Nintendo and Mobile Company DeNA Establish a Joint Venture Company Called Nintendo Systems

Nintendo and DeNA, the mobile company responsible for helping Nintendo develop Super Mario Run, Mario Kart Tour, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and more, have established a joint venture company called Nintendo Systems.

Nintendo announced the news as part of its Fiscal Year Ending March 2023 Six Months Earnings Release, and has stated the purpose of this new company will be for “research and development, as well as operations to strengthen the digitalization of Nintendo’s business, in addition to the creation of value-added services.”

Nintendo also “entrusts DeNA with the joint development and operation of membership services for various devices.”

The amount of capital for the joint venture will be “greater than 10% of that of Nintendo,” so Nintendo Systems will become a “Specified Subsidiary of Nintendo.” The capital in question is 5 billion yen or roughly $34 million USD. The company will be located in Tokyo and Nintendo will contribute 80% of the capital.

“With the integrated hardware-software model at the core of its business, Nintendo also strives to provide enhanced experience and service outside of its dedicated gaming system,” Nintendo said. “In order to provide this experience in a holistic manner, Nintendo is working to maintain and expand its relationship with consumers primarily through Nintendo Account.

“As part of this effort, Nintendo entered a business and capital alliance with DeNA in 2015 and has collaborated to develop and operate the new core system centered around Nintendo Account since then. Based on the expertise accumulated over the seven plus years and the experience of co-developing multiple services based on Nintendo Account, Nintendo and DeNA will advance their partnership and establish a joint venture company.

“With the objective to strengthen the digitalization of Nintendo’s business, the joint venture company will research and develop, as well as create value-added services to further reinforce Nintendo’s relationship with consumers.”

As previously mentioned, Nintendo first announced its partnership with DeNA in 2015, and since then the two have worked together to develop Miitomo, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Mario Kart Tour, and more.

In 2020, Nintendo mobile games had reportedly grossed over $1 billion, and that was also the year the company was reportedly stepping away from mobile games.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.