Gamers the world over are still in a state of shock after Nintendo announced they would start developing mobile games. Especially since the “how” of this historic news is still a big question mark. Thankfully, Time Magazine approached Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata, to ask the big questions about the company’s mobile push.
According to Iwata, Nintendo is not outsourcing development of their planned mobile titles to DeNA. The consolemaker themselves will develop the games while DeNA offers assistance with the “service side of things.” Iwata also said that famed developer Shigeru Miyamoto may work on mobile titles in the future, but for now, his time is being spent working on a trio of previously-announced Wii U games (Star Fox, Project Guard, Project Giant Robot) that are scheduled to launch in 2015.
Finally, any discussion of the mobile game market will include the big question… Premium or Free-To-Play? According to Iwata, Nintendo is not committing to either scheme and will chose each game’s pricing scheme on a title-by-title basis: “[F]or each title, we will discuss with DeNA and decide the most appropriate payment method. So, specifically to your question, both can be options, and if a new Nintendo-like invention comes of it, then all the better.”
For more insight into Nintendo’s mobile partnership with DeNA, I recommend reading the rest of the Time Magazine interview.
