Nintendo Chief Says They’ll Make iOS Games Over Mario’s Dead Body

Now that Nintendo’s lucky anthropomorphic Mario star is fading, there’s been a lot of talk about the game maker looking for Princess Peach in another castle: the iOS App Store.

To speak more plainly, since Nintendo’s 3DS console is a bust, and since Apple’s App Store is such a phenomenon, there’ve been consistent rumors and shareholder insistence that Nintendo should take their cherished game properties to an iPhone near you.

Will it happen? Fat chance, Nintendo says.

In a recent interview, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that Nintendo will not make games for iOS devices.

“That is absolutely not under consideration,” he said.

I have to say, I think he’s right. Nintendo’s successes have all come from leveraging their in-house game characters and series to sell their own hardware. If you can chalk Nintendo’s recent foundering to anything, its that there recent first-party games haven’t really been any good. If Nintendo’s going to 1-Up itself here and jump start its foundering console businesses, it needs to get back to doing what it does best: making great games.

Comment »