Nintendo’s new handheld and upcoming home console will be getting a new system that allows developers to sell premium downloadable content on them. The news emerged during the company’s Q & A session as a part of their earnings briefing in Tokyo on Friday. An investor asked Satoru Iwata about his thoughts on such a system and he replied that both the 3DS and Wii U would have a system allowing for paid download transactions.
Both Iwata and top designer Shigeru Miyamoto are apparently interested in stretching out the life of games by offering downloadable levels and other features to consumers. At the same time, Iwata-san noted that the company is concerned over either system becoming bogged down in a sea of low quality downloadable content. As such, they will not pursue such avenues – regardless of the potential for profit – and maintain control over the caliber of content sold digitally on their platforms.
Additionally, Iwata expressed his disdain for ‘free-to-play’ models and noted that Nintendo is staunchly opposed to bringing that concept over to their platforms. This comes as no surprise given the previous statements the company president has made in the past in regards to FTP and low-priced games.
He also said that the 3DS internet connection is significantly faster than that of the DS, but that Nintendo still has some work to do in order to achieve a 100% satisfaction rate. On top of that, scant few users have actually paid for downloads on it as of this junction in its life cycle.
Over the next three years, the publisher intends to drastically increase its online footprint. The goal is to reach a point at which the Big N’s customers will be every bit as comfortable with purchasing digital content as they are with retail games. That being said, he assured the audience that this will by no means signal a downtrend in their packaged game strategy. Online games and related content will instead be a second pillar. Astute fans will no doubt recall that the company once spoke similarly of the DS being its “third pillar.” We all know how that worked out.
[Source: Andriasang]
[Image via Digital Trends.]
