The big news that’s all over the internet at the moment is the monumental deal Nintendo has made with DeNA. You may know the latter better as the Mobage people. Nintendo IPs are going to start appearing on smartphones and tablets, because the company finally realized there’s a lot of money to be had there. It seems like a union that could result in good things for anyone who has grown up loving games from the big N, but I wonder if this could end up being the kind of news that’s too good to be true.
I mean, more games are always great. Especially if these are going to be original titles centered on iconic characters or properties. That’s good stuff. The issue is the kind of games could we end up seeing from this Nintendo and DeNA partnership. We could see beloved series ressurrected, but there’s also a chance that things won’t go as well as we’d hoped.
I mean, look at the recent Pokemon Shuffle as an example. I love the game, as I’ve mentioned before . I think it has a lot of potential, despite the free-to-play trappings. However, it does rely heavily on practices that make the Pokemon Trozei formula seem a little less desirable. The most recent promotion, where only the 20,000 top-scorers get Lucarionite from an event match, especially raises eyebrows. It shows that a Nintendo free-to-play can be good and fun, but make some questionable decisions.
Looking at DeNA’s track record can also give one pause. It has an stable of free-to-play games that all fall comfortably into the average to above average range. However, all of them also fall into classic free-to-play traps, resulting in experiences that can feel cheap or exploitative. It can put out good products, but these games are going to eventually have paywall moments. They also fall into the “Parents’ worst nightmare” category, as some in-app purchases can range between $24.99-99.99.
Then, there’s the announcement that DeNA will have a service running not only on Android and iOS phones and tablets, but also on the 3DS, Wii U, and PC. If this Nintendo and DeNA partnership was only about bringing games to mobile devices, there would be no need for the other platforms. Free-to-play games have popped up on the 3DS before in the form of Steel Diver: Sub Wars and Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball , but both were handled quite well. Given the state of Pokemon Shuffle and DeNA’s other games, one has to wonder if future titles will offer free-to-play the right way.
That could have another disheartening side effect. We all know too well that a bad game can taint an entire series for people. Take Final Fantasy , as an example. I know two people who swear they won’t touch the series again after the debacle that was the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. It’s easy to sour on a title if it’s handled improperly. Picross is one of the best puzzle games on the 3DS eShop, but imagine how nit-picky and discouraging it could be if you had to pay unrealistic amounts for new puzzle packs or had a limit on how many times you could play due to a “life” system.
It’s a slippery slope situation. This is going to be a good business decision for Nintendo. They’ll obviously make money, even if these end up being free-to-play affairs, because people won’t be able to resist titles based on beloved IPs. We just have to hope that this partnership with DeNA will be handled in the right way. Because really, this is a situation that could either go wonderfully or horribly. Let’s hope for the former.