Nintendo Wants to Release More Mobile Games

Nintendo is aiming to up its output as far as mobile games are concerned, and is looking for game developers in order to do so, according to a Wall Street Journal report from Tuesday.

The company is already in partnership with the DeNA mobile developer, formed back in 2015, but, according to the report, Nintendo has also recently been involved with partnership talks with GungHo Online Entertainment.

GungHo is the developer responsible for the Puzzle and Dragons series, which has games available for smartphones and the Nintendo 3DS line of handheld units.

No Official Commentary on These Talks

GungHo, however, denied that any talks have taken place to the Wall Street Journal, and have not been responsive to requests for confirmation. Nintendo has also declined to comment.

Four Mobile Games Since March 2016

Since March last year, Nintendo has released a total of four mobile games, which fell short of the original output goal of five games by March this year.

The fact that they did not manage to meet this goal is probably why the company is now looking to partner with new mobile game developers, although the growth of the mobile gaming industry as a whole likely plays a part as well.

A Rise In Mobile Gaming

According to a report recently released by Newzoo, a digital data firm, the mobile gaming industry is on on the rise, and stands as the largest growing sector in gaming.

As popular as mobile activity like Australian Open tennis betting may be these days, mobile games account for more than 40% of the industry’s worth this year, at a total of US$50 billion.

A Surprising Shift for Nintendo

The fact that Nintendo is interested in increasing its output of mobile games comes as a surprising shift for the company.

Up until just a few years ago it seemed likely that Nintendo would never branch out beyond producing its own consoles, let alone release a brand-new, original Super Mario game for players to enjoy on their smartphones!

The company being willing to double down in terms of its mobile output is even more astonishing when one takes into account that it was quite open about the fact that its second mobile game to be released, Super Mario Run, did not meet the sales expectations the company had.

The game, although provided by means of a free download, requires a fee of US$10 to be paid of players wish to go beyond the first few levels, a factor which may have influenced its poor reception.

Another Side to Nintendo’s Possible Move to Mobile

Regardless of these factors, however, there is another possible side to the potential move of Nintendo to mobile: it may be looking to converts players who primarily enjoy mobile games into Nintendo fans!

According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has seen an increase in sales of Animal Crossing games for the 3DS since it got released as a mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, in November this year.

TAROT