Nintendo says that it has no plans to develop for mobile platforms, including Apple's iOS or Android, the company told Bloomberg in a phone conversation today.
Nintendo's Yasuhiro Minagawa told Bloomberg that its long-standing strategy of developing games only for its own hardware "hasn't changed and won't change."
Prior to Minagawa's comments, Nintendo's shares were on the rise due to speculation that the company might follow Pokemon and develop games for smartphones, since it's a minority stakeholder in that company. However, Nintendo told Bloomberg that Pokemon is an independent company, and its decisions do not affect its own strategies.
As the top portable-hardware company in the game industry, Nintendo has been feeling pressure from the increasing popularity of smartphone-based video games. According to a report from Flurry Analytics, in 2009, Nintendo owned 70 percent of the U.S. portable game software market, followed by iOS with 19 percent share. Last year, Nintendo's market share slumped to 57 percent as the combination of iOS and Android rose to 34 percent share.
Posts
