DeNA on its relationship with Nintendo
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Some may think the two companies’ corporate cultures don’t really match, but it’s rather the opposite. We have been able to advance the alliance project with compassion and mutual respect for the other company’s strengths. By forming a joint team consisting of Nintendo and DeNA members, I firmly believe we will be able to create major synergies and deliver compelling products with new value to our customers.
Our new business alliance, as Iwata-san discussed earlier, consists of two parts. One is to jointly develop and operate gaming apps that use Nintendo IP, for smart devices. The other is to build together Nintendo’s new online membership service.
In addition to the business alliance, we also formed a capital alliance where both companies own part of each other’s stock. Under the alliance, both companies will share each other’s unique know-how, and this allows for a firm, long-term relationship.
There are a few other reasons why we also entered into a capital alliance. We want to scale our business alliance on a long-term basis rather than short. Additionally, we plan to pursue other opportunities to enhance both companies’ corporate value without limiting our joint efforts just to the new alliance. So please stay tuned to both companies for more news in the future.
Lastly, I want to make a comment as a fan of games. I grew up playing Nintendo games, and I’m already excited that I will soon be able to play Nintendo IP games on smart devices.
At DeNA, we are aware that Nintendo has been the most beloved company in the gaming console space for quite a while. As such, I would like us to be a team that delivers the best games that truly delight our customers.
Thank you.
DeNA on its history, mobile competition, need for strong IP on smart devices
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Hello, I’m Isao Moriyasu, President and CEO of DeNA. Thank you for joining us today despite our sudden invitation.
Please allow me to share background and objectives of our new alliance from DeNA’s perspective.
Ever since DeNA was founded in 1999, we have launched a range of online services. In 2004, we shifted our focus to the mobile arena and accumulated world-class expertise in building and operating mobile services.
DeNA’s expertise lies in, for example, the infrastructure technology that can handle massive amount of traffic. We are also able to manage live operation by analyzing user activities and quickly reflecting the insight to improve our service. We have extensive expertise in developing mobile services that are optimized for small screens and short, in-between time usage. I believe this alliance came together because Nintendo recognized these strengths and capabilities of DeNA.
Since we launched our mobile game platform in 2006, DeNA has owed much of its growth to mobile gaming, which is currently our core business. In the past couple of years in Japan, we have tried to adapt ourselves to the rapid market shift from feature phones to smartphones as well as browsers to native apps. I admit it took longer than we initially expected.
But we created a native app hit last year, and we are certainly gaining strong momentum in the app market.
However, the competition in the mobile game app space has been intensifying. All kinds of new titles are launched every day even though the number of mobile games a user can play in a day is quite limited. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get games noticed. This is happening globally.
In order to get consumers to notice a game and actually take time to play it, a compelling differentiator is needed. The most apparent of all differentiators is, I believe, intellectual property, or IP.
Nintendo probably has the most beloved game IP globally. At DeNA that’s our understanding, and I’m sure many of you see it the same way.
I believe teaming up with Nintendo is the best possible strategy to achieve growth in DeNA’s core business of mobile gaming.
More: DeNA, Isao Moriyasu
Iwata teases new membership service from DeNA
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo, together with DeNA, will jointly develop a new membership service which encompasses the existing Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems, the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX, and smart devices and PCs, and Nintendo will be the primary party to operate this new membership service. Unlike the Club Nintendo membership service that Nintendo has been operating, the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses. This membership will form one of the core elements of the new Nintendo platform that I just mentioned.
More: DeNA, Satoru Iwata, top
Iwata on Nintendo’s relationship with DeNA
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
This collaboration will create the best prospects for both DeNA and Nintendo.
Just as I explained to you today, Nintendo’s unique strength lies in its IP, which is appreciated by consumers on a global scale.
DeNA’s strength is its world-class Internet service construction and operating know-how.
Nintendo and DeNA will jointly develop and operate gaming applications for smart devices in global markets.
With this alliance, new entertainment that utilizes Nintendo’s IP will be provided globally via smart devices.
Needless to say, now that we are challenging ourselves in this new business area, we hope that hundreds of millions of people will use and enjoy these products.
Nintendo and DeNA form business and capital alliance
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 14 Comments
Companies to develop new game apps featuring Nintendo IP for smart devices and a new multi-device membership service
TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 7974) and DeNA Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 2432) today entered into a business and capital alliance to develop and operate new game apps for smart devices and build a new multi-device membership service for consumers worldwide.
Leveraging the strength of Nintendo’s intellectual property (IP) and game development skills in combination with DeNA’s world-class expertise in mobile games, both companies will develop and operate new game apps based on Nintendo’s IP, including its iconic game characters, for smart devices. The alliance is intended to complement Nintendo’s dedicated video game systems business and extend Nintendo’s reach into the vast market of smart device users worldwide. Under the alliance, DeNA will also be able to strengthen its gaming business at a global scale by leveraging Nintendo’s IP. To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system.
More: DeNA, press release, top
DeNA and Nintendo set to have joint press conference today in Japan
Posted on 9 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in General Nintendo, News | 14 Comments
UPDATE:
• It seems that Nintendo will be conducting business with DeNA. Nintendo buys 10% of DeNA (equates to $181 million), and DeNA buys 1.24% of Nintendo.
• Nintendo will begin to develop smartphone games with DeNA, with a multi-platform social gaming network to launch in the fall of 2015. Will be released worldwide.
• A press release by DeNA has just been released discussing the capital alliance. You can read it here
• Nintendo IP will indeed be brought over to smartphones, but these are not ports. DeNA will be handling original games based off of the IP.
• New Nintendo platform codenamed “NX”. More info next year.
• English slides of today’s business and capital alliance announcement are up now. You can find them here
Watch the conference live here:
DeNA, one of the largest mobile platforms in Japan, is set to have a joint press conference today with Nintendo at 5PM JST (about an hour and fifteen minutes from now at the time of this writing). No information has been given on this sudden conference or what this is even about. The conference will be streamed to YouTube, but no links are allowed to be made public at the moment. According to this tweet, it seems a link to the live stream won’t be made readily available until it starts. The conference is set to last about 60 minutes.
The fact that Nintendo is doing a joint conference with DeNA makes you wonder what will be discussed during this conference. Satoru Iwata has stated multiple times that they have no desire to bring their IP to mobile platforms, so it’ll be interesting to see what transpires once the conference begins. Maybe we’ll get a look at an official Miiverse app, or something related?
