Nintendo and DeNA, two Japanese gaming giants in very different ways, have announced a partnership at a press conference just moments ago in Tokyo that will see them collaborating on smartphone games using Nintendo’s iconic IPs. Gaming consultant Dr. Serkan Toto is at the press conference and live-tweeting some details regarding this major announcement.
The companies will create a multi-platform gaming network that will begin rolling out in fall of this year with plans to expand it globally. As part of the partnership Nintendo will purchase 10% of DeNA for $181 million, and DeNA will in turn get 1.24% of Nintendo. This is a bananas-level announcement, as Nintendo has been staunchly opposed to bringing any form of gaming to smartphones for fear of diminishing their value and possibly negatively impacting their own hardware sales. Welp, now Nintendo and one of the world’s biggest mobile developer/publishers are very intimate with each other.
