Nintendo reaffirms its relationship with DeNA, why it formed a partnership with Cygames
Nintendo surprised everyone with the announcement of its partnership with Cygames last week. In addition to purchasing some stake in the company, Nintendo is teaming up with the mobile developer on the brand new smartphone title Dragalia Lost.
During the Q&A portion of its latest financial results briefing, Nintendo was asked about the partnership and how it may differ from what has been done in the past with DeNA. Aside from reaffirming its commitment to DeNA, current president Tatsumi Kimishima explained that working with Cygames was needed to expand its lineup of mobile apps.
Kimishima said:
We just announced the business partnership with Cygames today, but let me say that we are very much satisfied with the various projects and areas in which DeNA has given us their support, and we want to continue our relationship with them.
That said, we are in the midst of expanding our lineup of smart-device applications, and Cygames has come up with a very interesting game application plan. We felt it was very important to collaborate on development and operations so it could be released as a Nintendo smart-device application. To this end, we formed a business partnership with Cygames and acquire a portion of their issued stocks.
DeNA provides technical and developmental support for our Nintendo Account system in addition to the smart-device business, so we expect the relationship between Nintendo and DeNA will continue in these areas. That is one of the ways that our business partnership with DeNA differs from the business partnership with Cygames. Ongoing, there is the possibility that we will join with other partners to further expand our smart-device business if needed.
