Today’s bombshell announcement from Nintendo that it will embrace the smartphone gaming market may come as a surprise to hardcore Nintendo fans, who have long believed that Nintendo would stand as a bastion against games that are considered “not real gaming” by many. Nintendo announced a partnership with Japanese mobile firm DeNA to begin building a brand service similar to how Steam functions for the PC, but for mobile ecosystems like iOS and Android.
While that announcement itself is rather interesting, the more interesting news is the backflip Iwata seems to be doing during the announcement. His statement about mobile gaming may seem confusing to those who remember his statement from earlier this year during Nintendo’s investor Q&A meeting.
Today, Iwata said he’s never ruled out smartphone gaming and that Nintendo was looking for the right time to leverage the market.
Please note, however, that I was not dismissing the idea of making games for smart devices per se as I stated at the January 2014 Corporate Management Policy Briefing that a development team of Nintendo would create a smart device application, and please also note that I had not ruled out the possibility of making games when we make use of these devices.
What Iwata seems to be referring to here is a rumor from Japanese publication Nikkei that Nintendo would enter the smartphone market back in 2014. A Nintendo representative released the following statement correcting that rumor:
Nikkei’s article contains information previously stated by Mr Iwata during past press conferences, including statements which relate to Nintendo’s willingness to make use of smart devices to promote our products.
However during such past announcements Mr. Iwata has also stated that Nintendo’s intention is not to make Nintendo software available on smart devices and as such, we can confirm that there are no plans to offer minigames on smartphone devices.
While that statement didn’t come from Iwata itself, his statement at the latest investor Q&A session does mention that he’s been opposed to creating smartphone games in the past. In fact, Iwata has seemed reluctant right up until this announcement of the partnership, so it could be that he was overruled by Nintendo’s board of directors and is trying to save face.
In the past, I have opposed making smartphone and tablet versions of Nintendo titles. Prices for content aimed at smartphones and tablets are falling quickly. I am still wary of the category. We intend to develop products that will allow customers to identify with Nintendo products and make people pay attention to Nintendo games.
Iwata goes on to mention some sort of Mii app that will debut on smartphones, allowing consumers to make custom Miis of themselves and use them as social media icons. No where does Iwata mention that Nintendo plans on entering the game market and by his statement above, it seems as though he’s done a 180 in a very short amount of time.
So while Iwata can say he’s never denied the possibility of Nintendo making smartphone games in the future, he has stated that he is opposed to it. What changed? We’re not sure, but it could have strange implications for Nintendo leadership going forward.
[Image credit: The Verge]
