Download Sales On Nintendo Formats Have Trebled In The Last Two Years

The title says trebled, should be tripled

This is great news. Maybe they should start focusing more on this then! Digital downloads save me going to my local game store and anyway. Which I like because I'm extremely lazy.

Awesome! Just goes to show the irrelevance of the non-download charts these days!

@Falchion I'll bet someone's going to be in treble for that one.

We have no choice to connect to the internet.

@Falchion

treble (ˈtrɛbəl)
adj
1. threefold; triple
2. (Music, other) of, relating to, or denoting a soprano voice or part or a high-pitched instrument
n
3. three times the amount, size, etc

I stopped downloading games from the eshop entirely in the last 6 or 7 months. There are some titles that I'm interested in but I'm generally not going to download anything else until Nintendo makes some strides towards improving their account system. When that happens, I'll have no problem spending lots of money again.

@sinalefa you learn something new every day!

@sinalefa Am I to assume this is one of those both words are right but Europe uses Trebled more often then Tripled?

I say this every time they brag... two years ago, they hardly had anything available to download. Going from $5 VC games two years ago, to $5 VC games, $40 3DS games and $60 Wii U games today, I'd honestly expect a bigger jump than tripled. It would suggest the actual number of retail games being downloaded is still a tiny percentage.

I prefer physical copies but I have downloaded stuff for my Wii U and 3DS

I'm one of the download only people. I just love the convenience.

That MK8 free game download is going to force me into buying a decent USB HDD. Might start getting a few more digital games but they'll mainly be Ubisoft judging by how often they do discounts..

NO!!!!!!!!! I WANT PHYSICAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVEN THOUGH THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since retail downloads came to the 3DS, everything I’ve gotten except two special editions have been digital. On the Wii U, I’ve been split between physical and digital. I would prefer digital, but the large download sizes generally hold me back.

I hate not having boxes when it's an option. I am all for downloading games like Shovel Knight, but a game like W101 I want sitting on my shelf.

I've been buying tons of download games, but hardly any of them have been retail releases. I prefer those on disc, mainly because of their file size.

Edit: But also because I enjoy having physical releases. :3

I be do only if I was given more space to do so. My 32 gig in my 3ds is almost full and reserved for dl only titles atm otherwise I would've dl'ed Mario Golf.

I Went digital after the release of fire emblem awakening that I couldn't find anywhere. An then I bought a 32gb SD card. I'm now dowloading every single game on 3DS. For Wii U the digital deluxe promotion is the main reason why I went digital. I installed a 1 TB HDD on it and I download everything.

The prices on eShop are ridiculously high and not really an option to me. I've downloaded a bunch but not one retail title. I rather buy a physical copy and sell it when I'm done. Otherwise I couldn't afford this hobby.

hmm, this is good and all but.... it makes me worry. Here they are bragging about how great this is and it worries me that Nintendo will then just keep it's medieval online account services. The NNID is pretty bad. You cannot remove the ID off your 3DS or if you do, you lose pretty much everything tied to that ID meaning you cannot re download stuff, nor can you use your ID on more than one 3DS and one Wii U. That annoys me quite a bit because with the rate of them releasing limited edition 3DS's and different types (3DS, 3DS XL and 2DS), a lot of people will have more than one and yet, we cannot put our NNID on that second 3DS. i for one have the limited edition Zelda 3DS, both normal and the 3DS XL and I don't want a second NNID in the possibility that I can put my NNID on both.. but I doubt that will happen.

But the major problem is the fact that everything is tied to the NNID which is also tied to the system so if something happens, you could be screwed from your digital purchases. But with these sales and Nintendo wants to brag about them, it makes me wonder if they will ever look at the issues here because with these numbers, they will see it as their system is... pretty much flawless...

@farore311
Can you explain how that works, can I just launch games directly from the hard drive or what?
And anyone any Ideas on MK8 digital vs physical, I'm thinking I will be playing the game a lot, and from what it says right now it only needs 4GB of space which is good, but still like to know the pros and cons. thanks

I like the physical games with a box and artwork. It feels like its more mine.

@Peach64 man your so negitive. By the way the wii shop still has way more games on it than the wii u shop (3ds may have caught up) with ranges up to 15$. But you know this. You needed to forget it so you could make a point with twisted logic.

@erv I do within reason. Seem to get miles more playtime from them. Still think they should be priced so Nintendo gets the.same as from a retail sale though. (I.e remove the retailers markup.) Less used copies and more people actually completing a purchase where Nintendo actually gets paid should make it worth their while.

It looks like my DIGITAL 4 LYFE campaign has been extremely successful... Fill mine to the top, cheers

If I can I try to avoid getting things digitally on a nintendo system. The fact that it is tied with the system really scares that if my system was ever lost or stolen I would not potentially get the games back.

This is fabelous

eshop is useless everything is overpriced.

@kereke12 not in Norway, a game is usaly cheaper on eshop here.

I know I must of spent $2,000+ eshop cash for downloads on both Wii U and 3DS combined but saved around 30% of real cash due to offers and promotions from stuff like the Digital Deluxe Promo, download sales, eshop cards discount from bestbuy, and reward points.

Glad to see the digital game are making an Impact on sells, even if we can't see the individual sales of the games.

Great news! I still buy physical/retail unless it's digital only though.

Have they put at least 500 GB on my Wii U, I might have gone all digital. For now I don't plan to buy external HD.

@kereke12 Not in North America either. Great games out there at good prices.

@Falchion

That is the idea!

@Warruz

It could be the case, I am not sure.

Regarding the article, I have bought a lot of eShop games, both on Wii U and 3DS, but the only retail games I got are Code of Princess (because it was cheap), RE Revelations (to keep my Revelaitons copy sealed) and Super Mario 3D World (because I could not wait a single minute). I still prefer the physical.

If there is a physical option, I still buy physical. The only exception so far to that rule was Wii Fit because well the deal was better since I had the previous games.

I do have digital games, but its only b/c there is no other choice.

I also realize full well I'm becoming the minority.

Whatever gets Nintendo more money so they can get back to profitability is a good thing.

Generated means income,right. They are not counting hardware bundles and promotions, right?

While the 3DS and Wii U audience is smaller than the Wii audience and some of the offerings are more expensive like they've said before this audience is a lot more aware of the online capabilities.

Digital games. Yeah I own Mario & Luigi Dream Team thanks to the Nintendo UK store glitch. Otherwise I'm in for it when it is the cheapest option and I need the game at that moment (I'm a savvy purchaser with a fair bit of patience...even if I do complain at every single delay NOE put out). The former requires some trickery to do though

I just wish they'd make a new WiiU model with more storage. The Wonderful 101 is taking up most of my game space.

@Ronoh I partially agree, man. I would download even more if Nintendo could gove me certainty of buying just once.

The only time I buy physical games is
a) if they ship with limited edition goodies like Mario Kart 8 and TWW HD
b) if third parties aren't on the eShop like Call of Duty
c) there is no sign of a game getting discounted on the eShop like Batman Arkham City. In other words the games cost far to much for far to long.

For everything else I buy digital because it's much more better. I love that my 3DS has my entire game collection in it at all times. My WiiU is becoming a game center too, with over 25 games ready to play as soon as it gets turned on.

I go for digital no matter what !

I can't imagine buying carts for 3DS unless you're really strapped for cash or have poor network infrastructure where you live or are grey market importing the machine.

Wii U is all about convenience and performance. People moaning about price apparently aren't taking advantage of sales or discounts from shops that sell codes online. I spend something like £20-50/mo., depending on whether or not there's a major retail download release. Naturally Nintendo's moves to reward frequent buyers like myself are welcome!

I believe that I would go entirily digital if I had the warranty that if I lose my system I would be able to download my library and save files all over again. Otherwise, still physical.

The future would be perfect with that and no region lock (even though with the first one nobody'd care with the second one, I believe)

I prefer physical copies because hard drives and SD cards soon fill up with larger game sizes, and you end up having to buy more storage mediums, so it's a false economy, especially when physical game prices usually drop much lower than the digital prices ever do anyway.

That being said, I'll still happily download any game where a physical copy isn't an option, and there's been been tons of fantastic indie titles on Nintendo's online services over the last few years

so far the eShop has been too expensive for me to bother (only bought NES Remix 1 so far). The same can be said about Live & PSN. Dont mind having to swap discs, certainly not going to pay trough the nose just to be able to change games without having to leave the couch

And now no one has the right to complain about them uploading rusty old NES games anymore. XD

I'm probably done doing digital copies of games for a while, besides the Mario Kart promo. I downloaded Luigis Mansion 2 the night it came out and it was great because I was not able to get to a store for the next couple of days. I then proceeded to download Pokemon X the night it came out and it took a while, about 8 hours, to complete. The game is very glitchy, mostly the music, when it comes to online play and even saving. However I had no problem downloading the NES games on the Wii U.

Overall I just like having the physical copy more. Collecting games is fun to me and I just don't get the satisfaction of holding/having the game if I download one.

Edit: Also the cost of the games is too high for me on the eShop. If the retail games were say $5-$10 cheaper than their physical counterparts, I might consider downloading more games. Games being locked to a console is another reason why I don't like to download games.

@MAB .........slow......clapping.......

Wow, tripled is amazing... I guess everybody downloads these days.

Read that as 'trembled', was confused for a sec.

@DAmo - "The news also suggests that Nintendo's future — like that of much of the games industry — lies in digital downloads rather than physical releases."

Man, you must have had the biggest sh1t eatin' grin on your face typing that after all the grief you were getting the other day about physical RIP. Good for you.

Nintendo could probably recover a drop in 3DS and XL prices w/ all the games out at this point, going all the way back to Kid Icarus, OoT and MK7 up to X and Y, AC:NL, NSMB2, SM3DL. And w/ digital downloads they make even more money - no packaging or shipping. Whatever they would lose selling 2DS $99, 3DS $139, XL $169 they would probably quickly make up in game sales. (Those are $30 price drops to launch a massive advertising campaign around $30 off 2/3DS/XL Family of gaming systems.) Accompany the price drop w/ all systems now come w/ 4GB industry standard (dig at Vita) SD cards for digital downloads. (Last I checked normal 3DS was still only 2GB.) W/ all the 4GB cards Nintendo buys for 2DS and XL they should be able to get 4GB for almost the same price as those 2s. Maybe cheaper.

Price drop. Industry standard storage for digital downloads. A wide assortment of quality games to choose from. Nintendo could still boost 3DS Family sales, and make money, if they wanted to. Then after the system price drop this year, next year announce Nintendo 3DS Selects to boost game sales. By 2016 they need a new system.

I only go digital now. So much more convenient. Not sure how much I 've spent but I've filled up 150GB of my external HDD and have just received my 12th bonus £5 eshop credit code. Then there's the 3DS......

@originaljohn That pretty much sound like my criteria for purchasing physical. To add: "Throwaway games" (games that have yearly releases like CoD, Madden and the such) I don't buy digital. On limited edition games, I double dip and keep the physical copy in it's wrapping.

I like the physical versions more, because when the world ends and all the digital shops everywhere are destroyed, we'll still have the physical version more likely then digital ;3

@Guybrush20X6 just wait for BlackFriday I got a 500gb hard drive on Amazon last year for my Wii U for only $20 bucks.

I'm a physical games guy, and prefer to have the boxes on the shelf, but there have been times when I've wanted something on Eshop. However, I will not buy anything on Wii U or 3DS Eshop until they have account based systems. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (part of Mario Kart 8 deal) will be my first digital game on Eshop, and even then, I'm a bit hesitant (despite it being free). Nevertheless, it's good to see them doing well.

@Peach64 - Just as an example, I probably have one of the largest physical collections of Wii games that any sane person should have. Know how much I spent on digital downloads for Wii? - $0.00
Wii U? - probably $70.00 - $80.00 at this point

Despite your best efforts to minimize this news, the fact is that fewer people have Nintendo hardware right now (Wii and DS glory days are over) and more people are getting used to digital downloads. I should probably add that the "indie" game craze is certainly contributing to this as most of these are smaller games at lower prices and not full retail releases.

Actually, @Peach64, I know of a good way you can save face here: we can say the tripling of digital downloads is a substantial gain in that market which it clearly is, but Nintendo's overall software sales are down from previous generations. So you can still have your negative spin?

"Iwata believes that the rise was down to more Nintendo fans connecting their systems to the internet..."

Nooooo Iwata, it was due to both systems having the ability to have mass storage this time around.

Make NNID similar to PSN then we'll talk Iwata. Otherwise I'm just going to stick to physical.

In the past year on my 3DS I've spent about $200, and only about 75$ dollors. So I've spent a decent amount.

The funny thing is, I own a compatible 2TB hard drive connected to my Wii U. It would take me around 80 25GB games to fill this storage device, which is almost impossible for me since I usually don't buy that many games. Therefore, I won't need to worry about running out of space during the entire Wii U lifetime.

I've spent hundreds on the eShops over the past year probably. It's amazingly convenient to buy games & download them without having to switch out the cart or discs. Great times

This article is very misleading. How can sales only have tripled? Retail releases were not even available then. This tells me that physical still greatly outnumbers digital when available on both.

I only buy download-games when that's the only way to get the games, prices for download-games are plain silly, i have to pay just as much (if not more) for a game if i download it? (Without box, manual or trade-in option) No thanks...

@MysticX - That's how I am too. For major retail releases I still go physical whenever possible, but for indie games, VC, club Nintendo incentives etc...I go digital and love it for that.

If you use Steam, you'll see a better reason to go digital. A lot of those games are really hard to find or don't exist in physical media, and when they have their big sales...they discount DEEP.

Nintendo is learning though, I always check the sales on the E-shop and I will occasionally pick up something I'd been on the fence about if they discount it a few dollars.

I only download VC and indi titles, and I think I´m spending more than I should...

I would like the convenience of download not to keep swapping discs if I fancy playing one game or another but personally I rather get physical copies to keep in my collection.

Even if I wouldn´t collect it is a bad option to buy AAA titles on the eShop.
For example I can buy Mario 3D world for 45€ at Amazon now and if I finish it I can surely sell it for at least 20€ second hand. Cost 25€
If I buy from eShop it costs a whooping 59,99€, that´s 83$ for anyone in the US to get a sense of what they are asking for here. Of course you will have to invest in buying an external HDD and then you get the game tided to the console with no proper account system.

I hope they realize that they should change things in the eShop an digital sales will grow for real

To me this article means that there are alot of foolish NON retail savvy people after all 'a fool and his money are easily parted' as Nintendos download prices for eShop,Vc,Retail titles are way over priced, discounts, Promotions etc im in but otherwise im out let alone the fact of the Ridiculous pricing comparison between NA & europe.

@XyVoX Or people who are more bothered about the superior user experience.

(Wii U games downloads perform much better in many cases. 3DS it is much more convenient to carry just the system with one cart in it. So having a decent selection of downloads is desirable. Far more so than carrying a bag anyway).

Digital downloads are the future, it will be as common as downloading music on iTunes . Anyone who says physical copy is here to stay needs to to get over themselves. They will still be here in this generation, but rest assure Technology always Advances and they might be here in next gen. As well, but we can talk about what happened to VHS, cassette tapes, I don't even own a CD player and more.

@Sean_Aaron Carts for the 3DS at least perform as well. I am fine with it for games that I am going to play once (And not much else at the same time) and then not play it again for a long time. As long as the games don't have DLC.

(If it is got DLC I get digital but with a much higher threshold in terms of making sure I really want it first).

@unrandomsam sorry but Rationally & Logically speaking it just doesn't offset the Great value difference just for convenience (which i agree is better but not at the inflated cost) let alone the games are tied to hardware etc

Games tied to hardware. I know whatever handheld device Nintendo comes out with next it'll most likely be transferred too.

I originally thought the word was " trembled".

FACT is companies prefer digital because they make much more profit so they'll always defend their pricing,eg Kindle & ebooks have been hotly contested as to why the pricing for a physical book and ebook are largely the same AMAZON have made many statements explaining why the costs are the same (pure BS by the way) then when numerous independent organisations have conducted breakdown costs etc its been clear to see its way cheaper to deliver the digital to you thus for them yielding more profit.
FACT is if you support the over priced digital model 'your making the expensive bed you & others are going to have to lay in'

Well let's see considering space, efficiency, and organization fact is I prefer digital, if I'm going to get a game on launch I'm going to pay full price. I've gotten discounts on all the Atlus games, i'm about to get Pikmin three for free when I purchase MK8, I know I got a really good deal on Ducktails, I think I bought resident evil for like $20 also. I think I've gotten 60 or $65 digital download promotion alone. I could go on. You could keep your box and manual And earn a bigger carbon footprint in this world. For me I want to hug a tree.

@Peach64
It's still good news, and people already explained why. Simple math already says that's either 6.7 million full retail 3DS games, or 4 million full retail Wii U games, at full price.

It may not mean much for last generation downloads, which would obviously mean more, but this is now. It's progress, and if it triples again, will the progress they had before not matter?

Download only for me. I live in a suitcase and there's no place for physical media collections of any kind. Barely have room for all my electronic devices let alone any extra media.

I refuse to buy digital. And I guess I am in a majority. Ok not here on these forums made up of mostly very loyal Nintendo fans. You know, the one that think Nintendo is not in trouble, and if Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 8 was put back until October so they could add final touches, they would support the idea.

I don't see the logic in giving Nintendo more money for less. Pay an extra £8 or so for a download copy rather than have a physical copy that can be traded in for more games, given to a family member to play it. And if Nintendo is not here in two years time neither will your games be.
Downloads are a rip off. I would rather see Nintendo become a third party developer for the playstation than go down the download only road.

There is no account system, for God's sakes! Once your Wii U dies, ALL of your conveniently organized purchases — hundreds, nay, thousands of dollars — are gone, just like that.

Even with an account system, once Nintendo (or any other company for that matter that) goes out of business, or stops supporting that segment of their business — allowing to redownload software from their servers in the unfortunate case of somehow losing your data --, your hard-earned gems of games are gone. Whereas, of course, if you can procure a functional console, you're back in business again, since you have your games neatly placed in your favorite drawer, display case, whatnot, waiting to jump right back where the belong.

Of course, if you're thinking in the short term and don't mind losing a lot of money spent over the course of several years, sure, digital all the way. Bah!

@8bitforever What?..Are you seriously blaming people for downloading games to being part of the problem?..

I only download games on PC, where management of my titles is much more flexible and sales are deep and frequent. I get my Wii U games off Amazon.

@8bitforever
The NNID is an account system.

@zool
Not everyone lives in the UK. Digital costs the same as physical, in the U.S, and I think it's actually cheaper for AU to download games(most of the time). People just figure they won't get rid of a game that they buy at full price, so it makes sense to go digital.

@zool
Also, Nintendo not being here in 2 years? They would literally have to be gambling millions of $, every month.

@Subaru
I hear him. The one thing that should have been available from the get-go is an account system that lets you redownload titles already bought. It's totally unacceptable this way. And, yes, why would Nintendo feel obligated to create one when people still buy digital anyway? That does, in a way, send the message that it's fine this way.

@Dezsi
The NNID is an account system. You can transfer it from one console to another, as I type this, but it still requires assistance from Nintendo for it to work on Wii U.

They are working on making it better.

@SCAR392 you are assuming they go bust. The best time to sell up or get taken over or change course is to act quickly while the going is still good.

@zool
I don't get what you just said. Tons of people will buy the digital version of Mario Kart 8, because the price won't change, and there's no need to sell or trade it.

Yup, i have more digital than physical. and going forward i plan to equally have more, along with all the eshop indie games, gba VC, mario kart, smash bros, etc. last retail game i bought were clearance games like W101 and tekken tag 2.

@SCAR392 I was commenting on your comment about Nintendo gambling millions.

@SCAR392 each to their own. If every one thought like that then a few years from now there would be no trade in market for games. That would stop many people buying as many games. Take the car market. New cars are sold because people can trade in their car. If they were not able to sell the old car they would keep driving it until they got their monies worth. The second hand buyers market would dry up and many people could not afford to own a car. New car sales would be effected.

I buy all digital games on my 3DS because its convenient. I like to have all my games everywhere I go. As for Wii U I have yet to find a reason to go digital. Also the lack of Wii U storage is a pain.

@zool
Your analogy partially makes sense. While I understand people do get SOME value from trading things in, based on numbers, eventually you pay more by not keeping anything. Say I trade in 2 games that I paid $60 each, for 1 game. Even if I played the game, I no longer own it, and now I have technically paid $120 for a $60 game.

There's also that you're not very likely to get what you paid, or what it's worth, because people want a deal. If you're game is worth $20, people want it for $15.

The reason why your analogy doesn't work, is because someone is very unlikely to sell a car that runs fine, which is my stance on the subject in the first place.

@Spakiness I agee w/ya !

@River3636 It will be indeed, so NNI = 4 life !

@erv Mii too !!!!

@SCAR392 OK, but I guess it depends on how much you value a played game. If you go to the movies you have paid your money and seem the film. All you have for your money is memories.

Same with a game. If you think there is any replay value you may want to keep it and play it again sometime.

I buy a game for £40 ($60) and play it, and if I trade it within say, two or three months I would get at least 50% or more trade in. So the game has only cost me £20. And I do the same with each game, then I play games for half price.

I do keep some games but not many. Once I played a game I don't usually replay them. So rather than keep them I trade them. Something I can't do with downloads.

If in a couple of years time I got the urge to play a game again I could pick it up from a trade in store for a few pounds £.

i want everything digital but for gods sake nintendo tie it to my account & move in the modern age like everyone else

lolers trebled?! You British are funny! XD

@zool That situation could work presuming people trade and buy new (At least most of the time). At least where I live that is not even possible. If it was possible then the trade in value without lots of messing about would be less than just getting it new from Amazon. (Most of the time the 3DS games they sell for £30 used they only give £10 in - If you want to buy new then they are £40 which with a trade is about the Amazon price of £30). I give my games away if they are retail or get downloads (If it is the type of game I like best where it will take ages to master but is good immediately). People trading used for used is why Nintendo is in the state they are in now.

@unrandomsam the trick is to buy play and trade before the market gets flooded with the second hand game you have. Mario games hold their value for quite a while because gamers hang on to them for longer.

Footnote.
Reading some posts it seems that many gamers never finish games' or at least have a few games on the go at the same time, so it can be months or a year or more before they get finished. I play one game at a time. If it gets to hard, boring I trade it.

@tj3dsXL
Thats awesome! You are my hero lol. I thought 250 was a bunch from the eshop. Im slowly getting there though. I added you. Game on!

Go Wiiiiii U ! GO!

Almost all of my Wii U games are digital, and 3DS would be the same way if it launched like Wii U did. I like the convenience of digital and will probably continue to buy mostly digital for the foreseeable future.

@tj3dsXL
1950-9591-3129 !!

I've only gone physical with some games though I believe that some games are more conducive to the easy access digital versions allow like Pokemon & Animal Crossing.

Here in México the eshop prices of retail games are as high as the most expensive stores (and those stores have better sales that include Nintendo first party games) so no, I'm not going digital thank you very much. For example, MK8 digital is gonna be about $77. I am not stupid, looking for the right store I can buy MK8 for about $70 at launch. Nintendo eshop pricing sucks here, only retail game I am considering buying digital is Bravely Default ($54 on eshop) because I haven't been able to find a physical copy anywhere, and it is such a good game I know I won't get a good deal anyway.

I'm still new to the digital download for my 3DS but I am liking it. I plan on downloading my sim games (tomodachi life, harvest moon) to my system so I can have them anywhere any time. other games like Kirby, fire emblem those I don't mind having the physical copy of and switch out

On wii u at least there's only so much you can buy in the stores so you have not much choice but to download from the eshop thereafter

@Frapp
Yeah I already checked right after making my comment, and deleted it before you were able to make your reply.

Wii U launched two years ago, and 3DS hadn't really started catching attention until then, either. Of COURSE download sales tripled in that timeframe. There was hardly anything of note on DSiWare, and Nintendo wasn't very loud about their download platforms two years ago, either.

Like many others had mention already, I only buy my retail games physically, I would shop and buy digitally only for indie games, VC, WiiWare, good DLC, apps, demos, and other games that doesn't had any physical release.

For me I now get all my Nintendo published games (Wii U and 3DS) as a download unless I receive them as a gift as I know I will never trade these in and Nintendo published games haven't had physical manuals for years now.

Third party stuff however I buy the disk as there is a pretty strong chance I'll sell it on at some point.

The tripling of download revenue is pretty impressive when you take into account the much smaller install base that Nintendo has nowadays and I'm pretty sure that'll continue well into the future.

Very good news, though of course considering how low digitial sales were back then, not hard to do! XD

I buy a lot of digital games for 3DS and Wii U - mostly eShop games because I can't let go of physical copies for retail just yet. I'm far more willing to download digital retail 3DS games than for Wii U - it just makes more sense to me for a handheld, that I carry around all the time, than a console, where I can keep a collection all in one place. That said I downloaded enough eShop titles (and one retail title - Darksiders 2 for $20) that I filled up the 32 GBs fairly fast and now I have a 2 TB HDD. Annoying, wish it could all be combined into one object.

I have MH3U downloaded and Animal Crossing New Leaf. That's about it. I only downloaded those because I knew I would put 100+ hours into them.

I wonder if the shortage of physical Wii u games has helped the download figures.

I think I bought a total of 9 digital games since the launch of the Wii with all but 2 being virtual console. I'm just a physical kind of guy.

What happens when you run out of windows in your wii u menu? Tell me you have to start deleting games to make room for new ones even though you have plenty of memory? That would blow!!

I am shocked that somebody has been able to shut @peach64 up!lol I'm so sick of her negative nancyisms! Either way I am unfortunately part to blame for the massive spike in digital download sales for the eshop. I have a 3ds and ever since i have not been able to find a physical copy of Fire Emblem Awakening when it first came out I went digital. I've probably spent about$1,000 to $2000 on digital downloads. I'm sorry but it's so dang convienient! I don't have to lug around several cases of games when i wanna play and switch up on the go. I mean seriously there are too many 3ds games out there to sit there and lug around each and every case or even the little cases that hold four games each. The 3ds library is getting as bad as the original DS library...THERE'S TOO MANY COOL GAMES!

With all my systems I NEVER buy download if I can get it retail...not only does it save hard drive space but I like to have a collection to display! Being an avid gamer since the Atari 2600 my collection is coming up on 6000 games! That being said, I download tons of games but again only those with rare exception that you can't buy in stores! And yes Nintendo does need to improve its account system AND it's vc service!!!

@Andremario - More likely @peach64 simply decided not to return to this thread then anyone actually was able to shut him up.

I'm finding digital downloads are great for smaller games. I'll still want retail cases and media for major releases like Mario Kart 8...but I'll happily take that free digital download game!

@joey302 - I think there are many many pages and the menu probably creates new pages when you start to get full? I can't imagine filling every square on that menu...I barely have two pages full of stuff, including all the apps and menu items like Mii Maker and Health and Safety info.

@Action51 Believe it or not I only have 19 windows left empty lol so was wondering what happens

well if digital copies are the future then i guess thats okay. i just don't want to pay for the same game over and over. They have to be a way to transfer games you pay for from system to system. steam is already big on pc, and you really can't find physical copies of pc games.

@joey302 Wow! That's both awesome and disturbing! j/k....

Yeah...okay then I suppose folders would be very much needed in your case!

@Action51 What can I say? I'm a big time gamer! Lol