Watch your back, Nintendo: GREE doesn't want just a piece of your pie

The Japan-based mobile social games company wants all of it. That's essentially what the company's founder and CEO, Yoshikazu Tanaka, told TechCrunch during its Disrupt event in Tokyo recently. The GREE chief told TechCrunch that most of the company's revenue comes from its Japanese audience, but that it hopes to follow Nintendo's example in creating a massive global audience.

But Tanaka isn't happy with just following Nintendo, he looks to displace the veteran games maker. He told the news outlet that he wouldn't surprised to see GREE's revenue in the West jump to four to five times of what it is in Asian within the next five years. "We definitely feel positive, and our goal is to make sure our brand is just as successful, if not better than Nintendo."

Nintendo is infamous for its unwillingness to enter the mobile games market through iOS or Android. While the company does plan to release an iOS version of its eShop (the downloadable games store on the 3DS), it simply refuses to create games for mobile phones. This is despite numerous studies suggesting otherwise and even investors clamoring for Nintendo games on iPhone.

Nintendo did, however, manage to sell more 3DS consoles in its first eight months on the market than the original DS system sold in one year. Perhaps there's still interest in a handheld device dedicated to gaming, but you could also chalk these immense sales up to the devices' price cut over the summer and a terribly strong Black Friday. Regardless, the mobile gaming world is after Nintendo, which leaves us wondering whether its stern strategy can withstand the onslaught.

Could GREE eventually overtake Nintendo through its mobile social games network? Can Nintendo continue to dominate the mobile gaming space with its current strategy? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.