Nintendo is looking mighty confused these past few days it seems with regards to what it wants to do with mobile devices. First, awhile ago, Nintendo adamantly stated that it wouldn’t be bringing games to mobile platforms. The a rumor popped up that it would be making mini-games for mobile but that was squashed almost immediately by Nintendo in a statement. Now it is confirmed that there is a plan for mobile devices with the company after all.
According to a new statement and information, Nintendo does plan to release applications for mobile devices and maybe even games as well. So what is really going on with Nintendo and mobile devices? Well as it turns out, it is a little of both.
During a business presentation in Tokyo today, President Satoru Iwata announced Nintendo’s first real step towards smartphone development but in regards to an app that could showcase “the value of our entertainment offerings, thus encouraging more people to participate in Nintendo platforms”. This sounds like nothing more than an app that is essentially a big advertisement for Nintendo products. He went on to further speak about the development team that is focused on mobile content and hinted at the possibility of actual game releases.
I have not given any restrictions to the development team, even not ruling out the possibility of making games or using our game characters. However, if you report that we will release Mario on smart devices, it would be a completely misleading statement. – President Satoru Iwata
So what exactly does this mean? Well basically it means that an of the good games Nintendo has in their catalog of titles that people would actually pay for and want to play probably won’t make it to mobile devices. This does means, at least from the sounds of things, we can expect lesser known titles to possible make an appearance on smartphones, probably in a move to bring a bit more awareness to those brands.
In the end this means that anything you would hope to play as an official release from Nintendo won’t happen but the stuff you probably won’t want to pay and play for could end up showing up in Google Play. In fact the company has a time line of this year for a few releases already although that could end up being the mobile billboard app previously mentioned.
Do note though that this is a big step for the company and its previous stance on mobile gaming in general, even if it is junk (from the sounds of it) that gets released. That could mean there is some hope for the future and some actual decent game releases but I wouldn’t hold your breath on it. Nintendo’s full statement can be read here for those of you interested in checking it out.
Website Referenced: Kotaku Australia
