Nintendo America Boss Takes Swipe at App Store Prices

[Logan Westbrook]

Nintendo America Boss Takes Swipe at App Store Prices

Super-low prices make people think that games are disposable, says the Nintendo executive.

Reggie Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer for Nintendo America, has criticized the low prices charged for games on smart phones and similar devices. He said that the low prices were one of the biggest risks that the gaming industry faced at the moment.

Fils-Aime thought that by charging so little for games, publishers were creating a "mentality" for consumers that games should never cost more than a few dollars. He also thought that it created a culture that content was disposable because it was so cheap. He didn't think that every cheap game you could grab on the iPhone or similar platform actually was disposable - he said that Angry Birds was a great experience - but he thought that that was the idea that cheap games were putting in peoples' heads.

It's hard to argue with Fils-Aime's point, and it seems like the scenario he's describing will affect Nintendo more than it might affect Microsoft or Sony. While all three are now courting a more casual market, Nintendo has been the most successful in attracting new players that might never have picked up a console or handheld in the past. As there's some overlap in the audiences for the 3DS and the iPhone, it seems likely Fils-Aime is concerned about the impact the App Store pricing might have going forward.

While it's certainly going to have an effect on the device, the fact that there are cheaper games on the iPhone isn't going to make the 3DS audience evaporate. What it might do, however, is make it harder in the future to convince people who didn't own a DS to invest in its successor. Of course, there's more to selling things than just the price, and Nintendo has shown itself to be very capable at convincing people to part with their cash.

Source: Game Trailers [http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/gametrailers-tv/113&ch=1&sd=0?ep=113&ch=1&sd=0]


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[KrazyKain]

I want to say this is bull, and games should always be cheap... but the fact is, free games,no matter how good they are, soon get forgotten. having paid for something does make you appreciate it more.

 

[Samwise137]

iOS games ARE disposable...

 

[CitySquirrel]

Well they will just have to make sure that they make games that are worth a full price then, won't they?

That was a little snarky but I think that, for the most part, people who would actually buy a full priced game are not going to say "Oh, I can get angry birds for a few bucks... forget the new Zelda game."

Also, because the popular iphone type games are basically a really great mechanic with a limited set of repetitions I believe that there is still room for people who really liked a game to look for similar...and larger... games that they might enjoy.

 

[Irridium]

True, but you don't want to price it so high that few can buy it. Like what most companies do in places like Eastern Europe.

Also, the higher you price it means people are more likely to go with the used market. So yeah.

 

[Pandaman1911]

I don't want to sound angry, but that is a load of bullshit on a cracker. I got Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half Life 1 and expansion packs, KOTOR, Serious Sam, Painkiller, et cetera ad nauseam, for under ten dollars for each game. Yet I have sunk the majority of my time into these titles, and continue to go back and play them frequently. I in no way think of these games as "disposable". In fact, cheapness is often what compels me to buy them. I am very reluctant to spend sixty U.S. dollars on many modern games, and a lot of the games which I get fresh off the shelves are more forgettable than I'd like. I remember how much they cost longer than I remember what they were about.
"What happened at the end of Mass Effect 2...? Well shit, I don't know, but I do know that I'M OUT SIXTY GODDAMN BUCKS!!!"

 

[Acidwell]

Hes just worried since ds + wii games are so overpriced due to ignorance by parents and grandparents buying any old rubbish games for their kids that he might have to charge reasonable prices when they realise their mistake

 

[KrazyKain]

I don't want to sound angry, but that is a load of bullshit on a cracker. I got Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half Life 1 and expansion packs, KOTOR, Serious Sam, Painkiller, et cetera ad nauseam, for under ten dollars for each game. Yet I have sunk the majority of my time into these titles, and continue to go back and play them frequently. I in no way think of these games as "disposable". In fact, cheapness is often what compels me to buy them. I am very reluctant to spend sixty U.S. dollars on many modern games, and a lot of the games which I get fresh off the shelves are more forgettable than I'd like. I remember how much they cost longer than I remember what they were about.
"What happened at the end of Mass Effect 2...? Well shit, I don't know, but I do know that I'M OUT SIXTY GODDAMN BUCKS!!!"

the point is, you didn't get them for 99p

 

[Jaded Scribe]

While they might be overstating the case, I do actually see their point. Big games are not cheap to make. Gamers bridle over shelling out $60 for a game. But this technology isn't free. Games as cheap as app-store games do encourage the mentality that all games should be dirt cheap. It doesn't do it at a conscious level, but even the subconscious suggestion can cause players to shy away from big games that they're on the fence about.

 

[Jesus Phish]

I don't think many people look at console/hand held games, and compare them to "app" games. Angry Birds as he used for his example, is a good one. That's not a game thats worth 50e. It's worth maybe 2e.

As for pricing of games, why did a port of Super Mario Bros 3, a game from the NES, sell for 50e when released on the GBA?

 

[SalamanderJoe]

I thought that was the point of App store games: small, fun, simple games you can easily interchange from your iPod to suit whatever takes your fancy on the next bus trip, not remakes of N64 games for £30 a pop.

 

[linwolf]

I think more companies in the game industry need to realise that not all game are worth the same, and that it's great to make a small good game for 10 or 30 dollar instead of half ass a 60 dollar game.

 

[Sabrestar]

He does have a point: Good games cost money. The problem is that this sounds to me like the old Tramiel-Atari era corporate whining about how "we don't think the market accurately reflects our product, so we're going to act like how we think it should be, not how it is."

That doesn't come out very well in text, but to explain what I mean: The market is likely to favour cheap games, because they're, well, cheap. Nintendo doesn't like this. But carping about how "it shouldn't be this way" won't change the market and won't solve your problems. Especially in a portable market, your competitors are smartphone games. That's a fact. You may not think you should have to compete with them, but the reality is you will, whether you think it's fair or not.

So do something, Nintendo. Go after that market, if only so you can prove to them that your expensive games are better. Perhaps you should consider something like, oh, maybe releasing demos every now and then? People will drop a quid or two on something they don't know anything about. They won't drop thirty to forty if they don't know what they'll be getting.

 

[robinkom]

Well Reggie, since you duped all non-gamers into buying a console and games, convince them now that they are "core gamers" and make that the new marketing ploy to show how disposable and cheap iOS games are. Fall back on that old Nintendo mentality of years gone by of "we're the most awesome, therefore YOU will be awesome for buying our stuff", the ol' "Now Your Playing With Power" kind of mindset.

Also, how about cutting down on the $20-$30 shovelware on the Wii and DS, hm? How about more strict standards of quality for third-party games so not every "Joe-Blow" shit company with an 8 year old GameCube Dev Kit can make a half-ass cash-in throwaway title? Developing Wii games takes a quarter of the resources it takes to make a 360 or PS3 game... you'd think they'd ALL be top-notch by that logic but, sadly, no.

Regardless, Reggie has nothing to fear from me, I don't own any Apple products nor will I ever. I was never a fan of Apple except for the old Apple IIe's we used when I was in grade school. Oregon Trail, anyone? Of course, I had a REAL computer at home: Commodore 64.

 

[omicron1]

When you get a game for 99c and it's bad, you throw it away and feel nothing.
When you get a game for $35 and it's bad, you suffer through it in order to try to get your money's worth.

A good game for $35 is a good deal.
A good game for 99c is amazing.


Games with triple-A prices are not somehow special, somehow superior to the cheap, low-budget Indie titles. You do not somehow "deserve" a higher price for your games just because they're branded with corporate marketing and have teams of dozens or hundreds working to smooth them into pristine, well-molded corporate product. The price you deserve is based on the quality of what you deliver - nothing more. Granted, you (Nintendo) tend to put out products with heart - but are you truly so brazen as to think that we do not?


Your logic is flawed, Reggie. Some of the most loyally-defended games in the world are free, indie, or cheap. Even though they may have flaws, if there's a diamond in that rough people will find it. 100 Rogues, Battle for Wesnoth, Dwarf Fortress, Spelunky, Desktop Dungeons, Overgrowth, World of Goo, Aquaria, NightSky, AI War, Solium Infernum - heck, even Minecraft!

And when you find a cheap, low-budget indie title with more heart, depth, and soul than the best thing Nintendo has put out in the past five years, you treasure it all the more. This is where you got your beginning, Nintendo - individual visions brought to fruition without marketing or checkboxes getting in the way. And the market is turning back this way again, back to the innovation and novelty that founded it. Notice the tides, Nintendo; notice how they change. And change yourselves if you truly wish to thrive.

 

[fordneagles]

I pay more for iPhone apps anyway, despite the US dollar and the Australian dollar having been closer to equal for a good while now. I'd rather pay $30-$50 (second-hand) for a well-designed, immersive console game that I can play for months than spend $1.19/$2.29 on a game which is played in teeny-weeny-bloomy-eyestrain-o-vision and can be finished in 10 minutes.

My point: Charge what you want Nintendo, but make your games worth the price

 

[Charli]

Well Mr Minecraft certainly built upon his cheapo price and came out better Nintendo.
Dunno what you're talking about here but I think you're just scared of a new era and aren't getting ready to move with the flow yet.

People don't have masses of disposable income at the moment! Of course we're going to generally buy games from the cheapest source!