Nintendo Shuns Developing Games For Android or IOS

[heartgold]

Well now it appears that games giant Nintendo have no plans on developing games for Android smartphones or the iPhone and Apple iPad. Apparently a recent rumour had speculated that Nintendo was planning on developing for both mobile platforms after the Pokemon Company announced it would be developing for iOS and Android.

However according to the guys over at Android Community by way of Bloomberg, its highly unlikely the Wii and DS console maker will develop their games for the iOS and Android platforms with spokesman for Nintendo Yasuhiro Minagawa stating that “Nintendo’s strategy to develop software on for its own hardware hasn’t changed and won’t change.”

Apparently Nintendo owns 32 percent of the Pokemon Company, and the firm announced in early July that they would be delivering one of their games to both the iOS and Android platforms sometime this summer.

However, Nintendo says that the Pokemon Company isn’t controlled by them and is an independent company and thus can develop for the iOS and android mobile platforms even though Nintendo doesn’t.

Cosmo Securities Co analyst Mitsuo Shimizu says, “Nintendo should consider developing games for smartphones or players that can also act as mobile phones, as it suits the lifestyles of many people.”

Considering Nintendo is suffering somewhat in the gaming market at the moment due to stiff competition in the gaming arena from the likes of Android and Apple as more and more people switch from consoles to smartphone gaming, one would have thought Nintendo would be quite willing to open up to developing their games for the mobile arena. [/p]

So the Pokemon Company is an independent company and not controlled by Nintendo

and yep Nintendo's made it clear they aren't interested developing their special franchise to other hardware.

Update: The Pokemon Company is an affiliate of Nintendo, They do no do development or publishing of games and since PokemonTap is intended purely as a promotional tool, not as unique video game, Nintendo is not involved in any way

Source

 

[Paarish]

no one likes a gloater heartgold

 

[heartgold]

no one likes a gloater heartgold

Fine I'll edit my post

 

[chris888222]

At least Nintendo doesn't control the pokemon company. Ahem bungie (before)

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

Nintendo not making games for competing devices seems logical enough.

I can't see Apple getting anything out of making PC games either.

I see Nintendo as a hardware company. They sell hardware as I see it. Every last game I have ever bought for my DS has been to my mind, a game made on behalf of Nintendo regardless of whether Nintendo technically owns some actual titles.

 

[pistone]

“Nintendo’s strategy to develop software on for its own hardware hasn’t changed and won’t change.”
&
However, Nintendo says that the Pokemon Company isn’t controlled by them and is an independent company and thus can develop for the iOS and android mobile platforms even though Nintendo doesn’t.

So we can see a pokemon game on a psv soon or later ?

 

[nryn99]

“Nintendo’s strategy to develop software on for its own hardware hasn’t changed and won’t change.”
&
However, Nintendo says that the Pokemon Company isn’t controlled by them and is an independent company and thus can develop for the iOS and android mobile platforms even though Nintendo doesn’t.

So we can see a pokemon game on a psv soon or later ?

too bad but maybe no.

 

[doyama]

From a business perspective that makes total sense. Logically it works like this

1) We currently have the dominant hand held gaming device in the market
2) Our margins on each game we sell is enormous! IT PRINTS MONEY!!!
3) Each cart that a developer PRODUCES is also money. MOAR MUNEY!

On the other side

1) We make a Metroid/Zelda/Pokemon game
2) We are forced to sell this for 99 cents, or maybe at best 9.99 since people on phone platforms have been brainwashed into thinking anything more than this is 'not worth it'

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/apps

And why would I want to sell on the iPhone/Android market again......???

----------------------------------------

That being said, I do believe that Nintendo is at an inflection point. Definitely gaming on iOS/Android is going to become more ubiquitous. There's going to be a definite shift of people away from dedidcated hardware like the 3DS/Vita to simply having gaming on your phone. "But gaming sucks on a phone" "There are no buttons" blah blah blah. As has been shown by the Apple App Store PEOPLE SIMPLY DO NOT CARE.

I agree that making a MetroidVania platformer on a touch screen is going to suck. All that means is that those games won't be made on that platform. Think that won't happen. When was the last time you played a space flight sim game? Anyone remember Freespace? Descent? Fricking SPACE COMMANDER a game that literally invented the need for CD ROM games. The industry and gaming tastes change. If we move to touchscreen gaming some gaming types will simply go away. New ones will take their place. Old ones might come back (adventures games are making a kind of resurgence). Perhaps one day we will think of FPS games as 'quaint' as well. Who knows.

Ultimately I think how well the 3DS and the Vita perform in the marketplace is going to be a huge indicator whether Nintendo survives as an entity. If these portable gaming devices drop off, then really they'll have to go the Sega route and stop making hardware and stick to games. In that scenario they'd be forced into the iOS/Android marketplace.

 

[pistone]

From a business perspective that makes total sense. Logically it works like this

1) We currently have the dominant hand held gaming device in the market
2) Our margins on each game we sell is enormous! IT PRINTS MONEY!!!
3) Each cart that a developer PRODUCES is also money. MOAR MUNEY!

On the other side

1) We make a Metroid/Zelda/Pokemon game
2) We are forced to sell this for 99 cents, or maybe at best 9.99 since people on phone platforms have been brainwashed into thinking anything more than this is 'not worth it'

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/apps

And why would I want to sell on the iPhone/Android market again......???

----------------------------------------

That being said, I do believe that Nintendo is at an inflection point. Definitely gaming on iOS/Android is going to become more ubiquitous. There's going to be a definite shift of people away from dedidcated hardware like the 3DS/Vita to simply having gaming on your phone. "But gaming sucks on a phone" "There are no buttons" blah blah blah. As has been shown by the Apple App Store PEOPLE SIMPLY DO NOT CARE.

I agree that making a MetroidVania platformer on a touch screen is going to suck. All that means is that those games won't be made on that platform. Think that won't happen. When was the last time you played a space flight sim game? Anyone remember Freespace? Descent? Fricking SPACE COMMANDER a game that literally invented the need for CD ROM games. The industry and gaming tastes change. If we move to touchscreen gaming some gaming types will simply go away. New ones will take their place. Old ones might come back (adventures games are making a kind of resurgence). Perhaps one day we will think of FPS games as 'quaint' as well. Who knows.

Ultimately I think how well the 3DS and the Vita perform in the marketplace is going to be a huge indicator whether Nintendo survives as an entity. If these portable gaming devices drop off, then really they'll have to go the Sega route and stop making hardware and stick to games. In that scenario they'd be forced into the iOS/Android marketplace.

in pour word making game for ios/android .........it prints......mony ? im i right .........or i miss something
so soon or later we can see nintendo phone right .........if you cant beat your enemy join or copy them .....right?

 

[doyama]

“Nintendo’s strategy to develop software on for its own hardware hasn’t changed and won’t change.”
&
However, Nintendo says that the Pokemon Company isn’t controlled by them and is an independent company and thus can develop for the iOS and android mobile platforms even though Nintendo doesn’t.

So we can see a pokemon game on a psv soon or later ?

You'll see that as soon as Nintendo stops making portable handhelds. Understand the current relationship.

The Pokemon Company is an affiliate of Nintendo. It handles ONLY the licensing and marketing of Pokemon products world wide. They do no development or publishing of games. So the fact that they're 'independent' is meaningless in what you are implying, where they could make a game on their own. To underscore this, Nintendo Australia does the marketing and liceseing in Australia, since the Pokemon Company has no presence in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pok%C3%A9mon_Company

The critical thing is TRADEMARK is owned by Nintendo. Thus even if GameFreak which is the Pokemon developer decided to basically have a brain fart and do something on their own, since Nintendo owns the trademark they can destroy them in a heartbeat. If Nintendo does not want Pokemon on a platform, it will not happen. Period.

 

[pistone]

“Nintendo’s strategy to develop software on for its own hardware hasn’t changed and won’t change.”
&
However, Nintendo says that the Pokemon Company isn’t controlled by them and is an independent company and thus can develop for the iOS and android mobile platforms even though Nintendo doesn’t.

So we can see a pokemon game on a psv soon or later ?

You'll see that as soon as Nintendo stops making portable handhelds. Understand the current relationship.

The Pokemon Company is an affiliate of Nintendo. It handles ONLY the licensing and marketing of Pokemon products world wide. They do no development or publishing of games. So the fact that they're 'independent' is meaningless in what you are implying, where they could make a game on their own. To underscore this, Nintendo Australia does the marketing and liceseing in Australia, since the Pokemon Company has no presence in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pok%C3%A9mon_Company

The critical thing is TRADEMARK is owned by Nintendo. Thus even if GameFreak which is the Pokemon developer decided to basically have a brain fart and do something on their own, since Nintendo owns the trademark they can destroy them in a heartbeat. If Nintendo does not want Pokemon on a platform, it will not happen. Period.

thats what i wanted to hear

 

[boombox]

I'm glad they're not!

They should just stick to getting quality games out on their consoles..too much of this 'family-friendly' rubbish has ruined what the Wii could have been...sure they're reasonably fun when you have your mates over, but not usually worth it. Smart phone games would perhaps bring more income in..but they're usually rather gimmicky and people get bored of them.

If they started widening their spectrum even more-so and started creating for smart phones I think they'd lose it completely.

 

[doyama]

in pour word making game for ios/android .........it prints......mony ? im i right .........or i miss something
so soon or later we can see nintendo phone right .........if you cant beat your enemy join or copy them .....right?

All I'm saying is that in the CURRENT situation, it makes zero economic sense for Nintendo to go into the iOS/Android market. They enjoy huge margins on games made on their platform. Why dilute that by making something on a competing platform, where the margins are razor thin. Also why dilute your major brands Zelda/Pokemon/Metroid/Mario by having them available on competing platforms. The exclusivity of these brands on Nintendo platforms is part of Nintendo's power in that space.

Will we see a Nintendo phone. I don't know. My point was that depending on how the next 3-5 years play out, Nintendo will be forced to make some tough decisions. Will they go the way of Sega and make only games and leave the hardware space? Will they come out with some new innovative gaming device to compete with phones? Will they make a Zelda Phone? Who knows. But I suspect that by 2021 the mobile gaming space will be very very different than it is today.

 

[heartgold]

Nintendo not making games for competing devices seems logical enough.

I can't see Apple getting anything out of making PC games either.

I see Nintendo as a hardware company. They sell hardware as I see it. Every last game I have ever bought for my DS has been to my mind, a game made on behalf of Nintendo regardless of whether Nintendo technically owns some actual titles.

No update people Nintendo have every right for pokemon games being exclusive to their hardware, if it's non-video game related than the pokemon company can do whatever the hell it like. Here's something from another source.

"On July 1, the Pokémon Company announced that it was launching a free Android and iOS application in Japan called "Pokémon IeTap? BW" (phonetic)," said the company in a statement. "The Pokémon Company routinely launches applications for cell phones and PCs as a way to promote its non-video game products, such as a music CD and Pokémon TCG [Trading Card Game] cards in this instance. Since they are intended purely as promotional tools, not as unique video games, Nintendo is not involved in any way."

It's still Nintendo's IP end of the day

 

[doyama]

thats what i wanted to hear

However note that the Trademark is transferrable. So say Nintendo goes bankrupt because everyone has an iPhone/Android and no one wants their new Nintendo quad-screen fiasco released in 2021. Nintendo starts selling their only valuable assets, the IP for Zelda/Pokemon/Mario/Metroid. Who ever wins that bidding war will then be able to make whatever game they want. So you could in theory see a Pokemon game on the new Microsoft Zune Live Phone in 2025.

 

[NiGHtS]

So this means that technically the Pokemon Company could have their games released on other systems outside of Nintendo?

 

[doyama]

So this means that technically the Pokemon Company could have their games released on other systems outside of Nintendo?

As I said, they are a marketing and licensing company ONLY. Any game related merchandise would be done by Nintendo. Nintendo owns the Pokemon trademark, thus the Pokemon Company can only do what Nintendo allows them to do.

I suppose a somewhat loose analogy would be like a McDonalds franchise. Each franchise is 'independently owned' and is independent of McDonalds corporation. However as a franchisee they are restricted in what they can or cannot do. Thus as a franchisee I cannot start making deep-fried big macs and selling it in my store if I feel like it. Or stuff like being forced to buy cans of Coke from a single distributor that over-charges you 2x more than if went to a 7-11 and started buying up cases of Coke (for refrence this happened to the Pizza Pizza franchise in Canada, franchisee were pissed at being raped for buying cans of coke so they went outside the distribution channel. Pizza Pizza fought back and the distributor only sold cans with gold tops on them to Pizza Pizza. Thus any audit of a franchisee would reveal if they had bought their Coke from the distributor with gold tops, or if they went outside the channel without gold tops)

 

[SamAsh07]

Was never excited about the rumour and highly doubted it, Nintendo just wiped that doubt outta my head.

 

[coolness]

people i see a new phone coming by nintendo
do someone know a name

?

 

[Depravo]

people i see a new phone coming by nintendo
do someone know a name

?

Nintenphone™


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