Nintendo’s Free-To-Play Game Is Steel Diver

As reported earlier in the day, Nintendo’s first free-to-play game, slated for release sometime before April 2014, will not be a Mario or Pokémon game, or any of Nintendo’s other successful money-makers. Instead, according to company president Satoru Iwata, it will be a product that consumers may not be feel comfortable putting money down for.

Now, we know what franchise Nintendo are looking at, as part of their free-to-play business. IGN reports that one of Nintendo’s free-to-play titles will be Steel Diver. Not the exact same game that was released alongside the Nintendo 3DS, but something similar in concept with a different design.

“There is something we’re doing with the Steel Diver idea that I think is going to open things up with that game… It’s going to be very fun,” Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto shared in a talk with IGN. “We’re exploring from a perspective of where we can take that from a multiplayer standpoint—it’s going to have this four-player battle mode that I think is going to be very interesting.”

Miyamoto added that Nintendo are focused on designing a balanced free-to-play model, which is along the lines of what Iwata said to analysts during E3 as well, and that they hope to have something to show “soon”. Miyamoto did not reveal what platform the game was being designed for.