Nintendo Announces Partnership With DeNa, Mobile Games Coming!

Briefly: I never thought I’d see the day.

Nintendo today announced a partnership with DeNa Co. that will bring Nintendo’s franchises to mobile platforms, and also potentially bring Nintendo’s online services into this decade.

According to the release, “both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices. The alliance is intended to complement Nintendo’s dedicated video game systems business and extend Nintendo’s reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide. Under the alliance, DeNA will also be able to strengthen its gaming business at a global scale by leveraging Nintendo’s IP. 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.”

Insane. INSANE. And great to see that both companies will be focussing only on new experiences rather than porting over (and selling us) the same ol’ Nintendo titles that we’ve been buying for years and years. It’ll be very interesting to see just how different these games end up, since if, for instance, you’ve tried to play a platformer on your phone, it typically doesn’t go very well.

The release continues, and arguably gets even more interesting, stating that “Nintendo and DeNA also plan to develop an online membership service that is accessible from smart devices, PC and Nintendo systems, such as the Nintendo 3DS portable system and the Wii U home console. The membership service, which is targeted to launch in the fall of 2015, will be built on DeNA’s extensive experience and capabilities in online membership services.”

Could this be the much asked for and long awaited account services that we’ve been asking for for years? You know, the type that other consoles have had since the last generation? We can only hope! I can barely imagine being able to log into my Nintendo account and redownload titles purchases on another unit… which is really sad as it’s 2015.

What do you think of the announcement? Are you looking forward to playing Nintendo titles on your iPhone? Or will you be sticking with your 3DS? Sound out below!