Topic: 99 Cent E-Shop Games

I am constantly hearing about how Nintendo should go "smart phone mobile" with it's games now and in the future if they want to survive, but I think Nintendo should instead compete directly with mobile "app games" by offering a whole library of past system games at 99 cents. I think this would definitely help it compete better in terms of pricing and thereby attracting customers more easily.

Like....offering VC games at 99 cents?

Well, it seems like a good idea, but it isn't for two reasons.

1) Even though the demand would go up, the return on revenue would be substantially less.

2) A more encompassing point, people are not going to buy a 3DS because it has 99 cent games. People buy 99 cent games on their smartphone because they already have a smartphone and it's more convenient.

I agree that NES games like Donkey Kong Jr., Ice Climbers, Wreckling Crew and so on should only cost 99 cents. But they're better suited to the 3DS really, as much as i hate to say that.

Yes, several games do need to be lowered in price....

....Which is what we can discuss here! Hooray! https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii_u_virtual_console/virt...

1) It may seem like less, but through sheer volume purchases can surpass sales than if they kept them at the current prices. If they can sell a game at $1 vs $5, the amount of $1 games would sell higher in count than at $5 therefore bringing in higher profits.

2) I agree. However Nintendo has announced that their next mobile and platform system OS systems will match closer to each other (like Apple devices) in order to reduce development costs and increase development production.

Demand would have to quintuple in order to match the revenue. I only see it tripling at best. It's very difficult to increase demand even twofold.

first of all, you cannot guarantee 100% that a lower price point will bring enough sales to justify.
and im pretty sure there are a bunch of crappy .99 games in the eshop/dsi shop already. maybe they are 1.99, but the price point shows for the quality.
i do wish they would have more reasonable prices for vc though.

I think it would be worth trying- at least have sales on a regular basis like they they do on 3ds. I liked the steel diver concept.

Honestly the 3DS is not in direct competition with mobile devices. First and foremost the 3DS is a game system people buy a 3DS to play games on so spending a little more for quality games is not going to bring them more money or get more sales for the 3DS. People buy mobile devices for other reasons and gaming comes as an after thought. People buy mobile devices for phones or checking email or that stuff not once have I heard people say oh I need a new phone so I can Angry Birds.

Saying that the 3DS is in direct competition with a mobile device is just silly.

You're paying for quality here, that's why VC games aren't 99¢. Besides, considering the range of price for NES cartridges, $5 seems pretty fair for NES games. I do think that early NES games that were only like 8kb should definitely be cheaper than the new NES games (some of which are over 1mb). But, still, no less than $2.

As far as eShop games, if the developer / publisher wants to they could sell it for 99¢, but considering how much money the owner of the Wii U had to spend on the Wii U in the first place, I don't think it's unfair to assume that the consumer might have more than $1 to spend on a game.

If a developer thinks their game is only worth 99 cents then they should be able to sell it at 99 cents. If they think their game is worth more they should sell it for more. What I don't like to see is a developer devaluing their own work just because the people that use a particular market don't pay more than 99 cents. Like what happened with Mutant Mudds, came out on 3DS for about $10 but when ported to iOS they lowered it to 99 cents as things above 99 cents are over-looked most of the time on the mobile markets. If you think your product is worth a certain amount you should sell it for that amount. Don't de-value your product just because of 1 market out of the many you are going into. (Luckily Mutant Mudds did better on the other markets)

You want the demand to go up so that people get more hungry for the sequel. I myself won't ever bother with VC with the current prices.
Especially when I can get most of them for free on PC via emulators, or buy whole Sega Game packs for $5

You could actually sell more physical consoles if VC games cost $1

Right now an old Nintendo games cost as much as Bioshock Infinite.