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The calls for Nintendo to release its games on smartphone may seem relentless, but it seems like the platform holder has other plans. Polar opposite plans, in fact.
Kotaku reports that president Satoru Iwata told Nikkei that far from bringing Mario to iPhone, the company instead plans on bringing more smartphone games to 3DS. It will also be ramping up efforts to bring update its own retro catalogue for its current portable hardware.
A year ago Iwata stated that Nintendo did have a smartphone strategy, but that it was focused on engaging with consumers rather than porting over games software. None of which has stopped the repeated calls for the company to free itself of the shackles of its under-performing hardware and become platform agnostic.
However, last month Nintendo announced a 3DS version of smartphone hit Puzzle & Dragons, so maybe this is more of a sign of things to come.
Elsewhere Kotakualso reports that Iwata has been positioning ‘health’ as a key – but separate – pillar of its business alongside ‘games hardware’ and ‘games software’. Nintendo outlined its health aspirations last year, and revealed its first health product, a sleep sensor, last autumn.
