Topic: Do you think Nintendo should offer free games once a month like PSN+ and XBL Gold does?

So everyone knows that Sony offers free games every month for PSN+ members and Microsoft does for XBL Gold members so I was wondering should Nintendo do something like that?

What I am talking about is not creating a paid online service but just give owners a few free games like the other services do. Yeah I know there is Club Nintendo and you can get games with coins but not everywhere has Club Nintendo nor do some people participate in it.

I was thinking that like for example when Super Smash Bros comes to the Wii U they could give Super Smash for the N64 for free for that month. Or maybe just a random game like how next month Playstation 3 is getting Chronicles of Mystara free. Maybe even an AAA game like Assassin's Creed III on the Wii U or New Super Mario Bros 2 on the 3DS? Heck maybe even for the month of October they could offer Bayonetta as a free game (instead of having to by 2 to get it for free) think how by doing that will mean more sales for Bayonetta.

It could possibly boost game sales for the Wii U using my Bayonetta example above and my even boost system sales.

I mean Nintendo is no stranger to giving out free games look at the MK 8 promotion or even the CN elite prizes this year.

Just a thought guys what do you all think?

I can give it a try, would it be good on the 3DS instead when some games were on sale?

Both PS+ and XBL are paid online services so no though it would be nice for more of the buy X and get Y free promotions (where X is a game and/or console and Y is a game from a selection).

I'm not too sure what you're talking about. You don't get anything, neither is it free. You pay for a rental. Once you stop giving Sony money, your games are gone. However, in another thread someone suggested offering some sort of VC payment, in which you pay monthly in order to get access to all VC games for that period. I like that idea actually

Buy X get Y

best deal ever

Xbox costs £25 for a year
PSN+ costs £35 for a year

Which is next to nothing. In the case of Xbox how much better it is than Nintendo or Sony makes it worth paying for.

(Its about half the price of Amazon Prime or Netflix for a year. 1/3 of the cost (For a year) that I spend on just my internet connection in a month. Half I spend on TV that I barely watch in a month).

One retail game that you play and then never play again you otherwise would have bought and the service is paid for.

@unrandomsam Where have you been getting XBL for £25 a year? Since 2009, I've been paying £35-40 for a 12 month prepaid code.

It would be nice. I wouldn't go for it, but it'd still be nice.

cdkeys.com (That is where I currently get my retail downloads from as well).

If it doesn't suddenly lead to them making me pay money to play online and is instead an optional thing you can do if you want, why not I guess?! I just find it a questionable business decision in the era of digital downloads and sales, and no one is beating PSN+ at their own game tbh.

I do think they should find more ways to give away games or just worthwhile deals. That Mario Kart deal was brilliant and probably helped push people to get Mario Kart (and sometimes a Wii U) ASAP, and Pikmin avoided irrelevancy. And the last year or so has been good proof that Nintendo needs to get games that aren't Mario or Pokemon into as many hands as possible if they want to survive beyond being a Mario and Pokemon company.

My suggestion is that the Digital Deluxe program should NEVER stop. There's no good reason to stop it, it's one of the things that has encouraged me to focus more on downloadable games, keep it going. The fact that it counted my free Wind Waker HD purchase towards that is fantastic also.

I don't see how they are profitable, so no

If they had games I was interested in and it was at a good price point sure. At the moment though I've already bought all the 3DS games that I want and I don't own a Wii U.

One thing I like about PSN are the weekly sales.

I picked up GTA:Vice City Stories on sale for $2.49 last month, down from $19.99. Yet Nintendo considers dropping an NES download from $4.99 to $3.99 a 'sale'.

Nintendo needs to do something about their pricing, I've stopped buying games for 3DS even though there are a number I'm interested on simply because the sales Sony offer on Vita and PS3 titles make Nintendo prices seem like a joke

Nintendo has done a few free game promotions that have been really nice, like the mario kart 8 one and the 30 dollars back for buying FE and SMT (games I was going to buy anyway) and xbox offers old games and PSN can be hit or miss. I don't feel like either of the big three have found the perfect program yet. I've gotten more usage out of Nintendo's giveaways though. They may be rarer but I get better games or rewards.

Absolutely not. The free games promotions and sales weeks happening on Steam, PS+, and XBGOLD are incredibly crippling for the whole gaming industry. Just look at some stingy scrooges right here who compare free game promotions to the regular pricings, and it's pretty clear how pathetic such a mindset is, especially considering how much work is behind many games some people think of as "too expensive".
I've said this before, but it's simply sickening how greedy people get nowadays when it's about games, but happily throw money at companies for stuff that is either insanely overpriced (smart devices, TV's that are bigger than cars), or simply a shady scheme to profit from stuff that doesn't even cost the company a damn penny (PS4 online/XBL, microtransactions, on-disc DLC).
When looking at the complaints about "overpriced Nintendo games", most of them are baseless to begin with, and I'm glad Nintendo doesn't even bother to give these people a spit of attention. They're not worth wasting time on, and Nintendo is much better off staying away from cheap cash-ins like paid premium services.

When Valve kicks something to 75% off they get an increase in revenue by a factor of 20. Everyone Wins.

Hardware stuff like TV's is different the R&D for stuff like screens is really expensive. I almost never regret getting hardware but the opposite is true when it comes to games.

@unrandomsam If it only were that simple. Because of this sales rampage, new games have become much less lucrative, thanks to bargain hunters who just wait for a 50% discount, or even more. That places new developers in the difficult position of having to manage with many issues, even when they've actually created a great game, gecause more and more people are unwilling to buy it at launch price.
Hell, because of that, I prefer to go for PC games that I can purchase from the developers directly without Valve getting a share. I want the developers to get the most out of my money, and I'd rather pay them than a platform if possible.

I would rather not pay middlemen either. Nintendo should set the eshop price as RRP - Retailers Cut and I would be perfectly content with that.

Used is what leeches the most money away. (Somebody could potentially pay zero to the people who made it by getting everything used).

Followed by piracy. But a kid spending all his money on games as it is cannot add more money it is not possible he has no more.

Then maybe discounting after that. Used is the real bad thing though.

I wouldn't say no to free games if there was no downside to it, of course.

The PS+ games aren't free though.. Since they're included in PS+.. Which is a service you pay for. I'm assuming the question is if I would like a PS+ service from Nintendo? No, I would not. I do not want to pay to play online.