14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo has announced that the company has entered a business alliance with Japanese online games giant DeNA, in order to release games for mobile platforms.
The Big N has resisted the pull of smart devices for years, and now it seems like it's cracking up under all the pressure. The deal entails new games being developed for smartphones and tablets, using the characters and worlds of popular Nintendo franchises.
The alliance between the two is meant to complement Nintendo's existing video game systems business, and not to replace it, Games Beat reveals.
This will give Nintendo the means to extend its reach into the vast maelstrom of mobile gaming, but the company does not intend to port any of its existing or future titles to smart devices.
Instead, mobile users who don't own a Wii U home console or Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming device will be able to enjoy new original titles, created and optimized especially for smart device functionality, in order to ensure the same high quality that Nintendo customers expect from their products.
DeNA is a huge provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites, who also owns one of the most popular mobile gaming platforms in Japan, Mobage.
The deal has the potential to benefit everyone involved
The deal will strengthen DeNA's gaming business at a global scale and improve its reputation as an online provider, by using the popular Nintendo IPs, and Nintendo expects to lure more customers to its proprietary devices by showing them what they're currently missing.
In addition to this, Nintendo and DeNA are planning to develop a new core membership service, compatible not only with the Big N's dedicated video games hardware but also with PCs, smartphones and tablets, scheduled to take off during the fall of 2015.
The new membership service is meant to enhance the companies' customer relationship, and is likely one of the causes of Club Nintendo closing shop.
This might translate into good news for existing Nintendo fans, as they will finally get a proper account system, built on DeNA's extensive experience in online membership systems.
For the time being, we are still waiting for the details on the entire experience and what the new account system's relationship with the Nintendo Network will be.
It seems that Nintendo's partnership with GungHo, resulting in a Mario-themed edition of the Japanese mobile hit Puzzle & Dragons for the 3DS, and the introduction of Pokemon Shuffle, an experimental free-to-play puzzle game, were only the tip of the iceberg.