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Nintendo Is Getting Into the Mobile Gaming Market

The console giant confirms it will partner with DeNA to create new games for smart devices, while also confirming it's working on its own new hardware platform.

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We all knew this would eventually happen, yet that foreknowledge makes typing the following statement no less weird: Nintendo is getting into smartphone gaming.

Early this morning, Nintendo announced that it is joining forces with DeNA, the Japanese mobile gaming giant, to bring Nintendo gaming franchises to smart devices. The partnership, which is described as a "business and capital alliance", will feature Nintendo and DeNA working in joint development on games featuring Nintendo's roster of franchises. What this means is that Nintendo has no intention of porting existing Wii U or 3DS games to phones/tablets, but will be developing new games specifically built for those platforms.

From a statement released by the two companies:

"In order to create completely new game experiences for smart devices, all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by the alliance. As these consumers enjoy the unique kind of gameplay found only with Nintendo, they will have the opportunity to explore even more premium experiences on Nintendo's dedicated video game platforms."

In addition to the development deal, Nintendo and DeNA plan to launch a "multi-device membership service" that will allow players to play games across mobile, Windows PC, and Nintendo's own consoles. The service is slated to launch in fall 2015.

During this morning's press conference, chief executive Satoru Iwata also confirmed that Nintendo remains dedicated to developing and supporting its own console hardware platforms, and is currently working on a new platform, codenamed "NX." He added that it is "too early to elaborate on the details of this project," but expects that the company will discuss it in greater detail next year.

Alex Navarro on Google+

122 Comments

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Zaxex

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I imagine their games will be on par quality wise with the majority of phone games. Which is to say, garbage.

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dtat

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Whoa Nintendo games on the PC? To me that prospect is the most exciting thing about this announcement.

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generic_username

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As a Nintendo fan, this news makes me feel nothing.

I mean, really. They're going to have a separate developer make games for a platform I don't give a shit about. If it gives them more money to keep being Nintendo, that's great. But honestly, this news seems a whole lot more "whatever" to me than anything else.

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csl316

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penguindust

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Wait a minute, wait a minute...Nintendo on PC? That's the real story as far as I'm concerned.

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groundbeef

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Huh. Judging by what Dena has done with the FF and Transformers licenses (garbage freemium stuff even by freemium standards), I expect nothing but disappointment out of this.

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Rejizzle

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Edited By Rejizzle

To be honest I doubt this will impact their core games business much. Seems like Nintendo's gonna keep doing what Nintendo does except There'll be a couple Nintendo games on my phone now, and that might be kinda cool. Nintendo's been doing some strange things and maybe weird Nintendo experiments like Rusty's Real Deal Baseball or Steel Diver 3DS will work better on phones than on a 3DS.

Also, Holy Crap! The End Times Are Nigh! and such...

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Uberjannie

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They will release games on the PC, they also said in the illustration slides.

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ArsenalFan

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Finally!

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EXTomar

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The reason why "the suits" think moving to general mobile is a great idea isn't that they don't think Nintendo don't have a successful market selling portable gaming systems and games but that their portable market is **tiny** compared the general mobile market let alone the general mobile gaming market.

I look at the situation the reverse of what many who are "anti-freak out" where I wonder what is so special about protecting Nintendo's Gambeboy/DS platforms. It is nice to have but I'm not sure that is enough justification ignoring a giant and growing market.

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spilledmilkfactory

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Nintendo should've done this a year or two ago. I just fear that their mobile titles will all be mediocre half-games, like that weird Pokemon thing they put out on phones, or a lot of the stuff that they've put out on the eShop. Mobile would be perfect for a new WarioWare game, for example, but it'd be even better if they could make a full-fledged Pokemon game for the systems - a new Pokemon Stadium would even be perfect for mobile. My inner businessman quivers at the thought of how they could monetize those franchises. The rest of me hopes that they can find a balance between quality and monetization.

Either way, it seems like a lot of Nintendo's quality teams have been focusing on the Wii U, which I'll actually be kind of sad to see go, and this announcement didn't necessarily give the impression that they'd be too intimately involved in the development of these new mobile games. They have a history of squandering potential, so call me cautiously optimistic at best right now.

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Oddballs

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I've been playing pokemon games on my phone for years now, would gladly pay for an official way of doing so.

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So_Hai

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Clear the way for the experts of small screen gaming.

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xshinobi

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Hey guys, remember when Nintendo partnered with Phillips?

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BradBrains

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mobile tomodachi life

think about it

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deactivated-5f8907c9ada33

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People are expecting traditional games on mobile from Nintendo.

I don't think that's going to happen.

You'll see side games from popular franchises on these platforms, but you're never going to see a mainline Zelda, Pokemon, Mario, etc on mobile platforms.

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GaspoweR

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Edited By GaspoweR

And there's a lot of copycats on mobile as well. The moment a clone of one their games comes out, Nintendo isn't going to fuck around and just let that slide.

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GaspoweR

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@budwyzer said:

@unclebenny said:

SING AND REJOICE, EVERYONE, FREE-TO-PAY POKEMON IS COMING!

Master Balls, Rare Candies, and Bicycle/Skates cost diamonds, diamonds cost $$$ ?

Capturing Pokemons and adventuring costs energy. energy can be gained over time or earned by trading in sapphire. sapphire spending is required to fight against certain gym leaders in order to earn badges and it can be earned through grinding and obtained randomly in game or traded for with cash.

Let's also not forget the regular in game currency, which can also be traded for with ruby, which will also be randomly obtained or traded for with cash. Ruby will also allow you to fight with certain Gym Leaders to obtain badges.

let's not forget that you can buy super rare pokemon market. The market will only accept black gold or white silver, which gate locks what type of rare pokemon you can obtain. black gold and white silver will only be awarded when you trade in a full set of 8 gym badges, which can only be obtained through fighting gym leaders, which is only allowable by paying sapphire or ruby, which can be gained through grinding... or by payment through cash.

Or you can just straight up buy everything with cash.

You know a Nintendo rep somewhere is reading this and taking notes and then proceeds to cash in on said ideas and you won't be getting any cent of the millions they'll earn from the ideas they stole from you!

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MillaPhallus

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Hi Alex! Nice post here mate, keep them coming! When it comes to the news of Nintendo getting into the business of mobile game development, I need to admit that like me, millions of gamers must be over the moon. I am pretty sure that things will work out and I can’t wait to see what comes up!