Nintendo boss on free-to-play mobile games

This week's news that Nintendo is to branch out into the realm of mobile gaming has led to a certain amount of consternation in some quarters. Does this spell the beginning of the end for Nintendo, the fiercely individual maker of consoles and handhelds? Won't having the company's most recognizable characters appear on phones and tablets cheapen their appeal - especially if the games they appear in are free-to-play?

In an interview with Time, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata has been clarifying some of his company's future plans - and one of the first issues he addressed is that of free-to-play mobile games. In short, Nintendo certainly isn't ruling it out:

"I understand that, unlike the package model for dedicated game systems, the free-to-start type of business model is more widely adopted for games on smart devices," Iwata said, "and the free-to-start model will naturally be an option for us to consider."

Iwata went on to state that he doesn't want to "choose payment methods that may hurt Nintendo's brand image or our IP," and that the overall strategy is to "get as many people around the world as possible to play Nintendo smart device apps, rather than to consider which payment system will earn the most money."

Elsewhere, Iwata reiterated previous statements about Nintendo's alliance with DeNA - that DeNA will be handling the online 'service' side of the business, while Nintendo takes care of the bit it's generally best at: making the games themselves. He also rules out the possibility of Shigeru Miyamoto lending his legendary design skills to Nintendo's mobile games, at least in the mid-term - for now, he's immersed in getting the current wave of Wii U titles (including the much-anticipated Zelda) ready for this year's launch.

As for the early announcement of its currently-obscure Nintendo NX console, Iwata explained that the reveal was a strategic one, designed to head off any suggestions that the company might be giving up on the hardware market. "Nintendo will continue its dedicated video game system business with an even stronger passion," is a mantra Iwata recites more than once during the interview.

It's probably fair to say that Nintendo has a tough couple of years ahead of it. Not only is it making a foray into an entirely new market, but it's also developing a new console. It has to continue to cater to its core audience on the Wii U and particularly the 3DS, while at the same time developing a range of mobile games that will hook in a broader audience without distracting attention from those on its own devices. Nintendo have shown plenty of design inspiration in the past, and it'll surely need it now.

Time