| Nintendo to Make Next Two Mobile Games Free Nintendo’s next two smartphone games will be free to download, the company’s partner said on Wednesday, increasing the likelihood that long-loved console game titles will rank high even in fiercely competitive app stores.
Tokyo-based DeNA, which develops and runs its own smartphone games, teamed up with Nintendo, the Kyoto-based videogame powerhouse, last year for the joint project. They released their first title, Miitomo, earlier this year, and are expected to produce four more by March 2017. Nintendo said last month that the next two titles for devices running Apple’s iOS and Google-parent Alphabet Inc.’s Android software would be rolled out by the coming autumn. They are role-playing franchise Fire Emblem and community simulation Animal Crossing, both long-running popular game series from the company most known for Mario the plumber and the Legend of Zelda. “Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing are both free-to-start apps,” DeNA Chief Executive Isao Moriyasu told The Wall Street Journal. A Nintendo spokeswoman confirmed Mr. Moriyasu’s comment. Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima last month declined to make clear how the company plans to earn revenue from the two new titles, and analysts were divided whether Fire Emblem, a game with a vast and dedicated fan base, would adopt free-to-play style. The Wall Street Journal |
