Plenty of people will happily tell you that Nintendo doesn't understand digital, and that the Japanese giant is late to the party and has been outpaced by rivals Microsoft and Sony, who put their respective weights behind online content much earlier and more effectively.
Nintendo certainly has some things it needs to work on in this area — a single user account system being the top of our personal list — but few would argue that the firm isn't making massive strides in the digital arena. It's pushing both the Wii U and 3DS eShop and courting plenty of indie developers to fill them with games.
Speaking to IGN, Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime gave a confident assessment of where he thinks his company is right now regarding the world of digital downloads:
From a Nintendo perspective, we needed to have the right infrastructure. We needed to have the right approach from a digital standpoint. And we needed to have the capabilities to execute it right. I would say that, beginning with the 3DS, and certainly to a whole new level with the Wii U, we’re getting digital right. The consumer is voting with their wallets. A game like Animal Crossing, where 30 percent of the sales are happening digitally, the consumer is recognizing the benefits that we have with digital content. Not only in dual distribution products – products sold both digitally and physically – but in the very strong library of digital games, whether it’s games from independent developers or content that we’re bringing back digitally. We’re creating a very strong business proposition on our digital space.
Just to put this in perspective, when we launched the Wii and when we launched the DSi, from a consumer’s perspective. I mean, sure, yes, you could watch Netflix on Wii. Yeah, there was access to some digital content. But you compare that now to all the reasons why you want to have your device connected, it’s like night and day. The first step in driving digital sales is getting the device connected. So as we sit here today, the percentage rates of connection are huge. And that just gives us the ability to message to the consumer, to merchandise, to motivate them to spend some time in the eShop, and as they do that, they see just the wealth of great content we have.
The other piece that we’re seeing is that there are certain packaged games that I would argue are a better experience having them digitally and on your device. Animal Crossing, right? I’m one of those consumers. I have it as a digital download. I actually have Pokemon Black in my slot. I’m revisiting that before Pokemon X and Y comes. So for me it’s just easy to get into that game, play a little bit, water my flowers, get my fossils, and then go back to another game. And so by recognizing these consumer behaviors, we’ve been able to dramatically grow our digital business.
Of course, you can't download content unless you have enough memory, and another topic discussed in the interview was system memory. The Wii U launched in 8 and 32GB SKUs, with the former now being effectively retired. However, many users are finding that even 32GB is limiting, especially after you've downloaded a couple of retail titles. Should Nintendo have included more memory, as its rivals intend to do with the Xbox One and PS4? Reggie thinks that approach is unfair on the consumer:
We believe it’s important to provide a value to the consumer. [Memory] gets cheaper, right? Minute by minute, day by day. And so why lock the consumer into some high price point just because it happens to have 120 gigs of memory? Our mentality is, let’s sell a system that has enough memory to get you going, and then if you love digital downloads and you want to keep downloading content, buy a separate external hard drive. The price of it today is a hell of a lot cheaper than it was six months ago. And that’s a value benefit that the consumer should enjoy. It’s a different mentality than our competitors, but I’ll tell you, ours is much more consumer-oriented given the reduction in ongoing price, of the cost of memory.
What are your thoughts on Reggie's comments? Do you think that Nintendo is doing enough in the digital arena right now, and are you happy with the Wii U memory situation? Post a comment to tell us your thoughts.
[source ign.com]
Comments 143
They need better servers for online multiplayer.
That's interesting. Unfortunately for me, my internet will not take advantage of it, so it's boxed for me! But they could work on the account system... although I don't have a firm grasp of how it all works yet.
Obviously the account system still needs to be fixed, handheld / console needs to be unified, and Wii U virtual console needs to actually get some games. HOWEVER, Reggie's doing a good job lately sparking interest and doing his job as PR guy.
I would love to see Reggie watering his flowers and getting his fossils in a Reggie Direct. Animal Crossing seems to have given him a new lease on life.
Universal accounts, where you buy a (virtual console) game once and then you can play it on all Nintendo devices. This seems like a must.
Nintendo's getting closer, but they're certainly not doing things 100% right yet.
I'm hitting the 32GB limit already, so I'm going to have to look at extra storage. It's slightly inconvenient, but better than Wii I guess. Reggie's answer on why they didn't include more - because its cheaper by the day - is valid, but I wonder if thats a reactionary statement. Hmm.
I would miss out on certain things if I only bought digitally. I like the idea but when it gets down to it why would I wanna buy a copy for the same price as a boxed version where there will probably never be price drops; where there wont be any cool physical promotions like the windwaker ganondorf atleast none so far; and the scenario which is rare with nintendo games for me but the game was just not worth keeping around. Point is even with the premium incentive its not the logical purchase from a price and collectors perspective. For everyone it works for more power to ya; but until it becomes the better deal and its incentives are worth it; physical copies all the way! I do love the Indy games digital playing field though. . . Pretty cheap; items go on sale more freaquently and it doesn't sick up all your memory so quickly. . . When digital is perfected and logical here I come.
Also, what @citizenerased just said - the universal account and ability to port that account between devices needs to happen in the next 12 months.
@turtle69 when you get old like me you'll be too lazy to swap discs or go to the store so digital-only is really good. You can still get good deals on digital, ie Steam, and Wii U hasn't been too bad so far. I do miss those pretty boxes though
I just need a personal account to transfer my purchases, Im afraid to loose all my downloads if my consoles get broken... =(
I disagree about the VC offerings. Both 3DS and WiiU's are subpar and add games too slow.
I want GBA games and some DS too. Not a lot, it doesn't need to be crowded but some need to be available. I'd be more than happy with these:
Golden Sun
Golden Sun 2
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga
Mario Power Tennis
Metroid Zero Mission
Mario & Luigi Partners in Time
I believe each time they release a game of a saga with games for GB/GBC/GBA... and they don't make them available in the eShop either before the new one gets to the stores or some time after, they lose an excellent opportunity to synergize.
Great angle big R. Youve just turned one of the biggest weaknesses into a strength in one sentence. Marketing genius!
I will not "vote" until they will untie my account from my console serial number!
I'm not buying anything which is also available physically until I can have an account to safely be able to re-install it in case the console breaks.
BTW I hate them for not releasing titles like Kirby and the Amazing Mirror (GBA) for anyone to buy.
@rafaelluik
+999999999 ! I would buy some digital games too but I can't do that because there's no user account. it's too risky.
I agree with all those above that said a unified account system is needed.
It's one area where Nintendo have executed poorly and it's not good for the consumer.
I've only downloaded 2 retail games digitally, because 1 was the same price as physical so I thought ¨I can wait for it to come through the post or I can be playing it now¨, and the other was because of a buy 3 get 1 free download promotion. I got Animal Crossing as the free download, for the same reasons as Reggie, but I'd wager that a lot of the 30% ACNL purchases being digital will be because of the promotion that I got mine from, LOL!
I WILL NOT pay MORE for a digital copy when I can have something to show people on my shelves for significantly less cost. I said I would go all digital with the Wii U, so I was hoping the prices wouldn't be the same debacle that they were for the 3DS, and Nintendo, right enough, made a balls up of the Wii U digital retail pricing, and so far I haven't gotten any Wii U retail games digitally. I mean Your Shape was £15 physical, and more than twice that digitally!
I would love to see unified accounts on my 3DS and Wii U, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath for it! I think the PS Vita and PS3 have unified accounts. The fact Nintendo says they haven't solved/figured it out yet, leads me to believe the 3DS/Wii U hardware may not be capable of supporting it.
I'm buying more games digitally than ever before (when I include my PC games on Steam and Origin), but I wont be taking down my gaming shelves just yet!
Folk who are worried about losing downloads if your system breaks or gets stolen, I've heard if you contact Nintendo, in the case of theft providing a Police report, they will get your digital purchases restored for you.
I read the title as "digital rights", emphasis on 's', IE DRM. Good thing I read the whole article. >.>
Now if only Nintendo would tie digital purchases to an account rather than a system.
Wow, Reggie used the word "value" correctly for once. I agree with their position on storage space, but not a whole lot else. Fire Reggie.
NES VC games right now really highlight the big problem. I want Mega Man 3, but paying twice on 3DS and Wii U is impossible to justify. It's principle rather than money, I would just feel ripped off no matter what I picked.
I just hope games like SSB4 and MK8 will have nice servers to play on, unlike that of SSBB.
Of course you can ask the customer service if you broke your system which contain many dow loaded games, but that is just inconvenient if you're going to replace it anyway.
@Kridler:
Reggie is not the issue. He is doing his job and following orders from Kyoto. That is the problem. The decisions made in Kyoto by a very conservative company is why Nintendo is in the conundrum they find themselves in today. Making a game like Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) and Mario Party (3DS) and not having on-line at this point is simply mind-boggling.
While the Wii sold well and made Nintendo a boat-load of money, players wanted more, and moved to another console and found on-line play. The Wii U still is simply not up to par with the current consoles, and it will get worse when the new consoles arrive in a few months.
I will hold out hope, but Nintendo really needs to take some of that war chest of money we all know they have and invest in on-line which is incredibly important in North America and Europe, but is not as important in Japan.
I would like to know how the charts would look with digi downloads added to the totals.
My 4 boxed WiiU games don't see any playtime because I'm way too lazy to get off my well worn a$$ groove to pickup the boxes, choose which one to play, open the box, slide it in, walk back to the couch and so on... Then what if I don't want to play that game so I have to go through that whole painful process again, digital 4 lyfe baby
I just think the thought of Reggie playing Pokemon is awesome.
Nintendo's getting digital right. Key word: getting. They have some things they need to address, and some kinks to iron out, but they're getting there. If not in this then in the next gen Nintendo will have it down pat, I believe.
@antdickens An account system would radically change things - hopefully it would open the door for Nintendo allowing you to purchase a single game (Zelda NES, for example) and then being able to download it on all of the plaforms it is available on (Wii, Wii U, 3DS) without having to buy it three bloody times.
That's what Sony is doing, and if Microsoft had a handheld I'm sure they'd do it too. And of course that's the way things work on Android and iOS - so it's not like Nintendo would be bucking the trend by offering the same deal.
But I'm perfectly aware that may never happen!
I support digital downloads. It's fast and easy. But games like Xenoblade, Final Story, Zelda, Mario Galaxy should without a doubt have a boxed release aswell as a digital download. All the AA games should come with a deluxe boxing option with extras like a Music CD, Art book and stuff like that inside. I want to buy games like Smash Bros boxed with lots of extras. And I gladly pay for it... Twice!
I want a Phoenix Wright figure! That would be awesome.
He's right honestly between the DDP and the day one digital and in some cases games launching earlier on the E-Shop than physical (wind waker) they are getting it right just need to fix their account system.
I've gone all digital. I've bought into their service and promotion of it. Now give me a true nintendo network ID and account for the software I purchase so I can recommend others to it, Nintendo!
Great. NOW GET ONLINE MULTIPLAYER RIGHT, sheesh.
Yeah, people are indeed voting with their wallets. Look at Wii U sales
Lol, barely any online multiplayer, a crummy, hardware-tied shop system. This is what digital was like 10 years ago. Before Steam. No, I'm afraid they don't 'get' digital.
Nice interview but i wanna hear something about tied accounts their getting it right though
Spot on.
They have gotten better, that's for sure, but I would rather have my on board memory large from the start, and then also have the option to expand or upgrade. 32GB is just too small. If it were 60 or even 80 at the start, that would have been the perfect option for the deluxe model, and 32 for the regular SKU.
No account system is still a bad move in my opinion and many many others. Without it, we won't see the Nintendo digital business take off into the stratosphere like we have seen with Steam. People won't trust it enough to lay down a large sum of money on something locked to a system. It's not fair, and it is anti consumer. And if Nintendo want to stay in the game, and lead it, they will have to embrace the industry norm. Or at least have something different and better in place. A cross platform VC wouldn't go astray either.
No, Nintendo haven't got their digital business anywhere near "right". It's not entirely bad, but its just not good enough. Nintendo used to lead the way. And while it remains true in some ways, everything to do with online and digital is very very far behind.
I'm going to something unpopular here. I think Nintendo's account system is better than Sony's and Microsoft's. The target 'system' to have is STEAM or ORIGIN.
@Minny a company that produces things like the DS family, the Wii, and WiiU, can hardly be called "conservative"--they take more risks in this area than any of their competitors by a mile.
(The PS4, on the other hand, is the epitome of take-no-risks 'conservative', business practices.)
Yes, they are conservative w/ their money, but that's a virtue, as Sony could tell you right about now...
£56 for splinter cell Reggie,thats all I need to say to you...
@originaljohn ... I guess that's a very unpopular opinion for a good reason!
No unified accounts automatically makes it (the Wii U) worse than however you create and set-up an account on a PlayStation 3 and/or Xbox 360.
@antdickens i would rather have an external device bought later on than to have to pay extra for a console.
i (mostly) agree with reggie on this. in fact, i would buy more wii u retail games digitlly if it weren't for this locking BS.
consumer is voting with their wallets
I am, thats why all my downloads are made on the PSN.
Nintendo doesn't want a network like Sony's, thay want to be able to rip-off customers by making you buy the downloads on the Wii U, 3DS twice.
Reg, you'll be getting it right when I only have to buy it once and it plays on every console Ninty comes out with until the day I die.
When you fill out the surveys for Club Nintendo and they ask about your satisfaction with the Nintendo online store, it's important to rate it as 'very dissatisfied', and indicate that we must have the ability to re-download purchases should a system get lost, or broken, stolen
@Kriedler Reggie isn't the one that makes hardware decisions. If anyone should be fired it should be the people in Kyoto making ridiculous decisions.
Dear Nintendo and Reggie,
No unified account system = no retail downloads from me.
As things stand right now, physical games tend to become cheaper as time passes. While digital games usually keep their original price. Do you really think I'll pay R$150 (about $60) for a launch game when I can buy it at a store or e-tailer for R$100 or less? (about $40).
Retail games in Brazil are absurdly expensive, I can't afford to throw money on anything before being absolutely sure it's worth it. Good thing digital-only games on the eshop don't suffer from this.
And the reason the industry is going belly-up is all to do with consumers wanting more for less. You all want bigger games that cost tens of millions to make but will only pay $20 for it or wait until it's $1 on steam... Yeah the industry really needs more people like you to survive
I'm pretty satisfied with the memory situation. It reminds me of my android phone and tablet. Why pay an $100 more for an extra 16gb of internal data when I can buy an 32gb micro sd card on sale for $20.
In my WiiU case, 2000gb external hd for $50 (black Friday sale)
The flash memory for the WiiU is great! And ya, two terabytes for under $100 will keep me going digitally....forever me thinks!
Reggie speak translated into car analogy -
"My old car was a Ford Pinto but my new Chevy Volt is totally awesome."
Here's a little back for those who don't follow car stories in the news:
Ford Pinto
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1971-1980-ford-pinto12.htm
Chevy Volt
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/16/whatever-happened-to-the-chevy-volt/
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/08/08/Chevy-Volt-Sales-Continue-to-Disappoint
They're certainly on the right track.
Well, I always prefer physical copies, but his point about memory getting cheaper is understandable. Also, when people expect Nintendo to be the cheapest, they shouldn't also expect to have it all in the box. To me it's still just my premium pack and Wiimotes I already had, so when sticking to retail games the premium pack had incredible value, and the premium points system still applies for those indie games.
I'd still prefer an account system, linked straight to Club Nintendo. I can see all my early Wii downloads there, but my first Wii is rendered useless... So unless World of Goo gets a U release -which it SHOULD- I can only play it on pc... Which I don't like that much...
does this mean that they are not even thinking about developing an account based system, this is unnaceptable
@Marshi The same price as PsN and Xbl Marketplace also the same price as the rrp set by Ubisoft.
When are people going to learn Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony do not set the prices of 3rd party games wether its at retail or digitally. (also applies to dlc content for 3rd party games also)
@GiftedGimp Fair enough.i'll start again...ahem...£50 for mario, nintendoland and most other first party games Reggie? Thats all I need to say...
Better?
I think an account system can happen, but I don't think it will be unified as long as everyone continually buys VC games on all systems.
@Damo Sony only started doing that after sales of Vita was so bad with few Ps3 owners adopting the Vita in a effort to increase sales.
MS dont do it already, Windows phones already have a high number of Xbox 360 arcade titles, and even the pc xbox live service shares some of the same games. You use the same gamertag account for all 3 yet you have to purchase the title on All 3 seperatly.
Just because Sony have tried to use cross-platform purchasing doesn't make it the Norm that everyone should do.
@citizenerased I think programming for Wii U and 3ds is too different. I don't know much about it though, but the systems aren't as comparable as, say, vita and ps3. So games like Mighty Switch Force HD may end up in a loss that way. They could however make 'double-dipping' more convenient by giving a discount.
As for VC games, they're doing that discount thing already, but they could be cross-plarform purchases.
@lazyinsu you do realize that the servers are based on the company which releases the game right? lets say for instance a ubisoft game uses ubisoft online servers not nintendo, EA uses EA servers and so on... its not nintendo its the third party servers that are crappy only one that i have not had a problem with is mass effect 3... just letting you know...
@Marshi Yes, except NSMBU cost me £49.99 new from game in store back in january.
Retailers set prices they feel are competitive with thier rivals, eStore, Psn and Xbox Marketplace set prices at rrp (except at time special promo deals arranged with the publisher).
My point being digital purchases are aimed at those who wan't convenience rather than the best deal, main reason being is to keep retailers happy and in business. If eStore etc, set prices that matched or bettered retailers then it would damage the retail side of the industry and the retailers are needed to push and promote systems and games to the general public inc those who may not own system X or even any system.
LOL, Would i (and many others) have decided to boycott their digital services if that were the case?
Stop talking s**t, Reggie.
@Doma, your "many others" pale in comparison to the vast number of people that do support their digital services.
They should be loading up the VC. As much as I don't like the VC, Nintendo should be bringing out at least 2 to 5 games per week from various consoles on VC. They also need to get more systems up and running in the VC. TG16, DS, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn if possible, Neo Geo, Neo Geo Pocket. I don't get it. VC will only make them money. I actually would prefer Conversion of old games to 3d Classics but i'm pretty sure now that was killed with the announcement of the 2DS. Nintendo will now take the stance they won't need to make 3d classics anymore watch and see. Nintendo is going to make a bundle on 2DS however it may turn them into the KMART of videogaming. That's not a good thing. Only time will tell But nintendo is going to do very well this Christmas season with that 2DS. Personally I'm hoping the 3DS out sells the 2DS this holiday season. That will be interesting to watch
@BlatantlyHeroic Not likely.... but whatever makes you feel better for supporting their crap, i guess.
I don't mind it and if they keep letting us move our digital games to the next system, I'm good with that. If a title is on the console and handheld, I'll get the version that makes more sense to me.
Who bets someone started a petition for unified accounts and crossbuy?
@Marshi You are saying that Ubisoft are allowed to recuperate their money but Nintendo are not, what kind of stupid logic is that. The system IS SOLD AT A LOSS, which means they have to charge full price for AAA first party games to make a profit.
If you want to complain, learn what you are complaining about, don't just hop on the "the only company that is not trying to gouge us for money online is trying to screw us" train. The reason that those games coming out have no mulltiplayer is most likely because they don't feel it is in their best interest to make dedicated servers for games with a low install base. Right now those games are meant to sell systems and along with the CoD, Watchdogs, etc., for third party support, they are hoping that this line up will help boost WiiU sales.
@eaglebob345 when did I bring up multiplayer?
Well if stupid logic is going to a shop to buy a physical copy of a game for £10-£20 less than the digital equivelent and STILL have that game to trade back for extra cash,then yes I have an obscene amount of stupid logic
@GiftedGimp Doet get me wrong,nintendo are doing far better than the other two,what with deals and early releases if you buy digital,and ive taken advantage of that,but still £50 is too much when you can buy physical copies so much cheaper and then you also have a game to trade. You buy digital and get bored? Nothing you can do.
Also why is steam so cheap?why can steam offer insane reductions but the big 3 cant?
@Marshi The multiplayer part was meant to be a different paragraph, sorry for that confusion. What I was saying to you was that even if it is a digital copy, they need to recuperate their money because of the system being sold at a loss and because of the price cut that they slapped on there to compete this generation.
I fixed it.
Also, the reason why reselling games is so wrong is because the creators get nothing and Gamestop, Amazon, etc.. keep all of the profits from the sale of those used games. Waiting for a sale would be best because the creators still get a small percentage of that. The only alternative I can think of is if companies start selling their own games used.
@eaglebob345 no disrespect mate,but what has recuperating loss gotta do with us the consumers? Its quite simple,i buy the cheapest game,if I can get the same game for cheaper digital,i go digital,if not its physical.
Crappy sales, HORRIBLE purchasing system (tied to system not an account), confusing and/or unnecessarily complex UIs for both system, bad servers for multiplayer, games tied to a system, horrible exposure for non-Nintendo systems, horrible pricing for digital versions of retail games, poor communication on digital release dates, did I mention purchases tied to a system?
While things like MiiVerse is great, Nintendo is most definitely NOT doing digital "right", and personally, I think they are worse then MS and Sony.
Obviously all three suck compared to PCs digital offerings.
@Marshi It is to support the companies that are creating something for us. Most people don't get it, and I am not saying that you don't, but the whole idea of making a game is a huge risk. Say this upcoming Pokemon game, for reasons unknown, bombed miserably. How much incentive to make another one would Nintendo have. They put a lot of money into creating just one game, so when people try to find a way to get something cheap it does most times hurt a company. I get that video games are an expensive hobby and that some people, like me, can't get all the games that they want, but if you wait for the prices to bottom out then the only one you would be helping is yourself. I also get how some people, again not accusing you, think that because nintendo has money they can offset the costs of selling a system at a loss, but why should they have to? Why should they have to bleed money because some people, still not pointing at you specifically, want inexpensive games?
Also, quick tip that has nothing to do with our discussion: cheap and inexpensive have very different meanings. Cheap is quality while inexpensive would be price. For example, the Aliens: Colonial Marines was cheaply made, while games such as Mighty Switch Force are inexpensive. I just hate it when people get those intertwined.
@eaglebob345 I hear you. And I have had discussions on your side before. And again I think nintendo are doing great things with their eshop deals and premium promotions. Im all for suporting my hobby the best of my financial ability,but im sorry I will never spend £50 on a videogame if said videogame can be bought day one for £10-20 cheaper.
Let me be clear,i have a ton of indy games downloaded on my wiiu. I also have aaa releases like pikmin 3 w101 and assassins creed 3. But I have them digital because either they could only be bought digital or there was some other making a digital purchase a better option.
I think the problem is not us being ungrateful or selfserving,the problem is companies getting greedy and wanting to fleece us more and more. I mean look at the film industry. Films cost ten times more to make,are a smaller industry now than the videogame industry,yeu still only charge £10 for a dvd(15-20 for bluray or 3d)
What makes Sony's and Microsoft's system so good? I've transferred all my digital games from my Wii to my WiiU and my dsi to my 3ds from my 3ds to my 3ds xl.
@Falco the colour of the WiiU game boxes are hideous. It's the worst blue in the world. Also you can lend your games to friends, I don't know anyone else who owns a WiiU or a 3ds for that make, in fact everyone had Wii and ds's right... guess what I never lent those games.
Pros to downloading :
If you want to get a US console you can do it and not have the hassle of paying import duty on every game.
No space wasted by boxes. (That often don't even have instructions in them these days. That was the only thing I ever wanted. Look at the controls. I hate tutorials more so if they are forced on me.)
@Falco It annoys me how my generation deemed some things that have been done for decades with every medium, put in another movie or cd or game or pick up another book, hassles because with technology we have gotten so lazy. I agree with you 100%. If you want a game to last forever, buy it physical. When video games go all digital, I might give up on them. Music, Movies, and even books are headed there to which disappoints me to no end.
In my experience, optical disc drives break more often than hard disc drives.
Reggie, dear, stop talking. You could make customers want to boycott your digital.
If I don't like games I normally give them away to family who are young and at school or whatever.
The Xbox One original system would have worked out great for me.
(Not a problem for my 3DS as I have a PAL one. Good for them as they get loads of games for free that I don't want.)
Be interesting to see what happens with the case against Valve in Germany. (At least for people in the EU anyway. It is to do with the resale of digital goods.)
@Marshi I see what you're saying now about getting the games for a lower price. I thought you meant taking the weird stance that I have seen so many other people do and wait a while to get the game for a lower price. I do agree that getting the games for a less is good especially on a budget, I personally get most of mine from Amazon because of the guaranteed prices for pre-ordered things if the price rises, golden box sales, etc., and the fact that they ship what you order when it comes in, they don't sell what you pre-order and make up some stupid excuse (looking at Gamestop for that one). However, for the movie industry, I can tell you that they have box office sales. They don't need to charge too much for boxed movies because of that. They also could have been a bigger industry if they paid writers more. I mean, a writer's strike is something that should never happen because writers are what push movies and games nowadays. They had a writer's strike because they keep pouring money onto actors, some of whom are not as good as people say) and then treating the people doing the real work, writers and computer graphics people, like that don't exist. The movie industry has been for years trying to make it seem like every director is a writer when its only very few of them, people like M. Night Shyamalan and George Lucas, and one of those two was a one trick pony (Shyamalan).
I admit.. that I don't buy digitally what I can buy physically... but I wouldn't do that anyway.. even if I had the storage on the unit to do it... there really is no advantage to it.. not for me anyway... so it limits my online purchases to what is only available through download.. so in that way it's no big deal to me.. though I have to admit.. I think Nintendo has it wrong on certain things....but not enough for me to boycott it.. if they however don't fix certain things.. maybe we should "Triforcing them"
I like their approach to digital pricing on the WiiU eShop. Most games lately have been the same price or cheaper than retail. That's great.
The lack of a proper account system still holds me back buying anything other than digital only indie games from the store.
@originaljohn
That you don't lose all your investment if your console is lost and that you don't necessarily need to send your console back to Nintendo if its broken which means extra expenditure in shipping and the impossibility to take advantage of any promotions retailers may have or buy a secondhand console in ebay if you need to replace yours
@originaljohn If you have a game you want to play that you own you can just login to someone elses system and then play it and then logout. (Then it is gone).
There are a fair few XBLA/PSN games that are only really any fun with local coop. At 50% of the price then it might be reasonable. (Steam is more like 25% if you wait for a sale).
(Steam is ok because the prices are adjusted accordingly. I would never login to my steam account elsewhere.)
@eaglebob345 We had Video Game Arcades. (Much better when that was our equivalent of the Cinema). It was better when they weeded out what was worth porting and what wasn't. (That type of design produces games that are great every second you play them and difficult so they last a long time).
I wonder if Nintendo is really stupid or what, they have probably lost tons of money because of this statement alone as people would get scared an account system would never come and be even more reluctant to buy digital....
@citizenerased Agreed, once that it in place i will make every game i purchase except good local multiplayer games digital (want to bring them to friends houses without lugging the Wii U)
I don't think as many people are buying digitally as they'd like to believe. Instead of giving us figures, they just told us revenue had increased 150% over Q2 last year... but the thing is, there were no retail games on Wii U or 3DS available to download in Q2 last year, so even just selling a tiny amount of them should boost the revenue a lot. 150% doesn't seem a very big jump at all when you go from selling $10 games to $60 games like that. My guess is the digital sales are only making up a tiny percentage of overall sales.
I am so ready to go 100% digital. I'm that way with Steam, with music, books and movies. None of the console makers have quite cracked it yet, although Sony is doing the best IMO. What's needed from Nintendo to make me jump on board.
1. An account system. Let me download my purchased games to any system that's registered to my account.
2. Price. They have to make these games at least as cheap as you can buy the physical games for. Right now the eShop prices are nearly DOUBLE the price you can buy physical releases for here in the UK, for Wii U and 3DS. A footnote of this is SALES. Steam does it right, and Sony does it right. Have them often and have big discounts. There's no cost of production so every penny made through a digital sale is pure profit. Don't be greedy!
3. Cross-platform downloads. Don't make us buy these VC games for the Wii, again for the 3DS, and yet again for the Wii U. I have no doubt whatever their next device is will require a whole new purchase too. If I buy PSOne games on PSN, I can play them on a PS3, PSP and a Vita, and almost certainly the PS4 as well (I know they said PS3 content won't work, but that's a BC issue, the emulations are a whole other story).
I hadn't thought of the on board memory from Reggie's perspective. I understand that the 25 or so usable GiB of memory aren't enough, and that it will be filled up with two or three retail games, but i have several external HDDs and plan to dedicate the smaller of those (500 GiB) for the Wii U. Storage prices are also falling over time, so console prices are independent from those... To me, it makes sense.
As i use the external drives for back-up imaging and media storing purposes, they aren't really "part of the Wii U cost" for me, as some people wrote in the comments on another article. It's actually the opposite: An external HDD can be used not only for a console, but also on computers and even some tablets or phones that support USB-OTG, have adapters, and support file systems like NTFS. It's up to you to get the most from your money.
And what if you want to take your HDD to another place? There are several bump resistant, good capacity, portable hard disk drives. There are also options if you want a smaller but faster one.
I have been a supporter of Nintendo making account-based systems, but i will go digital for the Wii U because most of the time the console is fixed in one place, making it less likely to be damaged or lost compared to a 3DS. An unified account system would be nice nonetheless. I also am planning on buying some of the greatest games as disks, like Smash Bros.
@unrandomsam Arcades were awesome, it just sucks that we don't get that kind of experience anymore. Now all we get are demos in stores and sometimes downloadable ones, I really like the demo model for the ps4, where you get to play a portion of the full game rather than a fixed section. However, if the gaming companies could get together to form some modern day cinema-style arcades, I could see gaming prices going down somewhat.
@antdickens Wasn't it confirmed to be happening by the end of the year, along with being able to purchase software away from your Wii U and 3DS?
I'm very happy with their eShop. The release prices on the eShop seem to be the same as the release prices for the physical copies. If I wanted to wait a month or two or three to save a few dollars, then I'd just wait and get a physical copy. I have no need to have a bunch of boxes on the shelf to impress people...I find that notion odd. It's just more physical clutter that I'm not interested in having. Sure, there'll be some fun times when my external HDD crashes or my Wii U dies, but I'll worry about that one when it happens. And, yes, the external HDD will crash...that's what they do...it's just a matter of time.
I have to agree with Reggie: If the Wii U had a higher price due to the included hard drive space, that wouod be just another factor in the Wii U's steep decline in sales. So it's good that they do give you the external option.
@Falco my tv does have its own settings separate to the WiiU. Alternatively I can just use a Wii AV lead instead of the HDMI lead... Did you think of that genius?
@Hardy83 I gotta Agree with alot of what you said. It's very frustrating to say the least and nintendo Needs a spanking
I agree with Reggie on the way that they're handling memory. It really does make more sense to just buy more memory if the consumer wants it, instead of paying a high price for a console with all this memory that they'll never use. Their online definitely needs some work tho. The eShops need to be unified and they need an account system.
They are off to a good start. But we need those user accounts!
They just need to make a Nintendo personal account for users, then online will be 100% good.
But it's not bad either, let's say now it's 75% good.
It's very interesting how many people are actually taking what Reggie is saying out of context. Most people compare Nintendo's offering with what it's competitors have, when in the above snippet he is comparing their growth in the digital space to Nintendo's previous offerings.
If you think about it that way the eShop is done right. Reggie is just saying we're making more money from digital content now than we did.
I like the eShop, it fair to indies, it's constantly updated (I'd prefer a better spread of games though), it has demos, it has screenshots and video's, it links to and from miiverse, updates will come. Nintendo announced you'll be able to make transactions from web browsers and smart phones by the end of the year, that's a better first year start than Wii, DSi and even PS3.
Personally when I buy a games console it lasts me the entire generation, I also play games my friends don't own. I've most recently bought Fire Emblem when they would buy Call of Duty or Fifa, I also usually buy single player games and I just don't trade games in much.
As for account systems, I understand why they are important for people but the terms and conditions vary a lot from different hardware manufactures. I know Sony only let you download digital content to 3 different systems to me that's not much better from Nintendo's approach. I can not speak for the 360 as I do not own one but I'm sure the term will be different again. Can I see Nintendo offering virtual console games across systems in the future, I'd sure love to see it but I'm not sure it will happen between the 3ds/2ds eshop and the wiiu eshop.
@Araknie WiiU has the Nintendo id, which is personalised unique account, and it also link the premium rewards site. For WiiU at least it should be a fairly simple process to make eStore purchases linked to the Nintendo id.
However 3DS still uses the friend code system, and doesn't use Nintendo id and that is where the problem isn't as easily resolved. Nintendo could go straight ahead and unify WiiU purchases but the 3ds owners would be screaming even louder to have unified account linked to purchases. With plans to allow purchasing from eStore via the pc i'm with little doubt at somepoint acoount linked purchasing is on its way but not before 3DS gets a firmware update to allow the Nintendo id system, maybe even getting rid of the current freind code system.
Nintendo is getting ot right, but they could get it righter.
An unified Nintendo account which would work on every Nintendo device will have to be the way of the future. Of course it's not as simple as on Steam, but maybe Nintendo could start making their console Operating Systems more unified too?
There getting better, but we still need that universal account. That, and more online servers. Memory thing has a point, plenty of 1 TB hard drives around for pretty cheap. You already need to buy extra controllers anyway.
I'm 100% digital on PC, 90% digital on PS3, and have only one indie game on 3DS, everything else is retail. That speaks volumes about how pleasant I find Nintendo's approach to digital.
I'm wondering, can't you save digital copies to a type of card or something? Like you're external hard drive? So wouldn't you be able to transport the game stuff in that from your console to another console? I've never downloaded anything so I'm not sure...
Nintendo still needs to do a better job with their online services, we need a online accounts system and better online servers for muit-player games.
I agree with Reggie's point about storage being so cheap these days that the added price isn't worth it compared to buy your own, I just wish they'd have built the Wii U with a 2.5" expansion bay so you could connect a HDD directly rather than throught USB.
The digital side would be doing a lot better if they made a unitfied account system, they said they were sharing assets and stream-lining development between platforms and this would go along with that. I'm sure most people are uncomfortable with hundreds if not thousands of dollars in software sitting on a machine without any sort of reliable protection in place.
@rodoubleb Damn straight. I'll start doing that, thanks for the tip.
@originaljohn Because you don't have to go through a crappy transfer process to recover your digital content...
Gotta say that I'm really happy with the eShop so far, except for the games-tied-to-the-console-and-not-the-account part.
@EvisceratorX IMO, they should have a 32GB model, 120GB model, and 250/500GB model. Those who don't want digital can get 32gb, those who want some digital without having to use a slower external HDD can get the latter.
Oh really Reggie?
Forgive me, but "getting digital right" would mean a proper account system was in place for all of our digital purchases.
I like what they've done with storage on the Wii U and 3DS. It's not a perfect solution, but it's the most consumer-friendly way to do it without asking people to take apart their systems. I've done that with my PS3 a few times, but I'm comfortable with that kind of stuff and I realize that to a vast majority of people taking a screwdriver to any piece of hardware, even if it's just to take off a panel, is daunting.
But Nintendo NEEDS to fix up their online store implementation. Yes, they need to implement an account system, that's a given. But the way the eShop is organized is pretty bad. It's not very intuitive to browse, especially on the 3DS which makes it hard to find the game you're looking for. You could spend hours browsing and not find half the games on the service (usually older titles that have gotten buried under new releases). The Wii U eShop isn't as bad though, but who knows what it will be like in a few years time.
As for accounts though, I buy most of my 3DS games digitally for portability, but I shouldn't have to worry wether I can get my digital games back or not if someone steals my 3DS. If the same thing happens to my phone I can just pick up a new one, log in to my account, and everything will be exactly like it was on the old one. In the modern age of technology the fact that Nintendo can't even give us access to our game collection via an account system is inexcusable.
It's all fine and well saying hard drives are a lot cheaper nowadays but does anybody remember when there were floods in Thailand a couple of years back and the price of them shot up for quite a long while? Only takes something like a natural disaster to cause huge problems and all of a sudden the consumer is being forced to spend high amounts of cash for extra storage.
The Wii U should've come packing more memory, even if it was only something like 60gb. 32gb just doesn't cut it from a company that's pushing digital downloads as hard as Nintendo is.
They've got some areas to improve on, this much is for certain, but I think they're doing some things absolutely right.
-Nobody seems to be amazed by the fact that you can download Wind Waker HD 2 full weeks before the physical copy of the game releases. Am I the only one that thinks this is huge for the digital age of people being able to buy the game as soon as it's gold instead of having to wait for disc production? They were the first to have Day 1 digital downloads with every title (at a certain point, it wasn't right away of course) where as Sony still claimed that the odd title getting that benefit was headline news.
-I like buying my memory separately. I don't know if I'm in the minority, here, but being able to get as much as I feel I'm going to use, and pay the dirt-cheap price for non-proprietary devices is a -huge- plus to me. I remember shopping to upgrade my 360 HDD and it was over 100 bucks just for a lousy 120 Gigs. No thanks. I just spent 100 bucks on a 2 TB drive for my Wii U.
-MiiVerse. I would argue nobody has created an immediately connected environment like this. Sure it's a glorified message board, but it's built into the system, it's easy to share and easy to access. Microsoft had nothing like it, and Sony had "Home." Which. Yeah. It was Home.
Plenty of room to improve, yeah, that single account thing is big for me, but I think they need to get more credit where credit is concerned.
@GiftedGimp You can have both a Wii U NNID and a 3DS system linked to the same Club Nintendo account. If I go and log into my Club Nintendo account now, it'll show all my Wii U and 3DS downloads there together. There is no reason why they can't use this to help put a proper unified account system in place for both consoles.
@DrRandle The reason the Xbox 360 HDD's were so expensive was that they were a proprietary format, like Sony's horrible expensive memory cards for the Vita. If Nintendo were to use regular standard HDDs, then there wouldn't be that problem.
I think giving the choice to buy either digital or physical is a great move. I know Pokemon X or Y I'm getting digitally so that its on my person at all times for streetpass and battles/trades.
I prefer the external HD route because you can get more storage when you need it and there is a lot of choice in the market.
Overall, did Nintendo get digital right with 3DS and Wii U? Well, I believe that they had a lot of good ideas and they caught up in many respect and even outpaced the competition in a few places; however, a lot of work still needs to be done both with the eShop and online play in general, thus my answer has to be that they have not got it right yet.
Here is what they need to do:
1. eShop with account system that keeps track of all purchases and funds. This system should work in a matter that makes funds easily accessible across all systems (I have access to the same funds on my 3DS and my Wii U). Furthermore, purchases should also be easily transferable between consoles by simply authorizing and de-authorizing devices (if I wish to replace my console, I should be able to simply de-authorize the console from the Nintendo Network and transfer my purchases to a new console without having to reach Nintendo's customer service).
2. Universal purchases/benefits for eShop. Hypothetically, lets say a customer purchases a game on Wii U and the exact same game is available on 3DS, if the developer desires, the customer should be able to get the 3DS version of the game without additional costs or at least with a discount (again this is based on what the developer of the title feels is appropriate and if done correctly it can give certain games more value). This system should implemented for Virtual Console titles.
3. Better content pricing to compete with retailers. This is not a Nintendo only issue; neither Sony nor Microsoft have gotten this right on their digital stores (they are doing it better than Nintendo, but prices still do not match with retail pricing in many cases). I do realize many of the pricing issues are do to third-parties refusing to lowering the digital price of games, but Nintendo should work with third-parties to transition prices as time goes by (much like how Valve does with its third-parties on Steam).
4. More servers in more regions. This one is simple and it is the one those Nintendo lags the farthest behind in. To be truthful I am not surprised by Nintendo being behind on this one because Nintendo has only had a unified network system for 2 years so it will take them a while to catch up. Having more local servers means players around the world can more easily access multiplayer matches and it will relieve pressure from the few worldwide servers that are operating right now, which should give everyone a boost in network access speed and improve network reliability (which is currently a bit iffy depending on where you live).
5. Cloud storage. This would be very useful for making universal saves files, which should come in handy for when you are playing the same game across platforms.
6. Full Miiverse integration with 3DS. Miiverse is a great gaming social network, and bringing it to 3DS and having it integrate well into the system menu and games would give Nintendo a great advantage. The reason why this is last on my list is because Nintendo has confirmed it is coming to the 3DS, but I still put it here because I was to emphasize that they have to implement it natively (like they did on the Wii U) and not make it a side feature that most users will not know about and most developers will ignore.
@ToxieDogg They -did- go the standard HDD route. You just buy your own rather than one that has Nintendo's name on it. That's more manufacturing cost on their end for something that's easier for us to buy anyway. They're trying to keep their costs down, and this helps keep -everybody's- costs down.
I don't understand this statement, as manufacturers don't pay the prices we do, the price of the console would hardly be pushed up unless thay choose too.
As long as we don't have an account based system, I will not be making any major digital purchases. As long as I can get my hands on a physical copy of a game, I'll go with that. Maybe my arm can be twisted to take a gamble here and there, but there will be no major financial investment in digital content from my side until Nintendo has resolved this issue.
Once Nintendo removes this fear off losing all your content (and the hassle to transfer from one system to another), I do believe they will see the sales of digital content take off like never before. It absolutely baffles me why they haven't addressed this issue yet because it's a big one.
The internal storage philosophy is exactly right.
The eShop is decent, but it doesn't compare to an online store like Steam.
Nintendo can do a unified account system, which is accessible through Wii U, 3DS and future consoles. This could mean
But... I have to consider these points too.
Of course, I'll always be positive. So I'm very sure they are working on these solutions for the huge install base they're likely to gain this christmas, and for US. Maybe some of these features may even come in the Fall update! Crossing my fingers!
@WiiUExposed you do realise that's just Nintendo's version of backing up your system account settings. Makes me laugh when people say 'Because you don't have to go through a crappy transfer process to recover your digital content...' because I did exactly that when I bought a ps3 slim.
It's better to have a limited amount of transfers for the 3DS and no transfer system at all for the Wii U than it is to be able to log into a different system?
And good job, using an example of a model made in 2009 as a reason to why it's okay to have a worse one in 2013.
@Peach64 30% isn't a number now? He said directly that 30% f animal crossings sales were digital.
@WiiUExposed good job looking at the year it was released as if it means something and discounting that both examples were the respective comany's first try at mass digital marketing.
@people complaining about no unified account system: Yes, that would solve everything and give you total piece of mind, since the Xbox 360 and PS3 will totally let you transfer your digital purchases to the xbox one and PS4 because they have account systems, right? ... Right?
I'd like to have a unified account system for the wii u and 3ds as well, but it's not something that's a deal breaker for me, especially considering what the other companies are doing to the people who upgrade their consoles.
@wombatkidd It isn't about whether it was their first try or not. It's about them not taking hints from other companies' decisions. Do you also think it's okay for Nintendo to have trouble developing HD games 8 years after HD becoming mainstream just because it was "their first try"? They've had years to prepare for this, and they couldn't even get that right. I expect better from my favorite game devs.
@WiiUExposed None of them can develop properly for a PC running across 6 cores either. (Each which are worse than the cores on the Wii U).
Pretty much zero games ran properly on either of the PS3 or 360. (1080p native - not up scaled / 60fps). They made them like 2nd class PC Games. Console games should be 100% optimised for the hardware no glitches or else what is the point.
Don't mind paying for the best quality what I don't want to do is pay more for worse quality.
@unrandomsam That's true... but what does that have to do with anything I said?
I havent downloaded any retail games digitallly and my 32 GB Wii U is almost full. Not sure where I would plug in an external hard drive even if I had one. I got no electrical sockets free atm.
@WiiUExposed The people who you are talking about in my opinion have not produced anything of sufficient quality to be worth playing at all. If Nintendo make something that is worth playing on a TV with a native 1080p display / 60fps - no upscaling - no framerate drops. Then I don't care how long it takes just that it is quality at the end of it. (I think they will eventually don't really care when).
@antdickens Once you plug in the drive you never know it's there. Nothing acts any different. I got a 2TB drive for 99 bucks. A lot better value, for the amount of memory anyways, than the way the other systems work. 3ds you can just pop in SD cards so it's easy too.
@t_vo The limitation is the USB. (They should have used something better like thunderbolt with an SSD).
@GiftedGimp Sorry, i didn't explain myself well enough.
I meant unified Nintendo account, unique, if you will. That is a Nintendo account valid for both Club Nintendo, 3DS and Wii U and any future thing that requires it.
This is a much harder and bigger task, i know that, and may be impossibile for security reasons, i know that, it's just they thing i would like in my utopia.
That i meant with Nintendo Personal Account.
Would be cool to call it PAN: Personal Account on Nintendo, or someting like it.
Utopia.
I'm buying because there are digitally exclusive games I want, but it is truly unnerving to have over $400 of games on my 3DS with no account system to back it up if something happens to it. That's one thing Nintendo needs to get straight and as soon as possible.
The main reason I buy digital is because the nearest shop that sell games for my 3DS is ~5500 km far away. Damn region-locking...
If Nintendo want to be future proofed for on-line, they NEED to implement some kind of account system.
Also, replaying Pokémon Black to get ready for x/y? Why did you have to choose the worst pokemon game ever?
Yes...fix the account system and his statement will be true.
This conversation comes up every week or two. I can't believe nintendo can't resolve the account issue. It's an obvious problem which frankly feels ignored.
Steam got digital right when they lifted the always online requirement and stopped limiting downloads to an extreme amount, and discovered that not choking your customers on an extremely short and tight leash actually encourages sales.
Nintendo is still screwing it up with their anti piracy that's so extreme that it hurts paying customers. Games tied to the console and not an account? Limited transfers for life? Region locking? That's horse crap and discourages people from making purchases because you're scared to death of "piracy".
@ECMIM
Here is an article to read that somewhat highlights most of how I feel about Nintendo: http://www.warpzoned.com/2013/06/the-new-conservatism-of-nintendo/
I love Nintendo, but the fact they are pushing Wind Waker HD, a game that is 10 years old as well as the lowest selling home console iteration of Zelda is not a good sign. There simply is not a lot that I see from Nintendo's titles for the rest of the year that I have not already experienced. Then there are those that are convinced that Zelda U will be out in 2014, when Nintendo has not said anything of that nature, are just fooling themselves.
Nintendo is no longer pushing the needle in regards to what they claim as "new experiences" with their software. They are conservative by releasing iterations of games where the fundamental gameplay has been experienced in the past. They still haven't shown a Nintendo title that shows why the gamepad is important (I love the gamepad, specifically for off-TV play). But the Wii U was in development for years, and not one title to show why it is fundamentally needed (I do not feel they should sell the Wii U without it, like some folks). They took the risk with the Wii U and gamepad, but its their conservative approach to software that isn't resonating with consumers, hence the poor sales of the console.
At some point, and I feel most would agree with me, that the decisions made in Kyoto pertaining to on-line play are no longer in sync with the European and North American markets. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation, and I do not expect certain games to have on-line, but that is simply the world we live in and the offerings from Nintendo do not address that. Like I stated previously, I hope Nintendo reaches their forecasts, I really do. But when I talk to Wii U owners (my in real life friends), there isn't a lot of software they are going to purchase.
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