Nintendo Finally To Dip Its Toe In The Smartphone/Tablet Gaming Market

from the about-time dept

Thu, Mar 19th 2015 8:50pm — Timothy Geigner

Roughly every gamer who grew up in the glorious eighties and who also owns a smart phone has been completely flabbergasted that Nintendo, that icon of our youths, had so steadfastly resisted getting involved in mobile-device gaming unless the hardware had its logo slapped on the back. Add to that the company's drumbeat against emulators on phones and tablets that would allow gamers to play the amazing back-catalog of games-gone-by while simultaneously refusing to release any of those games for those devices themselves and at times it appears that Nintendo hates money. Recently, we even covered Nintendo's odd decision to go the opposite direction and port common smartphone and tablet games to Nintendo handheld hardware. This whole refusal to get with the times has come off as downright crazy.

Well, in a spot of good news, it looks like Nintendo is finally starting to dip its toes in the smartphone and tablet market.

Nintendo announced today that the company has entered into a "business and capital alliance" with Japanese online giant DeNA. As part of this alliance, the two companies will team up (a press release specifically mentions "joint development") to release "gaming applications for smart devices". These games will use Nintendo IP.

You may be thinking, "Duh, why wouldn't they do this?", but that's the question Nintendo fans have been asking for several years now. The fact is that the gaming giant has completely ignored the very existence of these mobile gaming platforms everyone has these days. Still, developing new games using Nintendo IP for phones and tablets is a nice move, but if it really takes off and it's successful? Perhaps that's when we'll finally see the back catalog of games open up officially.

And, while the wording is a bit vague and Nintendo insists it will continue being in the hardware business, check this Nintendo statement out.

Nintendo and DeNA expect to develop a new core system compatible with a variety of devices including PCs, smartphones and tablets as well as Nintendo's dedicated video game systems, and are to jointly develop a membership service utilizing this system, with a launch targeted for the fall of 2015. The companies expect to further enhance their customer relationships through the membership service.

Nintendo games possibly on the PC? It'd be a bold move, and a massive departure from the Nintendo of the past... and it would be smart as hell. Perhaps the gaming giant of my youth is finally embracing the present, if not the future.

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Filed Under: games, smartphones, tablets
Companies: nintendo

26 Comments

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Reader Comments

The First Word

“

You gotta be kidding me

Gamer here. Grew up (partially) in the 80s. Still have fond memories of playing games on the NES and SNES consoles.

"Completely flabbergasted" that Nintendo... has so steadfastly resisted getting involved in mobile-device gaming? Not in the slightest.

First off, bear in mind that Nintendo essentially invented "mobile device gaming." They called it the Game Boy, and it was one of the most successful consoles of all time. Its successors are still doing well today.

But that's not what you're talking about here, is it? You don't really mean mobile devices, you mean smartphones. Well, there's a perfectly good reason for that: Have you ever tried actually playing games on a smartphone? They suck!

Smartphones are great for doing what they're designed for, but console-style gaming, rich in games whose gameplay style requires multiple buttons that can be manipulated by touch (without looking at them) and pressed at the same time is not one of them. It's no wonder that the most popular smartphone games have all had incredibly simplistic interfaces; that's all you can do. If you want to actually play console games on a smartphone OS, you basically need to get an OUYA. Nintendo's been wise to stay out of that particular mess thus far.

—Mason Wheeler

”

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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2015 @ 9:11pm

Perhaps better suited to those tiny telephone screens would be Atari and other video games from the late 1970s. What ever happened to them? And what are fans supposed to do when a gaming company closed down many years ago, apparently taking its copyrights into the grave with it?

At least Nintendo is still around, if the only one remaining from the 'golden era' of computer video games.
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- This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
  
  Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 4:01am
  
  Re: Showing how little Techdirters know about copyright!
  After Masnick's long advocacy of piracy and disparagement of all copyright, it's not surprising that howling ignorance on basics pops up among the gamers:
  "And what are fans supposed to do when a gaming company closed down many years ago, apparently taking its copyrights into the grave with it?" -- Copyright simply recognizes the right to sue in civil court if your intellectual products are stolen or publicly distributed. If no entity exists or one does but has no money or no inclination to sue, then there's effectively no copyright.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:59pm
    
    Re: Re:
    out_of_the_blue doesn't understand copyright.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:07am
  
  Re:
  'Atari' still exists, but it's basically being worn by a completely different company. Incidentally, they just threatened the original developer of Tempest 2000 with a lawsuit for making TxK, which is basically a spiritual successor with similar gameplay.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Sheogorath (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 2:01pm
  
  Re:
  Really? 'Cos I've just won Dragon Quest VI for the SNES in an emulator on my Android.
  
  Android phone is for games
  Android phone is for games
  And Nintendo get the blame
  Games, games, games!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2015 @ 10:17pm

Switching to mobile marked the fall of Square-Enix. It will be the end of Nintendo as well.
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- Sheogorath (profile), 23 Mar 2015 @ 11:49am
  
  Re:
  Correction: seeking as much personal info as possible when switching to mobile apps marked the end of Square-Enix. The Nintendo DS is a mobile device that I've never had a problem purchasing games for because the carts don't snag and send on such things as my device IMEI, phone number, or contacts list.
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Robert (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 12:26am

About time
I just can't imagine how much money Nintendo lost by being so ridiculously dumb by not doing this a lot sooner. I know that I would have purchased a lot of their titles, especially since I am no longer a kid, and don't need to ask mom and dad for the money. Is Nintendo a public or private company? If they are a public company that has to answer to shareholders, I just shows that the investor or shareholders are just as dumb as the management. Why didn't these dumb investors put pressure on Nintendo. Now, that I think about it, it would serve both the investor and Nintendo justice if they completely fail and bankruptcy the company. These didn't listen to there customers or game magazine writers call to release there games on smartphones.
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Candescence (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 2:43am

Well, just don't expect 'proper' Nintendo games on smartphones. Or ports. Or old games.
Sure, it's interesting that they're doing this, but Nintendo have openly stated with this announcement that a) all their smartphone games will be content produced exclusively for smartphones and designed around smartphones, and b) they will not port games made for handhelds/consoles to smartphones. Which will likely include virtual console games.

So don't expect anything that you'd expect Nintendo to usually make, and expect these games to actively advertise Nintendo's hardware and the 'real' games on them. Which is a fairly sensible move, in my opinion. Nintendo should certainly not be trying to port over old games that were never designed for the limited interface of smartphones. Their smartphone efforts will likely be a 'third pillar' as a supplement to handhelds and consoles.

And no, they're not developing content for PCs, that's just their new account system (to replace Nintendo Network accounts and Club Nintendo and basically merge them), which can be accessed via PC.
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Violynne (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 3:11am

I need to remind readers of something: Iwata has been the head of Nintendo for many years now. This is the same guy as saying:

"High Definition? Our consumers don't care for HD." - Result: The Wii, while a very great seller for Nintendo, now holds several "records", such as: Console with the lowest amount of published titles (of an active company), including its own N64, fastest loss of developer support in gaming history, and consumers left with a paper weight since the company itself ditched its own system for one with HD.

"Our customers don't want online gaming." Result: Yeah, those Friend Codes were such a great idea. /sarcasm

In fact, nothing Iwata has done, since taking the lead role, has done any good for Nintendo, which still remains nothing short than a company who offers gimmicks.

Such a shame, because they can still command some of the best games on the market, even if that market is the size of a pinhead.

PS: Nintendo is already working on its latest console. Huh. I wonder why.

Until Nintendo fires Iwata, this isn't the Nintendo we grew up with.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 22 Mar 2015 @ 9:04am
  
  Re:
  "this isn't the Nintendo we grew up with."
  
  The Nintendo we grew up with was a horrible company that engaged in lots of awful behavior. The "old" Nintendo wasn't exactly a company that should be held as an example of a good thing.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 3:48am
  
  Re:
  "In fact, nothing Iwata has done, since taking the lead role, has done any good for Nintendo, which still remains nothing short than a company who offers gimmicks."
  
  So this too is a bad move?
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Ninja (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 4:25am

I do expect any attempts to be riddled with performance crippling and experience shattering DRM, unfortunately. Still, progress! I guess.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:14am
  
  Re: DRM, etc.
  This, in a nutshell. Don't go installing software/firmware from control-freak corporations on your main hardware until someone has cracked it and gone over it with a fine-toothed comb. Unless you like having your devices bricked, that is.
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:12am

You gotta be kidding me
Gamer here. Grew up (partially) in the 80s. Still have fond memories of playing games on the NES and SNES consoles.

"Completely flabbergasted" that Nintendo... has so steadfastly resisted getting involved in mobile-device gaming? Not in the slightest.

First off, bear in mind that Nintendo essentially invented "mobile device gaming." They called it the Game Boy, and it was one of the most successful consoles of all time. Its successors are still doing well today.

But that's not what you're talking about here, is it? You don't really mean mobile devices, you mean smartphones. Well, there's a perfectly good reason for that: Have you ever tried actually playing games on a smartphone? They suck!

Smartphones are great for doing what they're designed for, but console-style gaming, rich in games whose gameplay style requires multiple buttons that can be manipulated by touch (without looking at them) and pressed at the same time is not one of them. It's no wonder that the most popular smartphone games have all had incredibly simplistic interfaces; that's all you can do. If you want to actually play console games on a smartphone OS, you basically need to get an OUYA. Nintendo's been wise to stay out of that particular mess thus far.
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- Ninja (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:52am
  
  Re: You gotta be kidding me
  Hmmm... Yes, regular games on smartphones suck due to the poor controls but are simply GREAT to play on the run or where you can't take your console. Plus you can pair controllers with the phone and use them. So far I've successfully done so with the Wii controller, a bluetooth controller (it seems some models refuse to pair properly but there are some neat stuff like one that has a support to the smartphone on top of it) and a PS3 controller. You can even connect an hdmi cable to the phone and play on a TV set (haven't tried this yet). So basically it all depends on how the thing is implemented.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 6:33am
    
    Re: Re: You gotta be kidding me
    The catch is that taking a game controller larger than your phone with you to play games on the go, usually isn't very practical either.
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    - Ninja (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 9:55am
      
      Re: Re: Re: You gotta be kidding me
      Depends. If I'm in the subway I won't use em and the screen controls are enough but if you are gonna travel and want to do it lightweight it should be no burden to take a controller with you.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2015 @ 8:46am
    
    Re: Re: You gotta be kidding me
    If you're going to go to the effort of dragging a controller along with that you might go all-in and use a tablet instead so you can benefit from the bigger screen and maybe-better hardware.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:58am
  
  Re: You gotta be kidding me
  GBA and SNES emulators on smartphones ect don't suffer from control issues too badly. Past that the joysticks cause problems but many of Nintendo's classics are playable without suffering.
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Jake, 20 Mar 2015 @ 5:16am

Personally, I'm still hoping they'll take the next logical step and just add a SIM card slot to whatever they replace the 3DS with.
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CK20XX (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 7:16am

For me, this news is significant because it indicates we may already be in the midst of the next, great, long-prophecized video game industry crash. There's been a LOT of bad gaming news lately; Jeff Minter being harassed, Maxis shutting down, Sony still in trouble, Kojima leaving Konami, and more. It's hard to not get the feeling that everything is falling apart. The last time that happened, way back in 1983, the console market imploded and the survivors fled to the PC market and helped it boom, which is what freaking Nintendo may actually be trying to do here.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 7:24am

Dear Nintendo
Do not bother, you have already lost me as a gamer a long time ago with the Hardware ID/ Game binding for the console. Additionally your snobbery with specific games is not compatible with how I would like the future of gaming to be.

I greatly enjoyed the NES and SNES, but you are no longer relevant in the market. If you want to become relevant again, please rid your selves of the filth hubris you have an and try to make customers happy again and stop the stupid shit like "we own all videos made of the games you play".

Thank you,

A past but not happy customer!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2015 @ 7:36am

I've read that the company Nintendo is working with had such shady freemium tactics that the Japanese government had to step in. Like another person said, don't expect anything even resembling a port. My guess is the only thing we will see is even more terrible freemium games, just with a Nintendo skin on top.
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Vel the Enigmatic, 20 Mar 2015 @ 10:01am

A bit of a note to Timothy and readers:
Nintendo, from what I've read elsewhere is really only planning on using mobile games largely as an advertisement platform for their home and handheld console stuff rather than a new revenue stream from what I'm understanding. That's the reason they haven't shifted to mobile wholesale, unlike SEGA (but that's a different matter entirely).

Good thing too, in my opinion.
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Sheogorath (profile), 20 Mar 2015 @ 2:05pm

Too little, far too late. I'm already playing old games via various emulators on my phone, and DeNa can just fuck off as well because only my network provider and myself need to know my device IMEI.
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