Nintendo has been behind schedule when it comes to its mobile game production, but the company is reportedly taking steps to hasten the process to bring its IP onto mobile devices.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Nintendo is looking to partner up with established mobile game developers to push out titles faster. Nintendo’s reported new plan collaborate with other software developers in addition to DeNA to raise the pace of new titles. However, Nintendo doesn’t plan to take ownership stakes in its future partners.
Nintendo formed a partnership with DeNA in 2015 and took a 10 percent stake in the mobile game company. However, the promised five mobile games by March 2017 has fallen short.
The only Nintendo-based mobile games are Miitomo, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which launched in November. The global phenomenon, Pokémon Go, is a product of The Pokémon Company, not Nintendo, but the boost in software sales of Pokémon games have been directly tied to the popularity of Pokémon Go. Nintendo is looking to bring more eyes onto its IP with more mobile games.
In the fiscal year that ended on March 2017, Nintendo reported less than $176 million in revenue from its smartphone games like Super Mario Run. That said, Nintendo executives are more interested in converting Nintendo mobile gamers into hardware and software consumers than to squeeze out more mobile revenue.
The strategy seems to pay off, too. The Wall Street Journal reported sales of Animal Crossing titles for the Nintendo 3DS have risen in recent weeks after the introduction of the free-to-download smartphone title, so it is a good sign for the company.
WSJ also reports that Nintendo has been in contact with GungHo Online Entertainment, the creators of the Puzzles and Dragons mobile game but a GungHo spokeswoman denied that talks with Nintendo took place.
So what do you think of getting more Nintendo mobile games? What IP or type of mobile game do you want to see? Let us know in the comments section below.
