Nintendo Co yesterday dropped its resistance to using its characters on mobile devices as the maker of Mario and Zelda teams with DeNA Co to develop new games for smartphones and tablet computers.
The Japanese companies also agreed to a capital alliance that will see them each buy ￥22 billion (US$181 million) stakes in each other, Kyoto-based Nintendo said in a statement. The two companies will develop and operate new membership services offering game applications based on Nintendo’s character lineup.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had stuck with a strategy of selling his games only on Nintendo devices even as consumers shifted to playing on smartphones and tablets.
Photo: AFP
The company halved its operating earnings forecast for this fiscal year to ￥20 billion and lowered its sales outlook by 7 percent amid stagnating sales of its Wii U console.
“Only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system,” the companies said in the release.
Iwata has sought to maintain the company’s iconic characters exclusively for in-house devices as it counts on demand for software to drive hardware sales. The stance was criticized after the company posted an annual loss last year, just its second unprofitable year in two decades.
Nintendo last year added a new line of interactive figurines called Amiibo to help kickstart the Wii U. Players can use the figurines to enter a Nintendo character into a game through the Wii U’s GamePad tablet.
The Wii U struggled to gain traction after its 2012 debut amid a shortage of new software titles, while Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp lured serious gamers to their machines when they were released about a year later.
There are a total of 9.3 million units of the Wii U in the hands of gamers worldwide as of Feb. 28, according to VGChartz.com, which tracks industry sales. That compares with 20.2 million for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and 11.6 million for Microsoft’s Xbox One.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
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