News: Nintendo Bringing Franchises to Smartphones with DeNA Page 1

Nintendo Bringing Franchises to Smartphones with DeNA

17.03.2015

Nintendo Bringing Franchises to Smartphones with DeNA on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Nintendo have announced a partnership with DeNA to develop new game apps for smart devices and a membership system.

Leveraging the strength of Nintendo's decade old, popular franchises, both companies will be working on new apps based on Nintendo's IP for smart devices, intended to complement Nintendo's own range of console titles.

In order to ensure "quality of game experience that consumers expect," only new and original games that are optimised for smart devices will be created, rather than direct ports from Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Interestingly, "all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development," confirmed Nintendo today to the press. The intention is that these titles become a stepping stone, almost, to "explore more premium experiences on Nintendo's dedicated video game platforms."

In addition, Nintendo and DeNA will be working on an online membership system that's accessible from smart devices, PC and Nintendo's own systems - Wii U and 3DS. Aimed for release towards the end of this year, the system will be "built on DeNA's extensive experience and capabilities in online membership services."

As part of the agreement, Nintendo will acquire 15,081,000 of DeNA's treasury shares, which corresponds to 10.00 percent of its total outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen.

In addition, DeNA will simultaneously acquire 1,759,400 of Nintendo's treasury shares, which corresponds to 1.24 percent of its outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen.

What do you think of the partnership and the potential for Nintendo IPs on smart devices?

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Sonic_13 17.03.2015#1

Here's the full release in English: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2015/150317/index.html

In the full release they mentioned Club Nintendo and it sounds like the new service being co-developed is the replacement (or part of it) for Club Nintendo.

Luna Eriksson 17.03.2015#2

Even though my experiences with Japanese phone games are almost entirely good ones. Yet I can not help feeling a little suspicious and getting bad vibes from this as the CD-i games are still on my mind.. Would be very damaging towards the brand if that repeated, especially now.

The difference between illusion and reality is vague to the one who suffers from the former and questionable for the one suffering form the later.

Flynnie 17.03.2015#3

The beggining of the end, they have literally opened Pandora's box. This is what happens when you trade publically I guess, the shareholders get a say. Unfortunately I can see this marking the end of Nintendo as we know it.

There will now be a SEGA like transition to developing games for other platforms and then basically bankruptcy. I reckon Nintendo will release one more platform and then rely on others to get their games out. Unfortunately once people realise they can get Nintendo franchises on other platforms it means that they don't need to buy Nintendo platforms to get their fix.

Alternatively this could really augment their market space and therefore expand their current user base but I can't see this happening.

This won't happen "overnight" but more over a 10 year period where Nintendo will cease to basically exist as the powerhouse they are today.

RIP Nintendo

( Edited 17.03.2015 14:44 by Flynnie )

darkflame (guest) 17.03.2015#4

bah.

crackedthesky 17.03.2015#5

Flynnie said:
The beggining of the end, they have literally opened Pandora's box. This is what happens when you trade publically I guess, the shareholders get a say. Unfortunately I can see this marking the end of Nintendo as we know it.
There will now be a SEGA like transition to developing games for other platforms and then basically bankruptcy. I reckon Nintendo will release one more platform and then rely on others to get their games out. Unfortunately once people realise they can get Nintendo franchises on other platforms it means that they don't need to buy Nintendo platforms to get their fix.
Alternatively this could really augment their market space and therefore expand their current user base but I can't see this happening.
This won't happen "overnight" but more over a 10 year period where Nintendo will cease to basically exist as the powerhouse they are today.
RIP Nintendo

I think this is a little extreme. I mean, developing for PC and smartphones alongside consoles and handhelds didn't put Sony under, and Microsoft did it from the Xbox's inception. Nintendo is actually the last of the big three to hop into this market--it didn't sink anyone else, why would it end Nintendo?

I think the idea of Nintendo exiting the market is a sort of golden parachute for the company. At the drop of a hat, they could announce the next major Pokemon title as an app for iOS and Android, and they would almost immediately be the most successful app developer in the world. They don't need to enter the smartphone market, but if they do, they're going to completely dominate it.

The biggest loss would be on the hardware side--it's arguable that backlights, touch screens, lithium-ion batteries, and 3D as we know them today are heavily due to Nintendo's pioneering of them. Hell, DSiware is one of the first examples of an app store in modern society. But again, making smartphone apps doesn't necessitate an exit of the hardware market. If Sony can afford to keep supporting the Vita alongside their smartphone apps, Nintendo can surely do it with the much more successful 3DS line.

Edit this post:

[quote][b]Flynnie said:[/b]<br/>The beggining of the end, they have literally opened Pandora's box. This is what happens when you trade publically I guess, the shareholders get a say. Unfortunately I can see this marking the end of Nintendo as we know it.

Alternatively this could really augment their market space and therefore expand their current user base but I can't see this happening.

This won't happen "overnight" but more over a 10 year period where Nintendo will cease to basically exist as the powerhouse they are today.

RIP Nintendo[/quote]

I think the idea of Nintendo exiting the market is a sort of golden parachute for the company. At the drop of a hat, they could announce the next major Pokemon title as an app for iOS and Android, and they would almost immediately be the most successful app developer in the world. They don't need to enter the smartphone market, but if they do, they're going to completely dominate it.

Save Changes Cancel Full Edit

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

Marzeee 17.03.2015#6

The fact is, like 90% of smartphone games are trash, then there's like 5% fad games, that are big for a short period and then the other 5% are genuinely decent games. This just sounds like more trash games, by the sounds of it, but featuring iconic IP's that are famous for their high quality games.

This is not a good thing, however you look at it. This is only going to tarnish the Nintendo brand for loyalists (their only audience at the moment).

crackedthesky 17.03.2015#7

Marzy said:
The fact is, like 90% of smartphone games are trash, then there's like 5% fad games, that are big for a short period and then the other 5% are genuinely decent games. This just sounds like more trash games, by the sounds of it, but featuring iconic IP's that are famous for their high quality games.
This is not a good thing, however you look at it. This is only going to tarnish the Nintendo brand for loyalists (their only audience at the moment).

50 million 3DS users would probably disagree that loyalists are Nintendo's only audience.

If anything, smartphone apps will shut up the investors that don't know what they're talking about, while subsequently reminding the people who like good games that they're only going to be found on Nintendo's actual handhelds.

I think it's stupid and didn't need to happen, but it's not going to be the end of Nintendo, and if it makes investors who have no idea how the video game market works stop begging for this to happen, that's always a plus.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

darkflame (guest) 17.03.2015#8

Assuming people with no Nintendo experience dont "get" that they arnt Nintendos typical quality.

Flynnie 17.03.2015#9

My issue with this is that I feel Nintendo are in a more of a precarious situation than Sony and Microsoft (not financially but just future projections) , I feel that having Xbox games on Windows for PC is an extension of what is already a Microsoft platform. The issue is here is the 3rd party support for PS4 and XB1 is more prevalent than the Wii U, just for Fifa and COD alone.

Anyone sitting on the fence wanting to purchase a Nintendo console now may wait because they can get Nintendo games on their smartphone.

I am deeply concerned about this watering down their quality of IP's and detracting from their hardware sales.

Sonic_13 17.03.2015#10

Nintendo isn't exiting the dedicated game market or developing their main games for mobile. We'll never be seeing a full Pokemon title (like X & Y) on mobile, for example.

DeeNA will just be developing mobile "gaming applications" that feature Nintendo IP. Pokemon has already been used a number of times for mobile gaming applications.

crackedthesky 17.03.2015#11

I doubt it. Sony put out apps for Little Big Planet and Beyond and it didn't seem to hurt the sales of the actual games any. I think people are going to be able to differentiate between a game like Pokemon Shuffle and Pokemon X & Y.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

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