Nintendo has confirmed it will soon be releasing content for mobile phones. And games could be part of it.
Japanese news outlet Nikkei first reported the news that Nintendo would produce smartphone content earlier this week, which Nintendo partially denied. Turns out they were both kinda right.
At a business presentation in Tokyo today, President Satoru Iwata has announced Nintendo’s first real step towards smartphone development, talking about an app that could showcase “the value of our entertainment offerings, thus encouraging more people to participate in Nintendo platforms.”
Which sounds a lot like an app for advertising Nintendo stuff. So far, so expected, and even that would be a big step for the company. But he later said this:
I have not given any restrictions to the development team, even not ruling out the possibility of making games or using our game characters. However, if you report that we will release Mario on smart devices, it would be a completely misleading statement.
Fine, but any Nintendo game on a phone – regardless of size or characters – would be a big deal given the company’s traditional attitude towards the platform.
In terms of a release schedule, Iwata says “It is our intention to release some application on smart devices this year”.
You can read his full talk on smartphone development below (it’s taken from this official translation of the presentation).
Comments
17 responses to “Nintendo Confirms It Will Make Apps (And Maybe Games) For Phones”
Miiverse app it is
I would love a Miiverse app.
I don’t think I want to see Nintendo games on smart devices, but that may be because I don’t have any smart devices.
Am I the only one that thinks phone apps isn’t the answer. Most games that make money are freemium bullshit that i want nothing to do with. How about they divert all of their attention into selling some damn consoles and making exclusive deals with other companies.
There’s a massive back catalog of games they could re invent. They don’t need to go after call of duty or what ever else.
I totally agree with you.
I also think chasing AC or CoD etc. is also the wrong move, unless they had hardware that would kick the shit out of a PS4, why bother? I think many people would be happy to own a PS4 *and* a nintendo console, and would want the Ninty for the exclusives and the PS4 (or XB1) for the traditional FPS/Driving games.
I really think most of their troubles were mainly in the naming of the Wii-U, and not having enough *nintendo* titles out for it in the first year. Then by the time there were good games, the console was already old news, and still felt like ‘going back to the Wii’, which was a turn-off.
I think a price cut is all is needed.
I bought one at half price and all it does is gather dust.
I bought one at half price and it got the majority of my gaming attention since, because I had Pikmin 3, NSMWiiU, Zelda WWHD and Mario 3DWorld to play. Wonderful 101 is on my list of games to buy next once I finish Bravely Default and some of my other games yet to be played on my PC.
Nintendo 3DS phone?
Still think they’re going to do the NSMB style minigames.
I don’t believe they would release a major game on a phone. An app maybe, but not a game. That would mean they are competing with 3DS sales and why the hell would they want to do that after all of the effort they needed to go to to make the 3DS a success?
if Nintendo made a smartphone I would be first in line on release day.
Pokemon on iOS would be the shhhittt.
EDIT: Dragon Quest Monsters, too.
I’m imagining things just like ‘Nintendo Channel’ on the Wii that are purely advertising and keeping up with Nintendo news.
On the more hopeful side, we could be looking at things that tie in with your console like Miiverse.
What if we report that they’re releasing Zelda on smart devices?
Nintendo has made a right decision to make into App development for Mobile. They have been some fantastic work in gaming consoles. on other hand Grand Theft Auto for Windows Phone launched by Rockstar. For more details http://www.gadgetride.com/news/game-grand-theft-auto-for-windows-phone-launched-by-rockstar.html
They aren’t making Nintendo games for mobiles. No way.
They’ll make an app with iwata asks and videos promoting games. It’ll probably have competitions and twitter/facebook integration. I imagine they’d also let you sign into Miiverse and your Nintendo eShop account and buy games to be downloaded to your Nintendo device.
thank bro!