General Nintendo sales/business discussion topic (previously: The Wii U Thread)

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

It's not casting anything away. It's adding an extra way of paying for things. Choices are good and can broaden your potential sales.

ANd they can also just be flat-out annoying and potentially threaten your sales too.

[Marcello]

I'm not following you.

 

Don't want to be bothered by popups saying you need to pay to continue? Get the full version.

 

Want to save some money in the short or long term? Get the "F2P" version.

 

I don't see how that is a problem.

[Willsy]

That....actually is a pretty good idea. I wouldn't use it, but it's still a good idea.

[Sami]

I'm not following you.

Don't want to be bothered by popups saying you need to pay to continue? Get the full version.

Want to save some money in the short or long term? Get the "F2P" version.

I don't see how that is a problem.

Apparently, somehow, this can easily be abused or something.

I really don't see how, it's not exactly hard to do basic math and figure out that $10 per chapter totals out to $100 or whatever other stupid bullshit people seem to be scared of. It wouldn't fly.

This system has already been used successfully by both Capcom and Square Enix, right off the top of my head. It's worked well and in some cases I prefer it.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Why are we still talking about this in a thread about a console that currently has No Free-to-play games, and no games with in game microtransactions, and has only done either full expansions or mostly free DLC, and has a single game currently out with RFID tech, but you only need one to get the full game? and a company that has only 2 FTP games, both on their handheld, and one with an extremely flexible structure?

 

This isnt hte place to talk about it, if you want to continue, could you perhaps make a new thread to just talk about FTP/Microtransactions/merging those two?

[Willsy]

Tank Tank Tank is free to play and has microtransactions.

[Marcello]

It is the place to talk about it when you're talking about the possibility of Nintendo using it in the future on the Wii U.

[Sami]

I'd like to see Nintendo use it in the future on their handhelds in particular, as a way to combat the dirt cheap App Store. It's a clever workaround to the criticism that their handheld games are too expensive. I think it's a really great pricing models on consoles too though, and Nintendo would definitely get props from me for implementing it before Sony or Microsoft.

[Willsy]

Didn't Nintendo say that they have plans to have more F2P games on Wii U and 3DS?

[Sir Tynen]

You know, with all this discussion about microtransactions and the opposing sides of this matter, I'm surprised no one's really brought the most recent 3DS F2P title that Nintendo released for this:

 

 

While it may not be exactly how Discoid and others have described, it certainly very close, I would think. You basically have a couple of free games to play at the start given to you by Rusty, and so the player sees if the games content tickles his fancy or not. Then after playing all the free mini-games at the player's disposal, Rusty then begins to charge you for the rest of the mini-games available. What I like about this weird little game is that it makes the microtransactions be part of the game itself. Rather then an annoying pop-up notice, you are given the current price for the mini-game, but you can haggle with Rusty by giving him thing he likes, and so he discounts the price so it costs less then the original intended price. So you now have an option to keep playing your free games or pay for them at an even discounted price. Heck, the game itself even has a story to go alongside the games you play, so it's not just some generic play and buy baseball-related games, but rather a bit of a unique and playful one.

[The Deleter]

I think the microtransaction argument would hold a lot more weight if we actually lived in a full-on digital era. Why on earth should you waste money and HDD space on something you don't enjoy enough to play the full game, without having any way to retrieve them through trade-in means? And then there's rental and used formats, what about those? You save tons of money and get the full game, even if you don't enjoy it that much. With all these options, I really don't see the appeal in microtransactions for physical games right now. Maybe in the future when the only format is digital, but not today.

[DarkRula]

Okay. I've been reading this back and forth since it first started, and I can see good points on both parts, as well as arguments to go with them. Now, I'm not going into detail with that, I'm here to propose a middle ground.

 

Instead of paying for the game in chunks, like the F2P model idea, why not just have the game paid for in full. But the game is tracking how long you spend on it. Pounds convert to hours, and when you have enough of the game, you can trade the license back to the store, and claim your money back minus the amount of hours you spent on it.

 

Take the example floating around here and my play time on. The eShop price of Super Mario 3D World is £49.99. In total, I have spent 9 hours on it. Say I completed it within those nine hours. I didn't want it wasting space on my hard drive, but again, I don't want to feel like I've wasted my money on it [even if I do enjoy the game, I can't say it's money well spent without meeting the pounds-hours quota]. So, I trade the game's license back to the store and claim £41.99 back.

[The Deleter]

Okay. I've been reading this back and forth since it first started, and I can see good points on both parts, as well as arguments to go with them. Now, I'm not going into detail with that, I'm here to propose a middle ground.

 

Instead of paying for the game in chunks, like the F2P model idea, why not just have the game paid for in full. But the game is tracking how long you spend on it. Pounds convert to hours, and when you have enough of the game, you can trade the license back to the store, and claim your money back minus the amount of hours you spent on it.

 

Take the example floating around here and my play time on. The eShop price of Super Mario 3D World is £49.99. In total, I have spent 9 hours on it. Say I completed it within those nine hours. I didn't want it wasting space on my hard drive, but again, I don't want to feel like I've wasted my money on it [even if I do enjoy the game, I can't say it's money well spent without meeting the pounds-hours quota]. So, I trade the game's license back to the store and claim £41.99 back.

RIP MGS: Ground Zero profits.

 

I doubt this could work, as the rate of MPM (money per minute) would probably vary drastically between games, and probably draw people out of the game too much with their paranoid, greedy minds checking the clock constantly, thinking about something entirely different than having fun.

[DarkRula]

But the clock wouldn't be visible at all. Not unless you go to trade the license back in, and only then so you can check the conversion is accurate.

[Jolt_TH]

I really can't see that working, some games literally have hundres of hours worth of gameplay while others don't. Like im sure someone could complete Mario 3D World in 9 hours or so, but something like Zelda probably takes an average player between 15-20 hours. So if I got the game, enjoyed it but decided i had gotten all i wanted out of it, id be better off trading in SM3DW rather than Zelda because I have less gameplay time on it.

 

That would also depend on Game makers and retailers having a sort of time system that they can see, that consumers cant. It sounds incredibly complicated when Discoid's solution is literally as we have the game now, but with an extra option to buy parts seperately.

[JaidynReiman]

I don't like Microtransactions, but I don't mind the idea of buying parts of the game separately as long as the total amount is what you'd have paid for the game in full. That's a fairly decent idea and something I have thought of before.

 

The idea of getting a certain amount of money back on a game based on how much time you spent on it is completely ridiculous and would never work, precisely because of the notion that most games are largely varied in how long they are,

[Indigo Rush]

Get Dr. Luigi for $5 off if you own Dr. Mario (NES).

 

http://videogamewriters.com/game-boy-advance-games-land-wii-u-eshop-dr-luigi-sale-70533

 

I bought both for a total of $15. 

[Solkia]

dr. luigi was made for year of luigi, right?

[Milo]

dr. luigi was made for year of luigi, right?

 

Yep.

[Conando]

*snip*

-Stuff about Rusty's Real Deal Baseball-

 To add to that, actually haggling with Rusty brings out the story about the old dog's life. It's kind of like a Family Sitcom the way it plays out, and I was honestly surprised at how well they encouraged the player to buy the other minigames.

[VO.SUPER]

 To add to that, actually haggling with Rusty brings out the story about the old dog's life. It's kind of like a Family Sitcom the way it plays out, and I was honestly surprised at how well they encouraged the player to buy the other minigames.

 

Rusty's Real Deal Baseball is an interesting game. Even though you can buy the whole thing at once, the way it is handled, it's like Nintendo is saying not to pay the full price. That's oddly genius.

[Alice Twilight]

What game are we waiting for to save the Wii U? Smash Brothers? Mario Kart 8.
I want to get one for Bayonetta 2, but I don't want a dust collector when nobody wants to support it.

I don't want it to be the See U for the Wii U.

[Doctor MK]

What game are we waiting for to save the Wii U? Smash Brothers? Mario Kart 8.

I want to get one for Bayonetta 2, but I don't want a dust collector when nobody wants to support it.

I don't want it to be the See U for the Wii U.

 

Mario Kart 8 is pretty much the only game with a chance of catapulting the Wii U into semi-successful territory at the moment. It's more or less a guaranteed sale to any current Wii U owner, and it has enough appeal and legacy behind it to hopefully draw in the casual crowd and non-Wii U owners who may have held off thus far and/or not even known what the heck a Wii U is.

 

Smash Bros is the second best bet, but I just can't see it having the same appeal as Mario Kart 8 somehow. Ideally Nintendo will pull off a double punch of success with the two games in conjunction - use Mario Kart 8 to lure people to the console, use Smash Bros to warrant their purchase. Whether it will work (or indeed if it will even happen) remains to be seen.

[Milo]

In light of the impeding Smash Bros. themed Nintendo Direct airing tomorrow, a tweet has been released that implies Smash Bros. might not end up being released this year...

 

https://twitter.com/RyougaSaotome/status/453069891675770880

 

 

Translated page says:

 

 

Smash Bros 6? Perhaps an error on their part? They could also just be referring to the fiscal year, since no release date is set in stone yet.

Also there's the fact Sakurai did allude to releasing the 3DS version at a later date than the Wii-U version. So who knows?

 

If Smash Bros. isn't releasing this year, then that would mean Mario Kart 8 is the only trump card Nintendo has for the Wii U for 2014 (assuming they don't have any other juggernaut games planned for this year aside from the already-released DKC: TF, but hey, E3 '14 might tell a different story). If Mario Kart 8 (somehow) fails to shift units and Smash Bros. is a no-show, the Wii U is arguably dead in the water for the rest of the year. There's potential killer apps such as Bayonetta 2, X, and Hyrule Warriors that will be released later down the line, but neither of those games are household names or are aimed at (a) large audience(s) compared to the likes of Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.

 

Though the Smash Bros. series isn't new to experiencing delays, I also have some concerns this could severely diminish interest/hype for the game as well as we're just a couple months away from it's planned release period like what happened to Rayman Legends.

[Alice Twilight]

Sounds like something I'll wait to get when it's 2nd hand somewhere then. Nintendo games don't interest me in the slightest, but dat 3rd party support from Platinum games my favorite developer is making me lean on just getting one now and if an exclusive game that interests me comes out on it. I then know I have access to it.

Smash bros because of Mega Man, might be the only Nintendo game besides the Metroid series that I buy.