Nintendo is reportedly working to modify its Wii U games controller to run smartphone apps, although details of what this plan entails are scarce.

According to Japan Times, the gaming giant is offering tools to enable developers to port apps to Wii U, a console which includes a games controller that has its own touch screen. It is hoped that this could drive sales of the package as a whole, and therefore lead to increased sales of Wii U console games.

Reports earlier this year said that Nintendo was in talks with iOS developers to bring apps to Wii U, including an offer to help with porting and publishing. The intention is to offer casual games alongside fully-fledged console titles, using just the Wii U controller.

Nintendo’s move to court mobile developers hints at a somewhat schizophrenic attitude to this market from the company. While it is now looking to mobile as a way to extend the appeal of its own products, it has opted not to release mobile games based on its own console titles – despite pressure from investors to do so.

Satoru Iwata, president of the company, has previously been critical of the economics of mobile apps, arguing that a focus on the quantity of titles available means that “the value of software does not matter to them”.

Coupled with the growth of freemium payment models and a shift away from paid-for products, this means that traditional games developers such as Nintendo (among others) have struggled to adapt.

The challenge for Nintendo (and Sony’s PSP) is that casual gamers are switching to Android and iOS devices to meet their portable gaming needs, with app analytics firm Flurry stating that this has “already disrupted billions of dollars of game revenue” – a challenge which Nintendo has no way to directly address.