Nintendo to Grace Mobile Gaming with Physical iPhone Controllers

Legendary video gaming company Nintendo, creators of such iconic franchises as Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong, has long been resistant to allow their games or characters on any third-party platform. In March of last year, however, the gaming giant stopped clinging to the console gaming market and began to introduce games into the mobile gaming market.

Last October, they unveiled their first effort – the social media-like gaming app Miitomo, which quickly rose to the top of the download charts. Just several months ago, Nintendo announced two more titles for mobile platforms, based on the popular Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing Series – both more traditional gaming titles, which should release sometime this fall. Now it appears as if Nintendo is looking to dive deeper into the mobile gaming market, possibly looking to release physical controllers for smartphones and tablets.

During the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Nintendo’s general manager of entertainment planning and development Shinya Takahashi claimed that the company is dedicating many of their resources to the mobile gaming market. He went on to say that they might look to create physical controllers for smartphones and tablets to enhance the experience of future gaming titles.

According to Polygon, Takahashi said,

“Physical controllers for smart device applications are available in the market and it is possible that we may also develop something new by ourselves. 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.”

Apple began allowing support for third-party gaming controllers in iOS 7, and recently began allowing the same for the 4^th generation Apple TV. Whether or not Nintendo follows through with their idea to create mobile gaming controllers for their games, it’s clear that the company is now taking the mobile market seriously.

The company had previously announced that they would like to have five mobile titles out on the market by March, with Miitomo, Fire Emblem, and Animal Crossing taking up three of those spots.

Polygon claims that Nintendo also recently posted “multiple job offerings for mobile specific developers for undisclosed titles.” The company’s increased focus on the mobile gaming market is great news for mobile gaming fans – hopefully we’ll see some Mario and/or Zelda titles for the iPhone and iPad soon.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]