Nintendo to develop and release new consoles for emerging markets in 2015

Nintendo plans to develop and release new game devices to emerging markets beginning next year, the company's president Satoru Iwata told Bloomberg in an interview today.

"We want to make new things, with new thinking rather than a cheaper version of what we currently have," Iwata said. "The product and price balance must be made from scratch."

Iwata reiterated in the interview that Nintendo won't sell its games on smartphones, saying "We have had a console business for 30 years, and I don't think we can just transfer that over onto a smartphone model."

According to tweets by analyst David Gibson in attendance at Nintendo's financial results briefing today, Iwata said that charging $30-60 for a game in emerging markets is difficult. Emerging markets need something special to reach mass market, and not just localize existing products that have higher price. Iwata added that Nintendo is studying changes in China.

The Chinese government recently lifted the console ban, allowing foreign firms to produce and sell hardware within the established Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Microsoft is teaming up with Chinese entertainment business BesTV to launch the Xbox One in China in September. It will be the first time a console from a foreign company has legally been available for sale in the country since 2000.

During Nintendo's briefing for the fiscal year, where it posted a 46.4 billion yen operating loss ($456 million), the company revealed that it will release a line of Skylanders-style NFC action figurines and video games for Wii U and 3DS codenamed Nintendo Figurine Platform.