Nintendo Co. plans to offer its game “The Legend of Zelda” for smartphones, people familiar with the matter said, the latest step by the Kyoto company to expand its mobile-games lineup.

Nintendo has been building its mobile presence over the past year after years of focusing on games for its own hardware. It has already released “Miitomo,” “Fire Emblem Heroes” and “Super Mario Run” for smartphones and has announced plans for a mobile version of “Animal Crossing.”

The people familiar with the matter said the “Animal Crossing” smartphone app is likely to be released in the latter half of 2017, and “The Legend of Zelda” would follow that, although they cautioned that the timing and order of the releases could be changed. Nintendo is developing the games with Tokyo-based DeNA Co. 

It isn’t clear yet how Nintendo would charge for the mobile version of “The Legend of Zelda.” Nintendo charges about $10 for players to download the full version of the Mario smartphone game and offers in-app purchases for its other games.Representatives of Nintendo and DeNA declined to comment.

The mobile games have yet to add significantly to the bottom line. Nintendo said that it earned less than ¥20 billion ($176.4 million) from smartphone games in the fiscal year ended March 2017.

Nintendo’s president, Tatsumi Kimishima, has said the company plans to expand its mobile lineup to boost revenue. The mobile games are also intended to attract casual game players and encourage them to buy Nintendo hardware.

Macquarie Capital Securities analyst David Gibson said he expected the company would earn more than ¥100 billion from smartphone games in the current fiscal year.

The mobile game “Pokémon Go,” which is produced by Nintendo affiliate Pokémon Co., enjoyed a breakout success last summer. Nintendo owns a 32% stake in Pokémon Co., and profit from “Pokémon Go” helped Nintendo earn ¥20 billion from its investments in the year ended March 2017.

Pokémon Co. is planning a new card-game app, two people familiar with the matter said. Pokémon Co. already makes physical cards that players collect and use in competitions. A company spokeswoman declined to comment.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendo-developing-the-legend-of-zelda-smartphone-game-1494820189

As long as they dont overprice it like with super mario run, I will look forward to it

Oh very nice! Still having a blast with FE Heroes!

I have no idea how one could make a Smartphone Zelda game, let's wait and see...

Man they still haven't shown the Animal Crossing app while the Fire Emblem app it was announced alongside already launched. I stand by the idea that they're waiting until Animal Crossing for Switch is revealed, thus it's guaranteed to be announced at E3 if the app is to release this year, though it could always be delayed yet again.

Ka-pi96 said: Screw you @Pokemon Company! Been wanting a new card game game from them ever since the Gameboy TCG game. And now they're doing one for mobile instead of console?

yeah that game was so fun I just want them to make another one like it but updated and stuff :(

Zelda Maker 👀

Probably just a Top down Zelda (Zelda I, ALttP) with a few dungeons and small overworld. Maybe a procedurally generated, infinite dungeon? Well, randomly generated rooms, not really a "dungeon" per se.

I don't think Mario Run is overpriced. Think how much it would cost as a download game on 3Ds or Switch. 10$ seems like a good guess. Why should it be cheaper, only because it releases on phones instead?

Because the price tendencies on mobile are way different than the other gaming markets. Mobile users are used to get their games free to play an pay for the microtransactions later, and even if you have to pay, very few games actually reach 10$. That price on PC/Consoles is a bargain, but on mobiles is way more than the amount accepted.

Yeah, but if this pricing scheme keeps staying it practically prevents games with any development budget on that platform. You can do cheapest games in masses and hopes something catches on and becomes a Temple Run or Angry Birds, but you cannot sustainably develop games with any real budget with this pricing.