Iwata: Nintendo was not ‘cornered’ into mobile games push

Nintendo’s change of mind in deciding to bring its titles to smartphones did not come about because the company believed it had run out of options.

That’s according to director and president Satoru Iwata, who explained in a now translated transcription of a chat with investors the reasons behind his change of attitude towards developing titles for non-Nintendo hardware.

“A variety of media have written that Nintendo is cornered a number of times, but I do not think we were cornered at all,” he argued. “Needless to say, we are also aware that unless a company can deal with the rapidly changing world, it will face decline. But I would like to emphasise here that our alliance [with DeNA] is not the result of a lack of better options for a cornered company.

“When I first met with [DeNA president and CEO] Mr Moriyasu I started to wonder if there was anything we could work on together. After that, the more we discussed, the more I realized that DeNA knew so many things that Nintendo did not. Mr Moriyasu even said that DeNA did not mind remaining in the background as long as it could collaborate with Nintendo, and I came to realize that this could be a very productive opportunity as in comparison to what Nintendo might have been able to achieve by itself.

“This is why I just said that this is not a decision made out of a lack of options. In fact, Nintendo has received a number of proposals from a variety of companies. Among them, Nintendo has proactively chosen DeNA.”

Last week, we reported that DeNA has been talking to Nintendo since 2010.

MCV has the full story.