Nintendo has a new mobile partner. The company announced that it is developing and launching its next game for iOS and Android not with DeNA, but with LINE.
Prior to that, DeNA had been Nintendo’s strategic partner since 2016.
Nintendo, together with LINE, is developing Dr. Mario World, a modern version of the 1990 puzzle for the NES and Game Boy.
Dr. Mario World, according to the published information, will be a shareware game with optional micropayments. They don’t talk about the mechanics of the novelty, but most likely, like thirty years ago, it will be a synthesis of Tetris and match games.
The release of Dr. Mario World is scheduled for summer 2019.
The choice of a new partner during the development and launch of Dr. Mario World can be explained by several factors.
- LINE, unlike DeNA, specializes in casual products, not midcore. It is logical to run a puzzle with a profile team.
- Nintendo may also be unhappy with the collaboration with DeNA. Of the three released projects, only one became a major hit (Fire Emblem Heroes).
- The announcement of the new product took place against the background of the transfer from spring to summer Mario Kart Tour. The latter is a mobile game that Nintendo is preparing together with DeNA. The reason for the transfer is that Nintendo was dissatisfied with the current quality of the project.
- Perhaps Nintendo is implementing a strategy to diversify partners in mobile. This is supported by the fact that Dr. Mario World is the second such project that Nintendo is not doing with DeNA. The first one was released in August 2018 – Dragalia Lost, whose development was done by Cygames.
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