We all knew this was coming, but Nintendo took surprisingly long about it. But, they have finally done it, and will be teaming up with DeNA to bring new games based on their classic IP to smartphones.
Now, there’s one thing that you have to be clear about here: This is not to port over existing Nintendo titles to smartphones and tablets. Basically, they will be creating new titles based on their various IP. (So Mario, Zelda and Pokemon, then.)
As much as I might joke, all of Nintendo’s IP is included in this deal, so there are some very interesting possibilities here. They probably won’t use them, but the possibilities exist.
Nintendo did have this to say, however;
“Both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices. To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimised for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system.”
So, there you go. We don’t know if these releases will be global or not, and it is highly possible that Nintendo will want to release the games first as a test in Japan, but it’s also possible that these games won’t ever come out of Japan. But, Nintendo are smart enough to know that the global smartphone market is huge, so I don’t see Japan exclusivity as all that likely. Still, I am intrigued to see what happens here.
