(I could see this going in all kinds of directions depending on how committed Nintendo really is.) Nintendo forms alliance with DeNA in turnaround on smartphone strategy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS After years of scoffing at the threat from smartphones, Nintendo Co. is doing an about-face and entering an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices. The March 17 announcement means that Nintendo's trademark game characters such as Super Mario and Pokemon could finally feature on smartphones and tablets. Such characters have been fiercely protected by Nintendo, appearing only on Nintendo platforms such as the Wii home console and 3DS mobile machines. Both sides said they will build a global membership service for various devices, including personal computers, smartphones and Nintendo machines. The service is set to launch in the fall of 2015. They said the mobile games won't be mere adaptations of the games already out for the Nintendo machines but developed especially for the smartphone experience. The alliance will be combining Nintendo's intellectual property and game development skills with DeNA's expertise in mobile games, the announcement said. Under the alliance, Kyoto-based Nintendo will acquire about 15 million DeNA shares or a 10 percent stake. In return, DeNA will acquire about 1.759 million Nintendo shares, or 1.24 percent of the company. Both acquisitions are worth 22 billion yen ($182 million). The payment is due April 2, they said. Nintendo has run into trouble in the past few years as people increasingly turned to mobile phones to play games and spend time on social networks. The company is expecting to turn a profit for the fiscal year ending later this month, a turnaround from red ink the previous year. Tokyo-based DeNA, founded in 1999, has a reputation as an innovator and is one of the most successful of a new generation of Japanese technology companies. It develops and operates a broad range of mobile and online services including games and e-commerce. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://ajw.asahi.com/article/business/AJ201503180018
Should of just embedded your tweet, shame shit. But this could possibly turn for the worst. 3DS is the best selling handheld, but if Nintendo find out that they no longer have to produce hardware and instead make games on the cheap. They'll do it. This could also possibly turn for the better. All their energy will focus on their consoles, which honestly has lacked the last two generations.
You mean next mainline Pokemon game? Ah ah ah. People should really read the presentation instead of throw around clueless statements: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2015/150317/index.html
Well, that'll be interesting to watch... You can't blame their trying when you see how popular retro emulators and Drastic are on Android...
Maybe that's what the NX is, some sort of handheld/console hybrid. I mean there's already similarities between the 3DS and Wii U (two screens, one is a touchscreen, similar button layouts) Define "next". I read Iwata's comments from the presentation (luckily they were in English, because I don't read Japanese) and obviously it's good that they won't just be porting over old games, but I think they understated the fact that Nintendo hardware, more than either other manufacturer, is driven solely by Nintendo IPs. People didn't buy Wii Us until Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros and Hyrule Warriors came out. Same with the 3DS, people held off until it got great Nintendo IPs. The only way this could work is if the mobile games are totally different experiences than what the 3DS and Wii U offer.
If my understanding is correct, Nintendo isn't "going mobile". They are going to license their IPs to DeNA and they make the games. No programmers at Nintendo will be working on these games.
^This by a Million!! I hate it as well too and the reasons i refuse to play such garbage "Free-To-Play" type games and having to use awful touch motion buttons when playing *certain* emulators or Arcade fighters or beat 'em ups in general (specially King of Fighters, Metal Slug, Street Fighter whatever, and Tenchi o Kurau 2: Sekiheki no Tatakai aka Warriors of Fate)
"Increased negativity toward the future for the dedicated video game system business as smart devices spread" So, the stock holders convinced someone about the negativity. And they said that they don't know anything about games. But they somehow "know about a negativity". Yeah. I hope that the negativity-friendly stock holders suffer massive losses with their next decisions.
I think they will still be kinda half-assed about it. Nintendo is as much a hardware company as they are a software company, so they do have incentive to keep their juiciest releases exclusive to their consoles. We should expect to see a Mario game on a smartphone, just don't expect it to be a full-blown console-style game. Maybe we might see ports of older titles?
My prediction? Nintendo licensed "match three" and Temple Run style games... *retches* Saying that, a tower defence take on Advance Wars might just work!
Well they said it won't be console ports, so maybe a Mario endless runner. *shudders* Stockholders keep reading about mobile gaming booming and don't quite realize that A) it's a bubble, and B) less than half a percent of games get popular.
That's very true indeed. A lot of people will download the game just because it's Nintendo or Mario. I think that more than half of the people who download the game will try it once or twice and never touch it again.
.... I don't think so....... That's not what you think it is..... To be frank, Nintendo is just cashing in on the mobile space but they will (For now) not engage totally in the mobile space, it's more like the best thing to expect on this is a port of Pokemon Shuffle and Pokemon Card Game on Android. Nothing much. I wouldn't expect a fully fledged Pokemon game in mobile. Maybe not even old Pokemon games either. The Nintendo 3DS is selling too well for Nintendo to do it.
