Nintendo partners with DeNA to make smartphone games

Japanese game company Nintendo has announced a partnership with DeNA to make new games for the mobile platform featuring Nintendo characters.

The companies will design and develop new games specifically for mobiles and tablets rather than porting the existing games from Nintendo consoles so as to "ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect". But the games will feature Nintendo's characters such as Mario, Zelda, Link, or Yoshi.

DeNA said "To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system,"

Both companies also outlined their plans to develop a cross-platform membership service that runs across smartphones, tablets, PCs, and Nintendo's own devices. This membership service will be similar to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. The service will launch in fall this year.

Meanwhile, Nintendo will continue working on its consoles. The company announced that it is working on a new console codenamed NX. More information on the new game platform will be announced next year.

Source : Verge