Nintendo to release 5 smartphone games by fiscal year 2017

Nintendo’s plan to move into mobile is finally taking shape.

Nintendo will release its first five apps through its partnership with mobile games company DeNA by the end of next fiscal year, the company announced today in a briefing following its financial results. This is the first solid detail of the Kyoto, Japan-based company’s plans to push into the $30 billion mobile games market. Company president Satoru Iwata said that it’s aiming to make mobile games “one of the pillars of Nintendo’s revenue structure.”

The company did not specify which Nintendo properties would be used for these releases, but notes that it will “carefully select IP and titles” for its mobile debut.

Company president Satoru Iwata notes that while five might sound like a small number, the company wants to “thoroughly operate every one of them for a significant amount of time after their releases” and that this should demonstrate its commitment to the smart device business.

He also confirmed that the company’s new integrated membership service, developed jointly with DeNA, will start with the first game application by the end of this calendar year.

Building a bridge

Iwata noted that this move into mobile games is not a replacement for Nintendo’s console gaming buisness, but more of a bridge between smart devices and video game systems.

“Nintendo continues to have strong passion and believes in the promising prospects for the future of our dedicated video game system business,” Iwata said during the briefing. “We will deploy our game business on smart devices not because we think that the dedicated game system business will wane, but because doing so will encourage a greater number of people to associate with Nintendo IP, to become familiar with the charms of video games and, eventually, to explore more premium experiences on our dedicated game systems.”