Nintendo moving to mobile with DeNA, announces new hardware
Iwata says new "NX" hardware is proof of commitment to dedicated devices
Nintendo has formed a comprehensive new alliance with DeNA that will make every one of the company's famous IPs available for mobile development.
The bedrock of the deal is a dual stock purchase, with each company buying ¥22 billion ($181 million) of the other's treasury shares. That's equivalent to 10 per cent of DeNA's stock, and 1.24 per cent of Nintendo. The payments will complete on April 2, 2015.
What this will ultimately mean for the consumer is Nintendo IP on mobile, "extending Nintendo's reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide." There will be no ports of existing Nintendo games, according to information released today, but, "all Nintendo IP will be eligible for development and exploration by the alliance." That includes the "iconic characters" that the company has guarded for so long.
No details on the business model that these games and apps will be released under were offered, though Nintendo may well be reluctant to adopt free-to-play at first. The information provided to the press emphasised the "premium" experiences Nintendo currently offers on platforms like Wii U and 3DS. Admittedly, that could be interpreted in either direction.
However, Nintendo and DeNA are planning an online membership service that will span Nintendo consoles, PC and smart devices. That will launch in the autumn this year.
This marks a significant change in strategy for Nintendo, which has been the subject of reports about plans to take its famous IPs to mobile for at least a year. Indeed, the company has denied the suggestion on several occasions, even as it indicated that it did have plans to make mobile a part of its core strategy in other ways.
Analysts have been offering their reflections on the deal, with the response from most being largely positive.
"Nintendo's decision to partner with DeNA is a recognition of the importance of the games app audience to the future of its business," said IHS head of gaming Piers Harding-Rolls. "Not only is there significant revenue to be made directly from smartphone and tablet consumers for Nintendo, app ecosystems are also very important in reaching new customers to make them aware of the Nintendo brand and to drive a new and broader audience to its dedicated console business. Last year IHS data shows that games apps were worth $26 billion in consumer spending globally, with handheld console games worth only 13 per cent of that total at $3.3 billion.
"The Nintendo-DeNA alliance is a good fit and offers up a number of important synergies for two companies that are no longer leaders in their respective segments.
"DeNA remains one of the leading mobile games company's in Japan and, we believe, shares cultural similarities with Nintendo, especially across its most popular big-brand content. The alliance gives Nintendo access to a large audience in its home market, which remains very important to its overall financial performance. Japanese consumers spend significantly more per capita on mobile games than in any other country and it remains the biggest market for both smartphone and handheld gaming. While the partnership gives Nintendo immediate potential to grow its domestic revenues through this audience, gaining access to DeNA's mobile expertise is important too to realise this potential.
"This alliance makes commercial sense on many levels - the main challenge will be knitting together the cultures of both companies and aligning the speed of development and iteration that is needed in the mobile space with Nintendo's more patient and systematic approach to games content production. How the new games are monetised may also provide a challenge considering the general differences in models used in retail for Nintendo and through in-app purchases for DeNA."
In a livestreamed press conference regarding the DeNA deal, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata reassured those in attendance that the company was still committed to "dedicated video game systems" as its core business. To do that, he confirmed that the company was working on a new console, codenamed "NX".
"As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand new concept under the development codename NX," he said.
"It is too early to elaborate on the details of this project but we hope to share more information with you next year."
For the full, translated conference, see the video below.
