All the big players in the gaming industry have begun to jump on the bandwagon and join the mobile gaming scene. Nintendo has been shy of entering the mobile space until today when it confirmed its association with DeNa, a major Japanese game developer to make smartphone games featuring Nintendo characters. This collaboration will allow Nintendo to finally get a piece of the mobile games space and also enable DeNA to strengthen its already strong placement in the mobile space.
Both the companies will “intend to jointly operate new gaming applications featuring Nintendo IP, which they will develop specifically for smart devices,” according to a Nintendo statement.
The games won’t be a direct port of Nintendo’s consoles but would be original games featuring characters from Nintendo.
“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,” says DeNA in a statement.
DeNA has already made its mark in the freemium mobile game space. Nintendo too has joined the freemium revolution over the last year, with its recently released games in the category, including a Pokemon gameon its hardware.
The tie-up also has both the companies buying stakes in each other’s companies. Nintendo has bought a 10 per cent stake in DeNA and DeNA has bought a 1.24 per cent stake in Nintendo.
Nintendo loyalists don’t be sad, as Nintendo is not exiting from hardware space as its president Satoru Iwata said at a press conference in Tokyo that Nintendo is working on a new console, codenamed NX, with a ‘brand-new concept.’