments are due on April 2nd.
