With declining sales in their Nintendo Wii console, the company has announced they will be making some moves into other markets and they have finally decided to take on mobile gaming. Working alongside DeNA, one of the largest mobile gaming companies in Japan, Nintendo will hope to break into this market in a big way. What makes this venture interesting is that Nintendo will be using its long loved characters with the likes of Mario and Luigi to help push their products to the mass market. This will give the team an instant edge over its competitors and provide an added marketing advantage not available to its rivals.
The plan for the new games will be to create something of high originality that is specifically designed for smartphones in mind. Customers may be disappointed to find out they will avoid remaking classics such as Super Mario Bros that was first launched in 1985 on the NES that truly started Nintendo’s formidable drive of the home gaming revolution. The deal will see Nintendo buy a 10% stake in DeNA for ¥22 billion ($182 million) and DeNA will acquire a 1.24% stake in Nintendo for an equal sum $182 million. The two companies will also develop a new membership service that brings together smart devices and standalone video game systems.
Image source: gameinformer.com
The service should include Nintendo’s new NX game system which may be launched as their next generation console. With the decline of the Wii, Nintendo will be keen to offer the market a powerful gaming console that will rival those of Xbox and Playstation. Nintendo have always produced consoles with lower specifications than their rivals, rather they have concentrated on creativity and originality in their games, but with many gamers wanting a more realistic and lifelike gaming experience now, they may decide to push the hardware side more than the software next time around.