In about face, Nintendo forms alliance with mobile game firm

World Today

This photo provided by Nintendo shows a scene from the video game, “Mario Party 10.” (AP Photo/Nintendo)

After years of scoffing at the threat from smartphones, Nintendo Co. is doing an about face and entering an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices.

The announcement Tuesday means that Nintendo’s trademark game characters such as Super Mario and Pokemon could finally feature on smartphones and tablets. Such characters have been fiercely protected by Nintendo, appearing only on Nintendo platforms such as the Wii home console and 3DS mobile machines.

The alliance will be combining Nintendo’s intellectual property and game development skills with DeNA’s expertise in mobile games, the announcement said. The service is set to launch in the fall of 2015.

Nintendo has run into trouble in the past few years as people increasingly turned to mobile phones to play games and spend time on social networks. The company is expecting to turn a profit for the fiscal year ending later this month, a turnaround from red ink the previous year.

They said the mobile games won’t be mere adaptations of the games already out for the Nintendo machines but developed especially for the smartphone experience.

Report by The Associated Press.