New Mega Man, Monster Hunter games are coming to smartphones

Capcom announced that it plans to develop new mobile titles based on popular series like Monster Hunter and Mega Man. In a release to investors, the company said it has reorganized its existing mobile branches to form Capcom Mobile Co., which will launch games exclusively for smartphones.

Four mobile games drawn from existing intellectual properties are currently planned for worldwide release by March 2017. The new titles will be based on the Monster Hunter, Mega Man and Sengoku Basara brands, among others, according to Capcom; the company has previously released mobile spinoffs of all three of these series.

This won't be Capcom's first time releasing games for the platform, however. Capcom Mobile Co. is a restructuring of Beeline Interactive, a subsidiary dedicated to launching mobile games. That company was responsible for The Smurfs' Village, a free-to-play title which has found popularity on iOS and Android. Beeline never developed games based on Capcom's original properties, however.

The announcement follows the worldwide launch of Miitomo, Nintendo's inaugural foray into mobile. Like Capcom, Nintendo and partner DeNA plan to release additional titles by the end of the current fiscal year; the company has said it will launch a total of five games by March 2017.