Is SteelDiver Subwars Nintendo’s Next Free-to-Play Game?

The Australian Classification Board has rated a game titled SteelDiver Subwars, with Nintendo listed as the game’s publisher.

The original Steel Diver was a game released alongside the Nintendo 3DS at the device’s launch. It was a slow, deliberate side-scrolling title where one navigates a submarine through treacherous waters, avoiding obstacles and destroying enemy ships.

While SteelDiver Subwars hasn’t been officially announced, one could make an educated guess as to what it is. Earlier in the year, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto shared that the company was working on a new free-to-play Steel Diver game focused on multiplayer. That could be what Subwars is.

At the time, Miyamoto stated: “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. 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.”

This would make SteelDiver Subwars Nintendo’s second free-to-play game. Earlier in the year, the company launched Darumeshi Sports Shop on the Nintendo 3DS, which marked the first of their free-to-play efforts. You can read more about that game here.

We’ll have more to report on SteelDiver Subwars as details are made available.