Nintendo Entering Smart Device Market With DeNA Co. Alliance

Written by Brandon Hofer on March 17, 2015

News: Nintendo is teaming up with another company to enter the smart device category and to help develop Club Nintendo’s replacement.

Nintendo has revealed that they have entered into a business and capital alliance with DeNA Co., Ltd. to “develop and operate new game apps for smart devices and build a new multi-device membership service for consumers worldwide.” In order to create new experiences for smart devices, all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by this alliance. What this means is that they will have the opportunity to explore more experiences on Nintendo’s dedicated gaming platforms.

This new alliance is intended to complement Nintendo’s dedicated video games systems business and extend Nintendo’s reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide. Under this new agreement DeNA will be able to strengthen its gaming business at a global scale by leveraging Nintendo’s IP. To help ensure the quality of the games that will come out of this alliance, only new games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS. In other words, you aren’t going to be playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or Super Mario Bros 3. on smart devices.

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.

As part of the long-term relationship and commitment by each company,Nintendo and DeNA have also agreed to form a capital alliance. Under the capital alliance, Nintendo will acquire 15,081,000 of DeNA's treasury shares, which corresponds to 10.00 percent of its total outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen. DeNA will simultaneously acquire 1,759,400 of Nintendo's treasury shares, which corresponds to 1.24 percent of its outstanding stock, for a total of approximately 22 billion yen. The payment is due April 2, 2015.

What do you think about this new arrangement? What games do you hope to see made for smart devices? Tell us what you think below.