By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
RolStoppable said:
On one hand it's very disappointing that Nintendo goes third party, but on the other hand it means that people who have been waiting to play the prestigious Nintendo games on non-Nintendo platforms will have to wait many, many years longer now.

This alliance encompasses two key points:

1. Nintendo and DeNA have formed a development team that will use Nintendo IPs for smartphone games. Presumably Nintendo will first and foremost take a supervisor role in this, so it won't be a significant drain on Nintendo's own development resources.

2. The online membership service was said to replace Club Nintendo, so it's pretty clear that we are talking about a proper unified account system here, not a paid subscription service or anything the like.

As for the co-existence of Nintendo IP on smartphones and the usual Nintendo games on Nintendo hardware, it's not an impossible task. Before the Wii launched, some analysts believed that it would cut into DS sales in the unlikely case that it becomes successful. What actually happened is that both devices boosted each other's hardware and software sales because people couldn't get enough of Nintendo content. The important thing here was that both, hardware and software, differed between the two devices. Nintendo's outright refusal to port existing titles to smartphones means that they already got something right.

Regarding competition in the mobile space, Nintendo and DeNA have the right idea. Intellectual properties are the biggest and most important differentiator when it comes to video game software. To explain this in the simplest way, I'll just say Dynasty Warriors blows and Hyrule Warriors rocks.

But nintendo is not going third party.