Nintendo took a while before venturing into mobile gaming and now they have even more good news: their games will be free. Well, at least the first ones, as their partner DeNA's CEO Isao Moriyasu shared more during a recent earnings call.

 

According to a report from Slash Gear, Moriyasu shared more about the previously-discussed "free-to-start" business model, revealing that the "games currently in the pipeline are all free to play." It was not confirmed how many are currently in the works at Nintendo, but at least five games will be released by the developer by March 2017.

In a report from Gamasutra, DeNA also hinted at the Nintendo IPs getting the mobile treatment saying, "The main objective is to produce multiple hit titles and make the collaborated business profitable on its own. [Our] goal is to achieve sustained, medium- to long-term profits based on strong user engagement. The primary role of Nintendo will be to manage the front end whereas DeNA will focus on back end for the apps."

The first mobile game from Nintendo, although the developer has designed it more like an app for social interaction rather than a game, will be "Miitomo." According to a report from Latin Post, "Miitomo" will let players create Mii avatars and interact with other players using this.

A report from Wired revealed that Tatsumi Kimishima described the game as a tool bringing people together saying, "You might dif up some previously-buried topics of conversation, learn about a surprising side of your friend you've never seen before, find things you never had in common."

"Miitomo" was originally slated for a 2015 release, but the launch was postponed to March 2016 to give the company more time to promote its first mobile title.

"The company is busy promoting other titles in the pipeline right now," Kimishima explained the company's decision to push back the date of the game's release. "It will start promoting 'Miitomo' after the year-end holiday season."

In other Nintendo news, the "Nintendo Badge Arcade" has been released for free in North America, a report from Digital Trends revealed. The app allows players to earn badges for the 3DS home screen, as well as play a crane game to fish out new badges. Five practice plays every day are given to players, but additional sets of five cost $1.

The crane games offer badges inspired by various Nintendo games such as "Super Mario Bros," "The Legend of Zelda" and "Animal Crossing," See the trailer for "Nintendo Badge Arcade" below.