Nintendo, Smartphone Accessory Maker?

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Gaming giant Nintendo looks to smartphones and tablets as a next growth market-- and the company hints it will even go as afar as making mobile device accessories in the quest for new business.

Nintendo miitomo"Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves," general manager of entertainment planning and development Shinya Takahashi says at an annual shareholders meeting. "I believe Nintendo's way of thinking is to look at whether action games are really not impossible (without a physical controller for smart device applications) to create and how we can make it happen to create such a game."

Such a move might come as a surprise for those familiar with Nintendo, a company famous for sticking exclusively with own gaming hardware. However the last few years have been tough for the company, leading it to slowly shift towards making games for mobile devices through a partnership with app developer DeNA.

Further encouraging Nintendo to look to smartphones and tablets is the recent success of Pokemon Go, a global hit co-developed with Niantic Labs, the company behind augmented reality game Ingress.

Of course, no details on Nintendo-made smartphone accessories has been revealed as yet.

Go Nintendo Annual Shareholders General Meeting