Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has clarified that his company will largely handle its newly announced smartphone game development program in-house.
When Nintendo announced that it would finally be entering into the smartphone game market earlier in the week, some feared that the company’s hallowed IP would be handed off to new partner DeNA for freemium exploitation.
In a recent Time interview, Iwata has attempted to set the record straight and allay fans’ fears.
“Development of smart device games will be mainly done by Nintendo,” Iwata confirmed.
However, Iwata wouldn’t go as far as to confirm that Shigeru Miyamoto – the Nintendo design genius who created the Mario and Zelda series – would be working on mobile games.
“We will discuss it when possible,” he said, “but for now, understand that his priority is on the development of Wii U titles that will be launched this year.”
As for the role of Nintendo’s new partner, Iwata said that “DeNA has extensive know-how in developing the “service” side of things, and will be primarily responsible for the service-oriented operations.”
Elsewhere, Iwata revealed that the company wasn’t averse to the free to play model, but claimed that Nintendo would discuss such things with DeNA on a game by game basis
However, he assured fans that “Nintendo does not intend to choose payment methods that may hurt Nintendo’s brand image or our IP, which parents feel comfortable letting their children play with.”
So you won’t be able to buy a pack of game-wrecking Mario power-ups for £69.99, then.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
