Earlier this year, Nintendo finally ended its stubborn holdout from the mobile gaming market and partnered with DeNA to bring a number of its popular franchises to iOS and Android devices. While we wait for the first title in the deal to drop later this year, DeNA West CEO Shintaro Asako recently spoke with Pocket Gamer about what players can expect – and why it could be such a big deal.
“I think this is potentially an opportunity for us to completely change the market,” he said regarding the “huge, huge deal”, during a visit to the Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 event. “Nintendo has by far the best gaming IP. DeNA’s expertise is definitely backend.”
This makes an interesting approach for both companies. Nintendo usually takes the product-based set-up with its titles, while DeNA prefers to introduce them as a service.
Still, it’s how these are presented that will make a difference, and the partnership could lead to big results. How big Kim Kardashian Hollywood big.
Asako brought up the Glu Games-produced mobile hit as an example of how a key partnership can work on the platform, considering Nintendo’s deal with DeNA to be “the most crucial partnership” that it’s ever done. “People are expecting a lot,” he said.
DeNA is no stranger to partnerships of this magnitude, as the company previously worked with Marvel, Star Wars and Disney for a number of titles over the years, most of which ended up being best-sellers. Obviously, Asako believes this will continue to be the case with Nintendo.
The deal covers five different games, with the first arriving later this year, and four more titles due between early 2016 and March 2017. Asako believes they will provide unique experiences for everyone.
“We want to make sure out of those five IP that we can end up attracting hundreds of millions of people,” he concluded.
With a company like Nintendo – and millions of fans old and young alike – that shouldn’t be a hard number to reach.
