Nintendo will release a free-to-play game before April 2014

Nintendo is working on a free-to-play game that it intends to release before the end of its current financial year, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said at an E3 2013 financial briefing held today.

Not much about the intended free-to-play game was mentioned, but Nintendo confirmed it wouldn't be a Mario or Pokemon title. The company intends to launch a free-to-play game to boost its revenues from the growing digital market, industry analyst David Gibson reported on Twitter.

Iwata has previously spoken about Nintendo developing games outside of its traditional methods. Back in April he said that Nintendo was exploring the possibility to "have many other types of business models in addition to packaged software."

"For example," continued Iwata at the time, "we might see more games that are similar to free-to-play games, games that cost much less or games that require a monthly subscription fee. Digitalization allows for greater flexibility, whereby having more ways to make payments, both software developers and consumers have more options."

Nintendo's financial year runs through March 2014. Earlier today Nintendo explained why it wasn't going to bring Mario to smartphones.