All the times Nintendo said no to mobile gaming (until it said yes)

4 February 2011

Nintendo of America exec Reggie Fils-Aim throws the gauntlet down nice and early as investors start to notice the success of Angry Birds et al. I actually think that one of the biggest risks today in our industry arethese inexpensive games that are candidly disposable from a consumer standpoint, he says.

3 March 2011

Fils-Aim is backed up a month later by CEO Satoru Iwata, who chimes in with: These [mobile] platforms have no motivation to maintain the value of gaming Quantity is how they profit. The value of software does not matter to them.

14 September 2011

But the pressure doesnt let up. When asked if wed ever see the likes of Mario on phones, Iwata stays adamant. This is absolutely not under consideration, he tells Japanese newspaper Nikkei. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. Its the duty of management tomake use of those strengths.

17 November 2011

Two months later and again, Reggie My body is ready Fils-Aim twists theknife into the idea of Nintendo smartphone gaming. The concept of having our core franchises on other systems really flies in the face of what we believe in, and thats because, by understanding the hardware, thats how were able to bring these great experiences forward.

4 February 2014

Iwata drops a hint that the wheels were in motion for a digitally-focused service. We are hoping to change and correct the situation in which we develop games for different platforms individually and sometimes disappoint consumers with game shortages as we attempt to move from one platform to another. We believe that we will be able to deliver tangible results in the future.

Today

Off the back of the DeNA deal, Iwata takes to Nintendos corporate website to explain the thinking behind it. We firmly believe that doing business on smart devices will not shrink our dedicated video game system business, and will instead create new demand as this broader reach enables us to provide consumers more opportunities to experience the appeal of Nintendo IP.

When he's not busy being Editor of Official Xbox Magazine, you'll find Matt mainlining Overwatch. Current hero of choice: D.Va. No wait, it's Hanzo. No, no, it's Tracer. Actually it's... *forcibly removed from the internet*

When Nintendo announced plans to make mobile games it was a proper drop the phone moment. Why? Because the company's always been so, so against the idea. For years it sniffed at the concept of its games appearing on a platform it had repeatedly accused of being cheap and disposable. That's why pretty much the entire world freaked out when Ninty suddenly a pulled a complete 180 and decided it and mobile were going to be besties all of a sudden. Seriously, it announced the next Nintendo console and most people just kept muttering "Mu-mo...mobile?!"

This month's new issue of GamesMaster will be in the shops on Thursday 23rd and takes a look at what Nintendo's future could hold, both for the new console and it's upcoming mobile stuff. As part of that, there's this look at all the times Nintendo categorically stated "mobile games? Nuh-uh", even going so far at one point to say they were "one of the biggest risks today in our industry". Whether or not Nintendo's mobile partner DeNA pointing out it made about £17 million A MONTH from one game had anything to do with the sudden change of heart we will never know.

If you want to read more then the issue's in the shops Thursday the 23rd. You can also download the new issue digitally from tomorrow or subscribe for future issues.