Japanese multinational consumer electronics company, Nintendo is finally bringing its games and characters to mobile after an alliance with a Japanese mobile gaming firm DeNA.
The duo announced a collaboration that will see them jointly develop games for smart devices and a service that lets users play games across a variety of devices, including mobile devices, PCs and Nintendo's own consoles like the 3DS and Wii U is slated to launch in the fall of 2015.
According to the San Francisco-based techcrunch.com web site, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President, at a joint-press conference, revealed that talks began as early as the summer of 2010, but became more concrete last year. Iwata admitted that Nintendo wasn't able to transition to its handheld consoles "as smoothly as expected." He denied that the growth of mobile means that the business of dedicated games consoles is dead but said it would be a waste to not look at opportunities with smartphones.
Techcrunch.com quoted Iwata, as saying, "We have come to hold a stronger passion and vision for the video games console with this decision. Essentially, I believe that compelling mobile games can act as a bridge that pushes more consumers to buy dedicated Nintendo games consoles."
The alliance will see both sides make 22 billion Yen (USD 181 million investments) in each other. That corresponds to around 10 percent of DeNA stock for Nintendo, while DeNA is picking up 1.24 percent of Nintendo.
