Nintendo is reaching out to smartphone app makers in an attempt to bolster the struggling consoles game line-up, according to a report.
The Japan Times (via gamesindustry.biz) reports that the company is making conversion software available to smart phone app developers. "The game console and software maker has offered professional-use conversion software to application developers so they can produce smartphone games that can be played on Wii U, a struggling home video game console that helped widen the firm’s operating loss in fiscal 2012," the paper writes.
Nintendo has struggled to meet sales estimates for the Wii U console and recently named Satoru Iwata as CEO. The news comes on the heels of Nintendo announcing they would not be giving a large scale press conference at this year's E3, an industry showcase. Instead the company will offer a smaller briefing to journalists and distributors.
Nintendo is not entirely absent from the app marketplace. Last year Nintendo subsidary The Pokemon Company released the Pokedex app for iOS. The Pokemon encyclopedia sells for $1.99 in the U.S and comes with an agressive in-app purchase component. In addition, Rovio, maker of Angry Birds, is expected to release a version of its popular iOS game for the Wii and Wii U at some point this year, called Angry Birds Trilogy.