As a part of its push into mobile gaming, Nintendo is considering creating physical controllers and other kinds of hardware for different types of mobile games and experiences, reports Polygon. Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo's general manager of entertainment planning and development, discussed the possibility at the company's annual shareholders meeting.
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"Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves," Takahashi said. "I believe Nintendo's way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game."
In the console and handheld gaming spaces, Nintendo has taken to crafting unique controllers that the company can take advantage of with its first-party games. Nintendo's unique controllers include a reverse trident design, motion control remotes and dual-screen handhelds.
Apple added support for iOS game controllers with iOS 7, expanding its Made for iPhone program to include game controller accessories. More recently, the company dropped its requirement for tvOS games to support the Siri Remote, allowing game developers to create more complex games for the fourth-generation Apple TV.
Nintendo also reiterated its commitment to create mobile app experiences that aren't games, like its social lifestyle game / app Miitomo. The company still has plans to release five smartphone games by March 2017, with Miitomo already released and Pokemon GO set to debut later this month. Smartphone games based on Nintendo franchises Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing will arrive later this year.
Top Rated Comments
[doublepost=1467769689][/doublepost]They lose on the sale of a $200 DS in leu of a $100 controller, but they would expand their user base tremendously because I doubt that are many people like me who will go and buy a DS for classic games.
Whether I'm right or not, I have no idea. I trust Nintendo's marketing and sales team have evaluated their options.
[doublepost=1467769780][/doublepost]Often times, ergonomic = Ugly.
I'd rather have plastic monstrosity that was durably, clicky, and fit my hands perfectly than a smooth piece of aluminum that is only 7.8mm thick with touch buttons.
[doublepost=1467769895][/doublepost]They already have: Zelda series, SSB, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, etc. These are applications, just not for iOS. They just refuse to expand them beyond their native platform.