Nintendo is forming a joint venture company with DeNA - the developer behind Mario Kart Tour and Super Mario Run - in a bid to expand its mobile business.

Nintendo Systems Co Ltd, as it will be called, will be based in Tokyo and will begin operations in April 2023 - the start of the next financial year.

The new company will be split 80/20 in Nintendo's favour and will naturally continue to develop mobile titles. However, it will also look at opportunities on other "various devices".

Its objective is to "strengthen the digitalisation of Nintendo’s business" and "create value-added services to further reinforce Nintendo’s relationship with consumers". In short, we should see Nintendo properties outside the normal remit of the company's own games consoles.

The Japanese gaming giant's smartphone track record has so far been up and down. It has been successful in some areas, with Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp being particularly popular alongside Mario Kart Tour, but other games have failed to ignite. The new company will therefore explore other means of revenue.

Considering how popular online battle games have been in recent times, maybe we could see a Splatoon mobile game on the horizon? We could certainly see that working for sure.