Nintendo Faces Investor Pressure to Bring Games to iPhone

marioBloomberg reports that Nintendo is facing increasing investor pressure to develop titles for the iPhone and other platforms.

The rift highlights the dilemma President Satoru Iwata faces as consumers shun Nintendo devices to play games on iPhones, iPads and Facebook Inc.’s website. The flop of the 3DS debut prompted the company to slash prices 40 percent in Japan starting today, the first time the games developer has resorted to such a move within six months of a product’s debut.

Nintendo has seen very poor initial sales of its new 3DS platform in the face of slumping DS and Wii sales, resulting in the announcement of a quarterly loss of $328 million late last month. In reaction, Nintendo has slashed prices of its 3DS in order to promote sales, but Bloomberg reports that investors want a more dramatic shift in strategy.

Nintendo's stock, which is currently near a 6 year low, saw a big boost after news last month that an affiliated company of their's, Pokemon Company, announced plans to release a Pokemon-themed iPhone game. Nintendo was quick to deny that they had any involvement and that Nintendo had no plans to bring titles to external platforms. Their stock subsequently saw a corresponding drop. Alternatively, some have suggested that Nintendo should "buy its way into" the smartphone platforms by acquiring companies and technology or developing their own.

Mobile applications and gaming have seen huge growth over the past few years, clearly impacting both Nintendo's and Sony's portable gaming systems. In line with that interest, a number of major acquisitions have taken place with iOS-related gaming companies such as Ngmoco, Open Feint and Chillingo. Despite these trends, according to Bloomberg, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has said that Nintendo will only make titles for its own products as long as he's in charge.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

iPhone Foldable Display Said to Feature iPad-Style 4:3 Aspect Ratio

Friday March 28, 2025 3:44 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming "iPhone Fold" will feature a foldable screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, according to a Chinese leaker who previously leaked the book-style device's display dimensions. The Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station claims that Apple will adopt a "roughly" 4:3 aspect ratio on the inner display in order to achieve consistency between the outer display, as well as to ensure parity...

Top Rated Comments

joelhinchAUS Avatar
178 months ago
yes please

Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart on my iPhone, yes please!!!
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
saving107 Avatar
178 months ago
If you can't beat them, join them.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TwoBytes Avatar
178 months ago
i'd love zelda on the ipad!
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tekker Avatar
178 months ago
I really think they have to scrap the 3DS and think bigger this time... the iPod Touch has thousands of games... many of them are of great quality... and for: $1.

If they really wanted to print money, all they have to do is port Pokemon to iOS. I think even Mario 64 can run on the current generation of apple gear too.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RedReplicant Avatar
178 months ago
The portable console time has passed, they need to move to the new market (phones/tablets) otherwise they will fail.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yumunum Avatar
178 months ago
They already did both of these things. Oh wait, that's on Android, not iOS. Silly me.

Nintendo didn't. Developers did. And the N64 emulators have a lot of problems running some games.

If Nintendo themselves made solid ports of their games to iOS, it'd be amazing.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)