Nintendo Announces a Partnership to Develop Games for Mobile Devices

After years of inactivity in the rapidly expanding mobile gaming space, Nintendo held an unexpected press conference this week to announce a partnership with Japanese mobile developer DeNA Co. to bring the popular gaming company’s content to mobile devices. Nintendo Director and President Satoru Iwata didn’t offer much in the way of specifics, but did note that the company’s offerings would amount to more than just simple ports of existing games. Doing so, he explained, wouldn’t be offering players the best possible gaming experience.

There are significant differences in the controls, strengths and weaknesses between the controllers for dedicated game systems and the touchscreens of smart devices. We have no intention at all to port existing game titles for dedicated games platforms to smart devices because if we cannot provide our consumers with the best possible play experiences, it would just ruin the value of Nintendo’s IP [intellectual property].

During the conference, the company also alluded to the “NX,” an unknown product some anticipate will be the next big Nintendo console.