Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview with AOL that while Nintendo is enabling developers to charge for downloadable content (DLC), they aren't that excited by the idea of charging consumers for that sort of content. “We're interested in it to the extent that it makes sense to the consumer,” Fils-Aime said.
The 3DS software update coming next month will allow developers to sell DLC if they choose to do so. “In terms of what the next system update will allow, it will allow developers to sell add-on content, and whether that's for a physical game or a digitally released game,” Fils Aime said. “In terms of how it will work, it's up to the developer whether they want to make it to buy new levels, new items - all of that is up to their imagination. Essentially, what we're doing is creating the framework for those transactions to happen.”
Nintendo has offered DLC for many of its releases recently, such as new puzzles for Professor Layton games or new challenges in Mario Kart Wii. Those updates have all been free, though. Fils-Aime explained: ”I've had this conversation with a number of our key developers, and their mentality is, 'Reggie, when we sell a game, we want the consumer to feel that they've had a complete experience.'”
He continued, “Now, in addition, if we want to make other things available, great, and we'll look at that. But we're unwilling to sell a piece of a game upfront and, if you will, force a consumer to buy more later. That's what they don't want to do, and I completely agree. I think the consumer wants to get, for their money, a complete experience, and then we have opportunities to provide more on top of that.”
Fans are certainly happy to get more content for games without having to pay more. It seems obvious that at some point, though, a game developer should be compensated for the extra work necessary to create additional content. Do you think Nintendo is drawing the line in the right place, both for consumers and for the profitability of their business?
