Report: Nintendo planning ‘free mini games’ for smartphones
Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports today that Nintendo is planning to leverage smartphones to advertise its games and products.
The paper says that Nintendo will release trailers for new Wii U and 3DS games on smart phones as well as free mini games for smartphones themselves. It’s presumed this will included both iOS and Android.
The idea of this is to drive people to Nintendo hardware through these mini games and trailers. We’ve heard different tales from Nintendo executives in the past, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime has previously said that Nintendo would be experimenting with smartphones to drive people to Nintendo hardware. Elsewhere Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has previously said that ‘Mario’ wouldn’t be coming to smartphones but has said that Nintendo should take advantage of smart phones’ existence. Mini-games and trailers would be a good middle ground.
Nikkei’s track record for Nintendo rumours is very strong, however at this point its still unconfirmed.
You won’t have to wait long though to find out if the Nikkei is correct though with Nintendo planning on dropping its Third Quarter Earning Release Schedule tomorrow (Jan 29th) and holding a investor conference the next day. Satoru Iwata has said he will be talking about the short and mid term future for Nintendo there.
It’s not surprising to see Nintendo do this, nor should it be a seen a sign that Nintendo is faltering in its stance of not having its games on smartphones. The next two days we’ll find out what Nintendo are up to for sure.
Nintendo has replied saying:
“Nikkei’s article contains information previously stated by Mr. Iwata during past press conferences, including statements which relate to Nintendo’s willingness to make use of smart devices to promote our products.
However during such past announcements Mr. Iwata has also stated that Nintendo’s intention is not to make Nintendo software available on smart devices and as such, we can confirm that there are no plans to offer mini-games on smartphone devices. ”
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/28/nintendo-denies-smartphone-games/