Nintendo President Satoru Iwata hopes that the company and Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA will launch the first Nintendo IP smartphone game sometime in 2015.
Nintendo announced in a press briefing yesterday that it’s teaming up with DeNA to develop and operate new . In the following Q&A session, Iwata was asked when will the games be developed and who will be leading the development. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/17/nintendo-to-develop-smartphone-games-featuring-nintendo-characters
“Regarding the individual video game titles, when it will be launched, we will be making the announcement when each of those games are ready,” Iwata responded. “At least, however, we believe that there is no mean of collaboration [sic] if we can’t launch anything, at least once, or some sort of output within this year. Also, per game title, regarding the roles of each companies will differ depending on games."
The partnership will only develop new original games for smart devices rather than porting Nintendo Wii U and 3DS games to smartphones. Nintendo plans to "produce multiple hit titles at an early stage" when it begins to release the smartphone games. The company is not yet ready to announce which IP it will roll out first.
Nintendo and DeNA will jointly develop a new membership service this year that will support various platforms such as PCs, smartphones, tablets and Nintendo’s hardware devices. Nintendo will share information about regional launches of the service in the near future.
Adamant that Nintendo's step into the smartphone game market isn't a sign that it has lost its "passion or vision" for dedicated game systems, Iwata said the expansion has only increased an "even stronger passion and vision" for video game hardware.
As proof, Iwata revealed that Nintendo is currently developing a codenamed "NX." Nintendo expects to share more details about about NX next year.