Nintendo Wants To Court Indies, Improve eShop

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo Wants To Court Indies, Improve eShop

Remote purchasing is a feature that will be coming to the Wii U and 3DS eShop in the near future.

Talking to Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/4/4696020/nintendo-eshop-indie-games-wii-u-nintendo-3ds] at PAX Prime, Nintendo have revealed its plans to help sway indie developers to invest in its systems, as well as incoming improvements to the Wii U and 3DS's eShops. "We need to do a better job of getting our message out [to indie developers]," said Nintendo's manager of business development licensing Dan Adelman.

Adelman said Nintendo has learned some harsh lessons over the last five or six years, particularly in regards to its very indie-unfriendly WiiWare policies. "We had some policies that really made it difficult for game developers to release games on our system," he admitted, promising that some of the more stringent policies (such as requiring perspective developers to work out of an office instead of at their own homes) have been removed.

Adelman says this has lowered the barrier for indie devs to bring their games to eShop, "And we're not done with this initiative by any stretch."

Meanwhile, Damon Baker, senior manager of licensing marketing, talked about how Nintendo is attempting to make the eShop more user-friendly towards the people that will be buying these indie games. He highlights "discoverability" as the platform's biggest problem.

"We're going to have off-device availability [through the web, phone and smart devices] for eShop sales at some point. All of us feel that discoverability is going to be increasingly more important. We've got a nice flow of content, but as we grow the amount of content, it's going to be important that we find that holy grail solution of how we make discoverability a priority..."

Baker assures us that "The Nintendo eShop is always a work in progress," and to look forward to more improvements in the near future.

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/4/4696020/nintendo-eshop-indie-games-wii-u-nintendo-3ds]

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[9thRequiem]

"work out of an office instead of at their hopes)"
I take it you mean out of their homes?

I'm glad to see more things like this. I like the fact that development is less AAA-centric now; means we can have more variety, and I hope this works out.

 

[Dragonbums]

The only games I need on e-shop are anything by wayforward.

Good games man.
Good games.

On topic though, I think they are starting to do a good job.
A lot of indie dev Kickstarters always tend to put Wii U and 3DS ports as a benchmark.

 

[VinLAURiA]

The only games I need on e-shop are anything by wayforward.

Good games man.
Good games.

On topic though, I think they are starting to do a good job.
A lot of indie dev Kickstarters always tend to put Wii U and 3DS ports as a benchmark.

You should check out the Bit.Trip games. SAGA has all six main games (no RUNNER2) and is currently five bucks on the 3DS eShop, though it's a bit of a buggy port.

 

[Dragonbums]

The only games I need on e-shop are anything by wayforward.

Good games man.
Good games.

On topic though, I think they are starting to do a good job.
A lot of indie dev Kickstarters always tend to put Wii U and 3DS ports as a benchmark.

You should check out the Bit.Trip games. SAGA has all six main games (no RUNNER2) and is currently five bucks on the 3DS eShop, though it's a bit of a buggy port.

I was thinking about it.

But if it's a bit buggy then I may pass.

I'm kind of hoping to use it on Dillon's Rolling Western on sale and that Pokemon bank app.

 

[omega 616]

Why has everyone got such a raging hard on for indies at the moment? I get that it's the place for innovation due to our lower costs and that there have been a few big hits.

It's like over night the big 3 have just gone indie mad! It's gone from "indies exist but so what?" to "let's help these indies as much as possible" ever since E3.

Personally, I don't like indies... I've played a few but they lack something for me, I watch triple A game play and I am impressed but I watch any indie games and think "meh" ... Things like bastion, fez, limbo, braid, Miami hotline etc all left me unimpressed.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

"Talking to Polygon at PAX Prime, Nintendo have revealed its plans to help sway indie developers to invest in its systems, as well as incoming improvements to the Wii U and 3DS's eShops. "We need to do a better job of getting our message out [to indie developers]"

Big N, all your message over the years to indies was a big "fuck you".

If I was holding a grudge I'd wish now the indies say the same to you but that would help nobody.

So I say this to big N (same I said since years): give them the indie devs a free SDK, setup a Q&A team to filter out the worst and take 30% of the venue generated and everbody wil be happy.

Someone did that already, and raked in tons of cash, if I just could remember who. /sarcasm

 

[Toilet]

Give us a universal account system and then we can talk Nintendo.

 

[Jumwa]

Why has everyone got such a raging hard on for indies at the moment? I get that it's the place for innovation due to our lower costs and that there have been a few big hits.

It's like over night the big 3 have just gone indie mad! It's gone from "indies exist but so what?" to "let's help these indies as much as possible" ever since E3.

Personally, I don't like indies... I've played a few but they lack something for me, I watch triple A game play and I am impressed but I watch any indie games and think "meh" ... Things like bastion, fez, limbo, braid, Miami hotline etc all left me unimpressed.

As mainstream, big budget games become increasingly marketed towards a general audience, and take safer routes to attain their sale goals, I think the indie market has just naturally become more popular with gamers. That's not to mention the fact that so many of the big game makers are moving away from consoles and PC to make games for smartphones, tablets and Facebook instead.

I'm not crazy about everything indie, and the retro-indie style has grown especially tiresome on me. But titles like Amnesia have shown me I can expect to occasionally get the best gaming experience of a genre from a small, independent developer if I give them a shot.

As the big publishers continue to become more restrictive and to move off onto other platforms, indies are going to become an increasingly bigger part of the console gaming scene I think.

 

[Teoes]

Give us a universal account system and then we can talk Nintendo.

And prices that aren't higher than those of brick & mortar shops[footnote]Necrotic equine flagellation[/footnote].

Good to see some baby steps though, Nintendo.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Sounds good. (OT)

How I would improve the eShop would be adding SNES titles to the 3DS shop. Also streamlining the store into fewer sections would be handy. Currently I just log on to the store, push left to use the menu to find newest videos/software and check out the price drops on the way out. Which means scrolling past about 8 different sub sections, non of which are the "what's new" section. They like to hide it in back for some reason.

It goes random featured game, featured mascot, featured genre, maybe a Nintendo Direct, other various superfluous subsections, "recommended for me" (which is the SAME stuff for the last year whether I already own it or not), then FINALLY What's New, Price Drops, and Upcoming stuff.

God forbid you actually want to BROWSE the store, apart from the VC.

The lower half of the store is like the polar opposite of the top half. The very first section is the VC, with the newest titles first. Then you have Demos and Apps. Right there. Easy.

I just want Earthbound, Soul Blazer, and Super Metroid on my 3DS...so badly (>v_v)>

One thing I do like about the eShop is the little shopping bag character that plays around while my stuff downloads. I don't know if he has a name. Its one of the few unreservedly cheerful things I can think of. Aside from Kirby...minus the gastric genocide.