Mario on your smartphone: Nintendo strikes mobile games deal with DeNA
Expect new smartphone and tablet games based on Nintendo’s famous characters, but no ports of Wii U or 3DS titles for now
Nintendo has been fending off questions about whether it should start making smartphone and tablet games for years. Now the company is making its move.
Nintendo is teaming up with fellow Japanese firm DeNA in a partnership that will see the companies release a series of new games, as well as launch an online gaming community around them.
No specific games have been revealed yet, but don’t expect any conversions of modern-day Wii U or 3DS titles.
“To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimised for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system,” explained Nintendo’s announcement of the deal.
However, both companies will be creating games as part of the partnership, which raises the prospect of some of Nintendo’s talented development teams being let loose on new smartphone and tablet titles, while ports of games from older Nintendo consoles and handhelds have not been ruled out.
“In order to create completely new game experiences for smart devices, all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by the alliance,” said Nintendo.
DeNA is best known for releasing freemium mobile games that make their money from in-app purchases of virtual items and currency, so the deal raises the prospect of this model being applied to franchises like Mario and Zelda – something that may not sit well with all fans.
However, Nintendo has been experimenting with the freemium business model on its own devices recently: 3DS game Steel Diver: Sub Wars in early 2014, and match-three puzzler Pokemon Shuffle in 2015.
DeNA first came to prominence with its Mobage mobile gaming community, and that experience will be a factor in its partnership with Nintendo too.
The companies will be launching an “online membership service” spanning smartphones and tablets, PC and Nintendo’s own gaming devices. It’s due to launch in the autumn.
DeNA also announced a deal in February with console publisher Square Enix to launch a new Final Fantasy mobile game, Final Fantasy: Record Keeper, and has also recently launched mobile games based on Transformers and Marvel.
As recently as January 2014, Nintendo executives were denying speculation that the company was preparing to release games for smartphones and tablets.
“Nintendo’s intention is not to make Nintendo software available on smart devices,” said a spokesperson at the time, while admitting that the company saw mileage in mobile devices as a way to promote the games available for its own platforms.
