Nintendo made headlines earlier in the day with news that it would be releasing Pokémon for the first time on a non-Nintendo platform, Apple’s iPhone. Pokémon Say Tap will be a rhythm-based game and is reportedly due for a summer release.
That announcement triggered speculation that the company would further explore the smartphone market, expanding into Android and iOS gaming. Nintendo’s stock rose by nearly 5 percent according to Bloomberg. But soon after, spokesperson Yasuhiro Minagawa grounded all that talk by explaining that the company’s plan to develop for only its own hardware “hasn’t changed and won’t change.”
I’m not sure why Nintendo would want to strap themselves in to its current platforms when porting its current games to new ones would likely require relatively little additional effort. While the company is still doing relatively well, it should keep in mind what happened to its old rival Sega a decade ago, as it shifted operations to become a third-party software publisher.
It’s not only smartphones that Nintendo may be overlooking, but social gaming ought to be an option as well, as both Sega and Capcom have made forays into that space. If the success of GREE and DeNA are any indication, social and mobile are not platforms you want to ignore, especially in Japan.
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