Hideki Konno insists Nintendo has no plans to join the low pricepoint gaming model
Nintendo's project lead on the 3DS has insisted that the company is not interested in making games sold as cheaply as those seen on many current platforms.
Hideki Konno highlighted the fact he believes the existence of free games is lowering the price of paid-for titles, creating a business model that's primed to upset game developers.
"Let's say that there's a ton of other software out there that's free, which forces you then to take your content which you want to sell for ten dollars and you have to lower it down to one dollar to be competitive," Konno said of Nintendo when speaking to Gamasutra. "It's not a business model that's going to make developers happy."
"In terms of one dollar games, or free games, or whatever that is out there in the market, I mean, really, we're not going to be competing with that," he later added.
"We're not going to try to match that; we're just going to continually strive to not just maintain, but increase, the quality of the entertainment that we're providing, and let it sort itself out. Again, we're not worried about competing at a price point level."
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Konno also pointed to Nintendo CEO and president Satoru Iwata's recent assertion that content has value, and suggested Sony and Microsoft may feel the same.
"I don't think that's just Nintendo," he said. "I believe that's more than likely Sony and Microsoft's opinion on that as well. Now of course as a customer, if somebody said to me, "Hey, we've got Call of Duty on your portable device and it's only going to cost you 100 yen," yeah, I'd be super stoked, really excited about that.
"And I'd be really excited to see a great game at a really cheap price, but I just don't think that you could make a game that's immersive and as big as, let's say Call of Duty, or any other large title, and sell it at that price point; it's just not possible."
Konno's comments are likely to generate interesting responce from the numerous developers who have made a successful business out of the various free and low priced games.
*glares at Pilotwings & the rest of Nintendo's 3DS launch games*
@Jake: Well, at least they have Ocarina of Time...
Pilotwings is really a sham, just a tiny island that has been used in games before.
There are platforms and developers that go with the every changing demands of the game industry and then there is those who will stay behind. I am sorry to say but Nintendo and their "thinking" is of the past and if they don't change their antique thinking patterns then I don't think they will stay on the market.
I imagine a up-port of OoT costs them a tenner and some change.
Seriously though, it seems there's very little 'investment' actually happening. N64 up-ports, a lightly altered nintendogs, small games like Pilotwings and Steel Diver. I dare say Nintendo would be right at home in the app store.
Now, I know they'll have a new proper Mario, a new proper Zelda, a proper Animal Crossing - stuff with the kind of depth they talk about as differentiating them from mobiles. But for now? It's a really funny contrast between what they're saying and what they're doing for the first months on 3DS. And I say that as someone who will be taking delivery of one on Friday.
"Nintendo's project lead on the 3DS has insisted that the company is not interested in making games sold as cheaply as those seen on many current platforms."
Just in making games that look as cheap as those sold cheaply on other platforms.
8 out of 10 games Nintendo release, would do better with a £5 price tag, instead of the £20 - £30 they try and get people to pay.
It is not just about price. The demographic of the average gamer now means that they don't want 40 hours of sometimes tedious gaming. Like myself they prefer a quick fix of something different that crams the maximum experience into the smallest time. I am getting that from Indie developers on my iPad more than my console nowadays. The indie is resurgent and originality is back, scaring Nintendo, great. Still with developers seemingly willing to create masterpieces just for kudos it is difficult to support a hardheaded business model.
