Nintendo is spiking AGAIN
The spike follows the news Tuesday that Nintendo will start making games for smartphones and tablets.
Until now, Nintendo had refused to bring its games to platforms outside its own consoles. On Tuesday, it announced a partnership with a Japanese mobile gaming company called DeNA to start developing new smartphone and tablet games featuring Nintendo characters.
Nintendo and DeNA also invested $181 million in each other, giving Nintendo a 10% stake in DeNA and DeNA about a 1% stake in Nintendo, according to Reuters.
This plays to Nintendo's biggest strength: its library of iconic characters and games. Nintendo released a new video game console called the Wii U in 2012, but the console's sales have already been eclipsed by those of Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Nintendo also makes a handheld console, the 3DS.
Mobile gaming is a hot, profitable space to get into. Games like "Clash of Clans," "Game of War," and "Candy Crush" practically mint money by offering in-app purchases for virtual items. Couple that model with Nintendo's library of classic franchises, and you probably have a formula for success.
However, don't expect to see classic Nintendo games on your iPhone at first. It's more likely DeNA will use Nintendo's franchise characters like Mario and Donkey Kong to make games that are uniquely designed for smartphones.
Other game companies like Sega and Capcom have already seen success bringing classic games to smartphones, so there's always a chance Nintendo could do the same later.
But the fact that Nintendo also teased a new video game console called the "NX" Tuesday is a strong hint at the company's dedication to keeping its best games on its own hardware. The company didn't give any details on the NX other than saying it would be "a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept," according to Engadget.
