For the longest time, the only place where you could play Nintendo games was on Nintendo hardware. Without owning either a home console or handheld system crafted by the Japanese company, there was no way to enjoy major licenses like Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda.
Nintendo has shown an apprehension to change, but it’s finally decided to spread its games to one of the widest audiences possible—mobile users. Nintendo is teaming up with DeNA, a large Japanese mobile gaming group, to bring classic characters to your phone. Instead of simply porting existing games over, the two companies will work hand in hand to craft new, touch-specific applications that make use of the hardware.
“To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimized 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," DeNA said in a statement.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has dipped its toe into the hot mobile space. Earlier this year, the company partnered with GungHo to announce a Super Mario-themed version of the massively popular mobile app Puzzle and Dragons. GungHo’s hit mobile game has been downloaded 32 million times in Japan, so the benefits of teaming up with such a significant publisher are clear.
The advantages to bringing Nintendo properties to mobile devices might be even clearer. By 2017, mobile games are expected to bring in $40.9 billion in revenue, with $25.8 billion coming from smartphones and $15.1 billion generated from tablets. That’s more than twice the cash collected in 2013, so by placing highly recognizable faces on devices almost everyone has at least one of, Nintendo has opened up a wide new estuary to feed into its revenue sea.
Nintendo might just be the biggest player to enter the mobile gaming world yet. Where developers like Rovio and Halfbrick had to prove themselves before finding success, Nintendo comes in with a sterling track record. Even so, success is never a guarantee. This is a bold move that few ever expected to come to fruition, so time will tell how the buying public will respond.
"This is basically a bombshell, especially given that Nintendo hasn't been really fond of the smartphone gaming market," said Serkan Toto, a video game consultant based in Tokyo. “So they just shook up the entire game world."
