All the times Nintendo said no to mobile gaming (until it said yes)

Nintendo of America exec Reggie Fils-Aim throws the gauntlet down nice and early as investors start to notice the success of Angry Birds et al. I actually think that one of the biggest risks today in our industry arethese inexpensive games that are candidly disposable from a consumer standpoint, he says.

Fils-Aim is backed up a month later by CEO Satoru Iwata, who chimes in with: These [mobile] platforms have no motivation to maintain the value of gaming Quantity is how they profit. The value of software does not matter to them.

But the pressure doesnt let up. When asked if wed ever see the likes of Mario on phones, Iwata stays adamant. This is absolutely not under consideration, he tells Japanese newspaper Nikkei. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. Its the duty of management tomake use of those strengths.

Two months later and again, Reggie My body is ready Fils-Aim twists theknife into the idea of Nintendo smartphone gaming. The concept of having our core franchises on other systems really flies in the face of what we believe in, and thats because, by understanding the hardware, thats how were able to bring these great experiences forward.

Iwata drops a hint that the wheels were in motion for a digitally-focused service. We are hoping to change and correct the situation in which we develop games for different platforms individually and sometimes disappoint consumers with game shortages as we attempt to move from one platform to another. We believe that we will be able to deliver tangible results in the future.

Off the back of the DeNA deal, Iwata takes to Nintendos corporate website to explain the thinking behind it. We firmly believe that doing business on smart devices will not shrink our dedicated video game system business, and will instead create new demand as this broader reach enables us to provide consumers more opportunities to experience the appeal of Nintendo IP.