Nintendo Commits to Creating Mobile Games With New Partner DeNA

Emily Gera, reporting for Polygon:

Nintendo finally confirmed today it will be making the leap to mobile game development as part of a new partnership with DeNA.

According to a statement released by the companies today, new Nintendo IP will be developed for smart devices and specifically optimized for this platform. In other words, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS you can expect entirely new titles on mobile.

Here’s Nintendo’s announcement of the deal. I’m not sure if it’s a Japanese-to-English translation issue or just dense corporate-ese on the part of Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata, but I found it difficult to parse.

Not sure what to make of this yet, but it sounds like they’re doing what I suggested back in 2013 (part one, part two). As I concluded then:

It’s a choice for Nintendo between playing the actual hand they’ve been dealt, crummy though it may be, or playing the hand they wish they held.

★ Tuesday, 17 March 2015