Nintendo has denied rumours it will be bringing its games to smartphones, as it officially asserted it has "no plans" to offer mini-games on smartphone platforms. The recent headline grabbing rumours came from Japanese newspaper Nikkei's report, which in brief, claimed that Nintendo was planning to explore the possibilities of getting its stable of characters onto smartphones via mini-games.
Engadget has subsequently received a communication from Nintendo denying any smartphone 'mini-game' plans. The official word of the Big N, as told to Engadget is as follows:
"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."
As you can read above, Nintendo clearly states that it will only be using smart devices to promote its games characters and hardware - not much in the way of gameplay will be on offer. So Nintendo resolutely steers clear of smartphone gaming even though the company clearly needs a boost after admitting its Wii U failure and a forecasted ¥35bn loss for the period ending 31 March 2014.
A new management strategy will also be announced tomorrow by the company to fight back against warnings of its third year of operating losses, reports Reuters. Nintendo plans are expected to focus on cost cuts and in marketing its beloved characters whilst sticking to its basic strategy of pushing hardware as much as the software, hopefully emerging as a more efficient company. Nintendo's top executives are also taking temporary pay-cuts in the range of 20 to 50 per cent in order to counter-balance its recent dive in profits.
Nintendo simply "cares too much about controlling the end-to-end gaming experience," suggests Matt Peckham from Time Magazine. This is probably why most analysts don’t really think a bolder change of direction will be made and the theory has been proven by the firm as it denies the rumours above, making a future of seeing Nintendo games on other platforms virtually impossible.
"Nintendo is a special thing, because of its history, so many gamers have a soft spot for Nintendo... they just shot themselves in the foot with this piece of hardware, the Wii U," said Tokyo-based gaming expert Jean Snow. "But I totally think they can get out."
