Nintendo to release games on phones and tablets
UPDATE: What does this mean for the company's future? Watch Chris B, Tom and Wes discuss.
UPDATE 17/3/15 3.55pm: After today's announcement that Nintendo will begin smartphone and tablet game development, Eurogamer's Chris "Bratterz" Bratt has rounded up resident Nintendo fan Tom Phillips and resident Nintendo sceptic Wesley Yin-Poole to discuss what this might mean for the company's future.
Was it a smart, overdue move - or is Nintendo doomed?
ORIGINAL STORY 17/3/15 3.55pm: Nintendo has announced it will begin releasing games for mobile phones and tablet devices.
The move to mobile - long requested by the company's investors - will begin later this year, when the first new game apps are released.
Nintendo is partnering with massive Japanese mobile firm DeNA to aid in the company's app development.
Speaking in a press conference this morning, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata confirmed Nintendo would take charge of the actual game development - the front-end, gameplay and UI that players actually see.
DeNA, meanwhile, will be working on supporting Nintendo by providing back-end services and server knowledge.
Nintendo and DeNA will also work together on a new membership service. This is the replacement for Club Nintendo that the company teased earlier this year.
This service will work across all platforms - PC, mobile, tablet, 3DS, Wii U and the upcoming NX - a new dedicated game system that Nintendo also announced.
More information on the Nintendo NX will be revealed next year, Iwata said.
"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 [NX] that I just mentioned."
Nintendo has said for a while that it wants to use mobile platforms to raise awareness of its own franchises.
Iwata confirmed Nintendo is not considering ports of existing games, but rather new experiences developed for and more suited to smart devices.
"We are challenging ourselves to redefine what Nintendo platform means," Iwata concluded. "We aim to achieve this goal as soon as possible.
"We hope to have output ready to show later this year."
Under the new agreement, Nintendo will acquire 10 per cent of DeNA, while DeNA will buy 1.24 per cent of Nintendo.