First Nintendo smartphone game due out this year

Nintendo’s first titles developed specifically for mobile phones should be out by the end of the year.

"Regarding the individual video game titles, when it will be launched, we will be making the announcement when each of those games are ready," boss Satoru Iwata told investors in a Q&A, as reported by Polygon. "At least, however, we believe that there is no mean of collaboration [sic] if we can’t launch anything, at least once, or some sort of output within this year.”

In the English translation of the official announcement presentation, Iwata expanded on the new strategy somewhat, saying that its new membership service will span consoles, mobiles and PCs, presumably mirroring the single login system employed by Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo, together with DeNA, will jointly develop a new membership service which encompasses the existing Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX, and smart devices and PCs, and Nintendo will be the primary party to operate this new membership service,” he explained.

Unlike the Club Nintendo membership service that Nintendo has been operating, the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses. This membership will form one of the core elements of the new Nintendo platform that I just mentioned.”

Iwata also reaffirmed that its smartphone games will not simply be ports of existing titles.

Please also note that, even if we use the same IP on our dedicated video game systems and smart devices, we will not port the titles for the former to the latter just as they are,” he added. There are significant differences in the controls, strengths and weaknesses between the controllers for dedicated game systems and the touchscreens of smart devices.

We have no intention at all to port existing game titles for dedicated game platforms to smart devices because if we cannot provide our consumers with the best possible play experiences, it would just ruin the value of Nintendo’s IP. For smart devices, even in the case where we utilize the same IP, we will create completely new game software that will perfectly match the play styles of smart devices.