Topic: What's the next step to going all digital?

It should be announced soon as to which Wii U retails will also of a digital release, I was wondering what the next step in the all digital front was going to be. Does it seem like a good idea for Nintendo to take their second tier franchises; Battalion Wars, Wave Race, Excite, Pikmin and the like(assuming more get made, other than Pikmin), and have them sold as digital only games? Is that the way to go to further the transition, or is there a better option? Or is it just too soon to think about going all digital?

So what you are saying is, make a full retail game but only release it digitaly? As of right now, i don't think so. The majority of people still prefer physical copies. Paying 60 dollar for a download only game might not be very appealing for some. It would also take up alot of memory. They could still make downloadable only games out of different Nintendo franchises, but it wouldn't be full 60 dollar game but rather a 10 dollar game or something.

I'd prefer digital over retail personally, but when digital is set at the same price or higher than retail like 3DS games in the UK then forget it.

If digital has any chance of taking over, every single game's digital version needs to be cheaper than the retail version. No exceptions.

Also, all major releases need to be digital. Then, and only then, I'll start thinking about going digital-only

No way, not on a console. Especially not Nintendo. Not now, not any time soon.

I mean they put NSMB2 on the 3DS and the digital sales only made up like...5-10%? Despite most 3DS owners actually have used the eShop. Putting a less popular game digital only could easily be a giant waste of money, even if it might help go towards digital a bit.

What they should do is do something like Capcom did a while ago (and I know this sounds really bad but let me finish) and release a prequel game (and actually release the prequel...) as a fun little downloadable title that is also a blatant advertisement for a larger game that would be both retail and digital. Random example, spinoff Metroid game where you play as a Galactic Federation soldier in a base on some distant planet. Go through a 2-3 hour Metroidvania 3D game...thing for like 8 bucks or something, except you play as Jim the Galactic Federation soldier. At the end after a tough final boss fight, you seemingly are able to turn on the power again and send a distress signal only to be killed by 3 more of the same creature. At the end of the credits they say the story continues in Metroid: BlahBlahWhatever which you can download SOON/RIGHT NOW. Begin the next Metroid game, you go through the area (except in a far more linear fashion, like the beginning of Super Metroid or Prime) and find Jim the Galactic Federation soldier dead there.

, @kkslider5552000 That would be kinda cool. Not sure how many Nintendo franchises it would work on.given that very few of them even have a proper storyline (although it could still work, maybe). What Capcom game are you talking about?

Dead Rising 2. Or so I've heard. It had a prequel game...or something like that and I thought that was a brilliant idea. I realized halfway through that Megaman Legends 3 did that too technically but...then I got sad.

and yeah that's why I used Metroid as an example. Because it does have a story. Even if the more delusional Other M defenders pretend it never did.

Digital is a good feature for convenience. I plan to take advantage of it on the Wii U.

I can't transfer my music purchasing habits though...software is platform tied. I don't feel comfortable buying digital exclusively, because the videogame market operates on cycles and future hardware compatibility is uncertain. I don't have this problem with mp3.

They do Issue Zero stuff for comics all the time. I don't know why more games haven't picked up on this. I say we call them "Pilot games". Square-Enix did something like that for Duodecim 012: Final Fantasy Dissidia (or however you arrange those words), and Sega Did that with Valkyria Chronicles II, except it was a free demo. Square-Enix also gives away a lot of the first episodes of their games for free, though that's different from what you're talking about. Still, I could see this becoming viable someday.

OH! Dark Void Zero was exactly like what you were talking about, except I guess it wasn't story-connected to the retail game...

Going exclusively digital on a retail priced game is not a good idea for any console at the moment. Many factors such as internet speed/allowance, hard drive sizes, whatever, all make it so it is much more profitable to cater to the retail crowd as well.

Agreed. Nintendo owns their own consoles, so there's no publisher for the first party developers to pay up to. Cutting out the retailer also makes little sense, as most people still buy a physical copy. It's convenient, but how many parents trust their kids with the credit card? Also, the WiiU has very little memory. Tekken TT2 takes up more than half the system memory on its own. Maybe on another console, but not Nintendo.

So, basically a demo, but with content that isn't in the main game. I like it! Not to mention I've always wanted to play as the GFA, like in Halo: ODST. Nice Starcraft reference there with Jim Raynor the Galactic Federation Space Marine.

The next stop is for all current retail titles to be available on eShop, from SSFIV 3D to TotA to Code of princess

It is an inevitability that all games, sooner or later, will be mostly if not all digitally only. I don't really see price or memory being issues. You can buy multiple TB hard drives if you want and never worry about it. And the only reason prices for digital are the same is because they're also in retail. Take away the retail option and pricing can be anything Nintendo wants. Internet limitations are really the only issue, but I can't speak to multiple infrastructure problems of different countries.
I can bring up another half problem, that's the Nintendo Network account system we know nothing about. Depending on how much flexibility Nintendo gives us with the games we buy, it could be the best option or the worst.

^ I just hope by years end ALL current 3DS retail games are available on ALL regions eShop, I'd love to buy KH DDD, they mentioned it back in June but nothing since

Publishers decide that, not Nintendo. That's why.

The next step is bankruptcy :3

I don't want to see all digital any time soon.

First, why kill one market when you can have both? Look at the immense failure of the PSP Go. It attempted to go all digital, and it completely failed with a PAL lifespan equivalent to the Atari 5200.
Second, some users (especially on Nintendo consoles) may not use the internet service. At the moment this is fine with only minor releases, but if full-blown releases go digital only, they can expect sales drops.
Third and beyond are all benefits that don't help companies in the slightest (trade-ins, resale, collector's items vs vaporware when out of print, lack of price drops, etc;)

Publishers wouldn't really care. Besides, the service providers can provide "price drops" in the form of sales. Steam does this quite often from what I understand.

That's why I said "benefits that don't help companies in the slightest". Honestly, with all due respect, did you not read from 8 words before?

They can provide price drops, but that doesn't happen nearly as often as real gaming.

Also, something tells me hacking would be a lot more commonplace with download-only titles, as SOMETHING is bound to be exploitable, and it's much more user friendly then purchasing an actual cart. Take that as a positive or a negative.

Wut?

Physical gaming is what I meant. Think, you know, real as in solid plastic compared to data.

Also, please spell "what" correctly at least once. And if that's your only argument, you should wait for a bit more to respond to.