Thats ignoring all of the factors that have changed outside of Nintendo. That "creepy jerk" (aka, mobile games) has made some pretty impressive strides and his proposition is a lot more attractive now than it was five years ago. Nintendo isn't the only one who has changed.

Nintendo has a documented tendency to wait until things like this are established before entering the fray.

But isn't that kind of what DeNA is known for?

That is actually my theory. Its why they say 'Platforrm' and not mention anything about hardware. The 'platform' shows their dedication to game development.

I've got no idea

Yeah but would Nintendo be doing this if their traditional gaming systems were doing great? 

Very unlikely. 

They probably wouldn't even have done this if they were really confident in the NX platform. 

Maybe...thats a bit of a silly question though. We have no way of knowing, and honestly, they have been dipping their toes into expansion and mobile-like experiences for a while now. Saying "Nintendo would never make mobile games" is based on virtually no evidence and going so far as to imply that they are doing this due to a weak future outlook based on NX forecasts is stretching this lack of evidence even thinner...

They saw a source of profit, which had reached a point of low risk and high reward, and decided to pursue this source of profit.

Well I know what I'm listening to for the next half-hour.

@OT, he would say that even if it wasn't true, and I'm sure some will think it is untrue. I do think people have been jumping to conclusions, as I've seen/heard some saying this represents a reversal from his comments last year. I don't think it does, and in fact I don't see how it possibly could. Although this deal was just announced recently, surely it was inked months ago. Isn't this the "mystery tech acquisition" Nintendo made in Q4 2014? It certainly fits the bill. That would mean Nintendo has actually been planning this for at least a year, and the fact that they'll have their first mobile game ready to release within the year supports the idea that this has been in the works for more than a few months.

So, think about everything they did within the past year. All of the new hardware (amiibo, New 3DS) and games they've announced and released, the cross-medium promotion strategy with their IP. All that time, they were already planning on taking the plunge with mobile this year. From afar, the mobile shift looks like another attempt to return to profitability after other efforts fell through, but all of these things are actually part of the same strategy. The details of it are just being drip-fed to the public over the course of a couple of years.

But Nintendo never shut them down for good. If the conversation went on it's because Nintendo was, at the very least, interested in the proposition.
And as you know, Nintendo is not one to jump on something just because it's there. They only do it when they see the time has come for them.

The current handheld situation has been going on at least since 2012 when 3DS failed to replicate DS' success. And it was obvious why it wasn't selling DS numbers.
They also have Wii U as proof that the casuals were long gone.

Adding 3DS sales and Wii U's inability to resonate with casual gamers, the decision was probably made a long time ago. They just waited for a partnership that made sense to them.

That's not what I'm saying at all.

Last gen, Nintendo sold 250 million units of hardware and about 1.8 billion units of software, they made a ton of money and were in a great financial state.

This generation, Nintendo is on track to sell about 1/3 that amount of hardware & software while also posting a loss in the last 3 years. That's not a good place to be in and what if that decline continues next gen? Can Nintendo get by from selling 50 million units of hardware and 200-300 million units of software over the course of 5-6 years? Probably not.

Nintendo is simply setting themselves up for a future where they aren't 100% reliant on the success of 2 products (dedicated handheld and console). It's not like QoL products, Amiibo, or TV/movie licensing are taking away resources from Nintendo's game studios. The only possible concern could be that Mobile games will take away from their traditional software output but with their recent restructuring by bringing together the handheld & console teams and offering a unified architecture/operating system going forward, Nintendo is able to counter that with a more streamlined software development approach.

Branching out and finding new revenue streams is only a good thing and will benefit Nintendo as a whole.

Well I'm not actually talking about the NX. For the NX, they do specifically call it a system. I'm more thinking that the unified service that's meant to replace Club Nintendo could actually be this "Steam-like" platform.

They call it the Nintendo Network, and it connects smart phones, PCs, tablets, consoles, and handhelds to one unified platform. Depending on the platform you're on, you have access to play and purchase different games, but they are all owned under the same NNID umbrella. If you buy a mobile Nintendo game, you're purchasing it through your the eshop on your Nintendo Network app on your phone.

But technically, on that same app on your phone, you could buy a Wii U game and have it instantly download while you're away. And vice-versa; you could purchase your mobile game from your Wii U and have it downloaded to your phone.

This allows them to have you feel like you're still connected to Nintendo, instead of it's individual games, when you're on mobile.

Simultaneously, this can also work as their replacement to Club Nintendo, and the Digital Deluxe Program. Owning the platform, which is required anyway to play Nintendo games, automatically gives you access to digital rewards for purchasing Nintendo content.