Nintendo To Make Games For Smartphones

Nintendo is making a U-turn that saw the firm’s shares shoot up by 21%.

12:56 19 March 2015

Nintendo, a Japanese gaming giant which had a longstanding policy of producing games just for console, has made a U-turn and announced plans to make games for smartphones. The maker of the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises are teaming up with Tokyo-based mobile gaming company DeNa to develop the games. 

 

Following the news, the firm’s share shoot up by 21per cent to £96, a three-and-a-half year high. Atul Goyal, an analyst at Jefferies Group LLC in Singapore, raised his recommendation on the stock to "buy", saying in a report: "Finally Nintendo has turned a corner and embraced a huge strategic shift.

"We have been waiting for Nintendo to make this move and this will offer large upside."

Nintendo plans to buy 10per cent of DeNa before creating games based Nintendo’s host of popular characters. 

 

Investors are extremely happy with the move and had long hoped that Nintendo will finally enter the booming market for games on smartphones. 

 

Nintendo’s stock has fallen more than 60per cent since June 2007 when Apple iPhone was released in the market.