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Alongside its quarterly earnings release, Nintendo has announced its intention to partner with DeNA and establish a joint venture company in April next year.
Nintendo has been working with the mobile firm since 2015, partnering to develop systems integrated into its mobile software (such as Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour) and Nintendo Account infrastructure. The new company will be a ‘Specified Subsidiary’ for Nintendo due to its 80% capital investment (of a total of 5 billion yen) being greater than 10% of Nintendo’s value as a whole.
The new company will be based in Tokyo and known as Nintendo Systems Co., Ltd., with the stated goal of strengthening “the digitalization of Nintendo’s business”, according to the notice posted on Nintendo’s investor website. It continues, stating that:
the joint venture company will research and develop, as well as create value-added services to further reinforce Nintendo’s relationship with consumers.
The company is scheduled to be established formally on 3rd April 2023, with Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki listed as the Representative Director and President.
Nintendo has made great strides in the mobile space in the last few years with the help od DeNA (that’s pronounced D-N-A, by the way), with titles like Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp performing particularly well; the former was Nintendo’s first mobile game to pass $1 billion in spending.
Nintendo states that it is “working to maintain and expand its relationship with consumers primarily through Nintendo Account,” so it seems likely to stick with the current Account setup for future hardware. That is to be expected, but following on from previous generations, it’s still a relief to players who thought they may have to migrate and link to another convoluted account system when the next Nintendo hardware ecosystem eventually comes along.
Let us know your thoughts on this joint mobile venture and what it means for Nintendo below.