Nintendo May Release Own Version of Flappy Bird

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Feb. 12, 2014 - PRLog -- Nintendo plans on releasing games for smartphones and tablets after Flappy Bird has been downloaded 50 million times.

February 12, 2014
Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime has stated the company is developing games for iOS.  These mobile games will not be full “Mario” or “Zelda” games, but rater smaller tie-in games to its vast library of popular and iconic titles.

Peter Tasca, CEO of Laureate Trust, a British Virgin Islands based fund which returned 23% net of fees in 2013 states, “There have been over 500 million iOS devices sold, this is a market Nintendo needs to address.  If you look around you don’t see children playing on DS or Wii U devices, you see them on tablets and iPods.”

Nintendo confirms Wii U has flopped and slashed global sales forecast by almost 70%.  The sales on the Wii U is now 5.86 million units worldwide with 2.41 million units sold this current financial year.

For comparison, Apple (AAPL) has sold over 15 million iPods in the same period.  Furthermore, according to Gartner, total mobile app downloads were estimated at over 102 billion in 2013.

Tasca states, “In 2013 total revenue was over $26 billion for Mobile Apps and free Apps accounted for 91% of total downloads.  Nintendo has a large and active development program and we expect to see Mobile Apps launched this year.”

Earlier this week hit smartphone game Flappy Bird from developer Dong Nguyen was removed from Apple’s App store and Google Apps due to increased scrutiny of the game.

According to Apple’N’Apps and Reuters, “Two friends of Dong said Nintendo had sent him a warning letter regarding the art assets in Flappy Bird claiming that they are in direct violation of their copyrights”  However, the gaming giant has denied any involvement and has denied of even considering a lawsuit.

Platforms such as Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS have created a new expectation from consumers for inexpensive or free game apps.  This cultural change has hurt Nintendo in the portable gaming market.  Tasca adds, “Our research shows that over 90% of all downloaded apps are free, there is definitely a strong trend.”

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata stated, “Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business.  It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.”

Nintendo said it is now expecting an operating loss of 35 billion yen this business year versus its initial forecast of a 100 billion yen profit.

Tasca states, “Nintendo could very easily develop a smartphone game and tie-in several other properties.  They have the infrastructure and I predict we will see a Nintendo version of Flappy Bird released for Android and Apple devices shortly.”