Nintendo last night announced details of its first game for mobile devices, with the news causing the gaming company's stock prices to drop by 10%.
The game - called Miitomo - is based around the company's popular Mii avatars, and allows users to chat and communicate with other players.
Full details have yet to be revealed, but as expected it will be a 'free-to-start' title that will allow players to make in-app purchases after the initial free download.
The game is the first of five planned downloadable mobile games from Nintendo. in partnership with dedicated mobile gaming company DeNA. Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima indicated some of the other titles will be pay-to-download.
The company also announced a new 'Nintendo Account' system that will work across devices, along with a new loyalty scheme to replace the previous Club Nintendo.
While Miitomo is the first Nintendo mobile game, it is not their first 'free-to-start' title. They have released a number of 'freemium' titles for the 3DS portable console, including two Pokemon titles (with Pokemon Shuffle having already have made the transition to mobile devices, published by the separate Pokemon Company).
Miitomo will not debut until March 2016, Nintendo having originally announced plans to launch their first smartphone title by the end of this year.
The delay, as well as possible disappointment that the game does not feature any of Nintendo's more iconic characters, saw Nintendo share prices fall last night. After originally falling by around 10%, BBC reports stock prices 'rallied' to close at 8.97% down.
Share prices in DeNA also fell following the announcement.
Nintendo has also released its latest financial report, showing an operating profit of ¥8.98 billion (around €67m) for the first half of the fiscal year - compared to a ¥215 million loss a year earlier. The company also reported increased sales.
The company's current home console the Wii U has struggled to match the popularity of its predecessor and competing games consoles, with Playstation 4 sales continuing to soar. However Nintendo has already announced that a new console is in development - codenamed the Nintendo NX.
