Has Nintendo sold its soul?

Nintendo is a company that is particularly dear to the hearts of many 20-30 year old generation X/Y straddlers such as myself. We grew up with Mario and Link and Donkey Kong, and even today, whilst many of us might have neglected the bright colours of Nintendo for the darker and more 'adult' thrills offered by Sony and Microsoft, there's a soft spot that refuses to scab. The latest announcement from “The Big N,” however, might just do the trick, as it would appear that after decades of sticking to their guns, Nintendo are finally ready to join the bandwagon and descend into mediocrity.

I'm speaking of course, of the company's decision to team up with free-to-play (or 'pay-to-win') mobile gaming company DeNA to bring new titles to smart devices. The two companies will enter into a capital alliance by the 2^nd of April (so there's still a chance it could all turn out to be a big joke come April Fool's Day!) that will see Nintendo acquire 10% of DeNA’s outstanding stock for about 22 billion yen (about £123 million) and DeNA acquire 1.24% of Nintendo’s stock for approximately the same amount. To their credit, president Satoru Iwata did state that the games would not be ports of existing titles, but completely fresh experiences built from the ground-up specifically for smartphones and tablets.

Nintendo has teamed up with free-to-play mobile gaming company DeNA to bring new titles to smart devices

Many Nintendo fans fear that this means the company is abandoning its struggling Wii U console, a worry exacerbated by the announcement of a “Brand new concept” codenamed the “NX.” I don't see it that way though. In fact, having read through the press release and watched the live announcement from yesterday (which you can see in full below, but I warn you; it's very long and exceptionally boring), I personally see it as a bold step forward, and one that doesn't necessarily mean Nintendo will be abandoning its roots. And as far as the NX is concerned, it's far too early to speculate, so let's not.

Nintendo/DeNA Announcement – 17/03/15

It states in the press release that this 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.” Notice that it says “Complement,” and not “Replace.” Of course, the key cause for concern is the quality (or lack thereof) of the existing DeNA games, which has been lacking to say the least. With the backing of such a major company though, there is every chance that the company can pull itself out of its self-imposed freemium rut and produce something of worth, or at the very least something disposable that will make enough money so that they can continue to fund the games we actually care about.

Iwata said: “Nintendo has made this decision because we have concluded that the approach of making use of smart devices is a rational way for us to encourage even more people around the world to recognise the great value of the wonderful game software available on our dedicated game systems.” In other words, he sees their mobile games as a potential gateway into the “Real stuff,” which is no bad thing. What did DeNA president and CEO Isao Moriyasa have to say of the partnership? I WOULD say “Who cares,” but in the spirit of full disclosure, he simply beamed: “I grew up playing Nintendo games, and I’m already excited that I will soon be able to play Nintendo IP games on smart devices.” Well, he wasn't exactly going to rock the boat now was he?

Nintendo also announced a “Brand new concept” codenamed the “NX” and a new membership service

Nintendo and DeNA also used the opportunity of the live announcement to unveil a new membership service, which will support various platforms such as PCs, smartphones, tablets and all of Nintendo’s hardware devices, including the upcoming (although not until at least the end of next year) NX. This new membership service, which will replace the existing “Club Nintendo” service, is slated to launch in the northern hemisphere this Autumn, with roll out windows for specific regions to be revealed at a future date. Iwata added: “Now that we are going to release games on smart devices and make use of globally widespread PCs and smart devices for our new membership service, we would like to offer more consumers with software that is suited to their tastes. In other words, we are challenging ourselves to redefine what 'Nintendo platforms' mean.” There's a LOT of hyperbole and nonsense here, but in general it all sounds rather positive to me. But then. I'm a softie at heart.

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and Nintendo fan from Kidderminster in the UK. Whilst he is optimistic about this announcement, he REALLY doesn't want to see Mario Crush Saga, Mega Man Run or Flappy Zelda popping up on the App Store any time soon!