Nintendo Denies Planning Smartphone Controllers, The Internet Writes the Opposite

Nintendo held a Q&A session with shareholders during their latest shareholder meeting. There were some interesting questions and some maddeningly stupid ones. One interesting tidbit: a shareholder asked directly about Nintendo possibly making physical game controllers for smart devices.

Q: […] I think many people would like to play Nintendo’s action games as smart device applications. But smart devices use touch panels, which may not be suited to action games. Does Nintendo have any plans to launch a physical controller and invest in new titles of quality action games?

This is actually two implicit questions: does Nintendo agree with the statement that action games may not be suited to touch panels, and if so, does Nintendo plan on making such controllers?

Shinya Takahashi (Director, General Manager of Entertainment Planning and Development Division):

Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves. On the other hand, 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. I think we will make applications, and not just action games, in consideration of what best embodies “Nintendo-like” applications, including applications for everyone from children to seniors.

To my eyes, that’s a pretty straightforward denial. First and foremost, Nintendo is making applications for everyone, not just action games. Even if Nintendo were to make an action game, the implication is that Nintendo thinks that it probably would be possible to make an action game that doesn’t require a physical controller. Lastly, there are a bunch of controllers already on the market, and although Nintendo probably could make something by themselves, the other two points suggest it wouldn’t make much sense.

Distill it all down to one sentence, and that sentence would be something like: “Nintendo knows these controllers exist, but would rather spend their time developing the type of application that everyone can play, not just gamers.”

For fun, lets look at how other websites are reporting this (non) story:

9to5mac: Nintendo betting big on mobile, potentially building hardware controllers for iPhone & iPad

I mean… If you squint your eyes and try really hard, maybe you can read that in what Nintendo said. It is physically possible that I could be elected president of the US – that doesn’t mean I’m potentially building my campaign.

TheNextWeb: Nintendo might make dedicated controllers for its own mobile games

And then again, they might not. I know where I’d place my bets.

The author goes on to call this big news for Nintendo fans. Maybe if issuing a denial and followed it with the exact same things they’ve been saying for a year counts as “big news”.

Polygon: “Nintendo has major plans to focus on smart device development, including possibly designing its own controller for mobile gaming, according to general manager of entertainment planning and developement, Shinya Takahashi.”

Maybe instead of writing down his entire job title in full, the author could have written down his actual quote, instead of paraphrasing it incorrectly. Or not written this article at all, since the rest of it is a random assortment of ramblings on things Nintendo is working on, without any coherent point.

Damn, I’ve only responded to three articles, and I already feel angry and tired. I don’t know how The Macalope handles sifting through this stuff full time.