Nintendo’s mobile plans to be announced ‘soon’

It looks like Nintendo’s long-awaited foray into the mobile sector is still on track for the end of the year.

VentureBeat reports that DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako told an audience at GamesBeat 2015 that soon, we should be able to announce the game” adding: I can’t say too much about the Nintendo deal. But it’s a really exciting initiative.”

Japanese analyst Serkan Toto added on Twitter: About that first Nintendo-DeNA mobile game: Expect the unexpected, and soon.”

Asako added that the pair are due to release five games between now and March 2017, although he suggested that the partnership will stretch beyond that, claiming that it’s a really long-term initiative”.

Late Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata previously said in March that the deal with DeNA should result in some sort of output within this year”.

It was announced in March that Nintendo had formed a ‘business and capital alliance’ with DeNA that sees the pair working on new games featuring Nintendo IP plus a new cross-platform membership service for players.

Nintendo said the alliance is intended to complement Nintendo’s dedicated video game systems business and extend Nintendo’s reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide”. At the same time DeNA will also be able to strengthen its gaming business at a global scale by leveraging Nintendo’s IP”.

Only new games optimised for smart device functionality will be created”, so no ports of 3DS or Wii U games. All Nintendo IP are up for grabs in this deal, and Nintendo also sees the chance to promote its more premium experiences on console.

About that first Nintendo-DeNA mobile game: Expect the unexpected, and soon.

— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) October 2, 2015

We will soon see what “soon” means ;). https://t.co/QncxbuSNPO

— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) October 14, 2015