Topic: Nintendo may charge for online?

[Plugabugz]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a218811/nintendo-to-charge-for-online-gaming.html

Miyamoto confessed that Nintendo is desperate to realise its "core   [online] business structure".

Personally... the door to start charging has long gone and the system is too fragmented.

[Mop it up]

The only way they could get away with that is if the online offering is far more feature-full than what they currently offer. Few people would pay for the restrictive online play the Wii currently has.

[BeautifulShy]

I'm just going to say this. I don't really care for paying for online. It is like you have to pay to get a portion of a game that I already bought. I'm not a fan of charging for online.

[Halbred]

Nintendo games can be played online?

[Crimm]

Am I the only person who saw "onrine" in the subject and was ready to funhaus this thread?

[Caterkiller]

I'm kind of torn... I would like to have a full fledged online experience, but how much would I really be using it? Brawl is the only game where I was online 24/7 trying to play people. And what hassle it is to get in some chat room trade numbers, get back to my wii and insert everything there.  I might be willing to pay just to get passed all that, might.

If an awesome multiplayer Star Fox came around with some great online interface that had me pay, I think I would do it.

[Mop it up]

Am I the only person who saw "onrine" in the subject and was ready to funhaus this thread?

I saw it. If I had the ability, I'd have moved it meself.

[vudu]

Am I the only person who saw "onrine" in the subject and was ready to funhaus this thread?

No, but unlike you I actually did something about it.

[Ian Sane]

I've never really used online play on my Wii much because not enough of my friends have Wiis.  To me it's just to play with my friends remotely when one can't all play in the same house.  I don't care to play with strangers.  I have one friend with a Wii that I could play such games with but I don't feel Nintendo has provided something really substancial for only two players.  Co-op would work best for that.  Most of Nintendo's online games are four-player free-for-alls.  I go online to buy WiiWare or VC titles though, but I highly doubt Nintendo would charge for that.

No one is going to pay for Nintendo's online.  No one.  It's just isn't good enough.  It's okayish for a free service but no one would pay for it.  If Nintendo wants to charge online not only do they need to beef up their online service but their game selection as well.  People pay for Xbox Live because it's got the games.  It has first party and third party games and it has the sorts of games people like to play online like first person shooters.  Nintendo has Mario Kart and Smash Bros and **** third party support.  And pay-for-online is a hardcore gamers thing.  Grandma isn't going to pay to play Wii Sports online.  No one is.  It's got to be core gamer stuff.

So Nintendo has to rehaul their online service, develop more core games including the types of mature violent games they don't like making and they absolutely HAVE to improve their third party support.  They don't need a new console, they need a new image and a new focus.  Pay-for-online will never fly with a casual non-gamer focused glorified last gen console provided by a company that until now has been clueless about online gaming and third party support.

Just thinking about how much Nintendo would have to change to even have a chance of making any money with such a model is overwhelming.

[TJ Spyke]

I'm just going to say this. I don't really care for paying for online. It is like you have to pay to get a portion of a game that I already bought. I'm not a fan of charging for online.

Please tell me you don't play MMO's then (unless they are the free ones). With MMO's you have to pay just to play a game you already own, with other games you might pay just for part of it.

Also, the article does say that Miyamoto said "or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value?" That is what a lot of Korean games do, they let you play the game for free and make money by selling extra stuff (like better equipment).

If Nintendo did start charging, I think they would wait for their new systems to launch.

[BeautifulShy]

I'm just going to say this. I don't really care for paying for online. It is like you have to pay to get a portion of a game that I already bought. I'm not a fan of charging for online.

Please tell me you don't play MMO's then (unless they are the free ones). With MMO's you have to pay just to play a game you already own, with other games you might pay just for part of it.

Also, the article does say that Miyamoto said "or give an online subscription that is free of charge, but then offer something extra for people that pay, so that they get some extra value?" That is what a lot of Korean games do, they let you play the game for free and make money by selling extra stuff (like better equipment).

If Nintendo did start charging, I think they would wait for their new systems to launch.

Don't play MMOs. Cost to much for me and they tend to be addicting from what I have heard.
Yeah this seems like something we don't need to worry about now as far as fees online from Nintendo.

[Ymeegod]

Paying isn't a bad idea as long as they match MS service.

Mario Kart with editor= Gold

[Chozo Ghost]

I don't think the Wii has sufficient RAM to offer the sort of online experience people would be willing to pay money for. Maybe the Wii's successor can pull it off, but as it is I can't really see it.

[Adrock]

I don't think the Wii has sufficient RAM to offer the sort of online experience people would be willing to pay money for. Maybe the Wii's successor can pull it off, but as it is I can't really see it.

Not sure that's a problem. Xbox Live worked perfectly well on the original Xbox and I believe it has less RAM than the Wii. In any case, I don't think Miyamoto's comments are meant for the Wii. It's a little late to salvage that train wreck. I don't think I've really played that many games online on any console anyway so while I'm not a fan of charging for a subscription service of sorts, it wouldn't really affect me. Still, Sony has a pretty decent online service and that's free so I'm having a hard time believing Nintendo couldn't come up with something similar, especially considering they don't sell their consoles at a loss or even break even, they rarely lower the price of their games (Twilight Princess is still $50 as far as I know) and they make most of their money publishing titles. Does Nintendo really need to be charging or are they just pushing their profit margins? As a business, I guess you can't really blame them, especially if people are willing to pay it. I, however, support consumerism so I prefer to save money.

If they do end up charging, they could sweeten the deal. Xbox Live is $50 for a year which is less than $10 a month so charging even less than that would be nice as well as including Netflix streaming if they could pull that off.

[Chozo Ghost]

I just think it would fail because the xbox is already the "1337" online gamer system which people will pay for if they want the "best" online experience. Nintendo would have to compete with that, and I don't think it would be very successful. I think Nintendo is better off maintaining itself as the free low-end online experience just like Sony is doing.

[KDR_11k]

I think they're probably thinking about MMOs more than XBL-style crap.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I think we should look at what Nintendo could be offering here vs what is potentially on the table.

Xbox Live is probably the model they are looking to copyreinvent and XBL currently cost $50 a year which breaks down into  roughly $4.17 a month. I figure if Nintendo adds a tiered Live like service but for $25-$30 a year (~$2.08-$2.50 a month) and keep current owner/online ratio* intact, they could have a very profitable online setup that be self sufficient on it's own without draining any resources from other things like games or system sales.

*

A new survey shows that the PS3 has the highest percent of connected users, but a little digging shows the real truth.

A new survey from The Diffusion Group shows that Sony’s Playstation 3 is the most connected of the 3 major consoles, with 78% of all the consoles connected to the internet.  Oddly, that still puts them in third place for number of people online.

Sales figures show that the Playstation 3 has sold over 33 million units worldwide, while Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has sold over 39 million.  Nintendo’s Wii continues to have a huge lead, selling over 69 million- which means that with 54 percent of Wii users online, Nintendo has more online users than Sony has consoles on the market.

source: www.digitaltrends.com

So what does XBL actually offer?

I don't have an Xbox360 so I could say first hand, but to borrow from another source

XBox Live Silver: (Free)
- Gamertag (name, score, etc.)
- Access to demos (delayed), videos, patches, marketplace

XBox Live Gold: (VAS)
- Multiplayer support for games
- Gold services like Facebook, Netflix, etc.

Now what could Nintendo do that is similar only better and fits more into the Nintendo Way?

WiiConnect24: (Free)
- Gamertag (name, score, etc.)
- Access to demos, videos, patches, marketplace
- Multiplayer support for games
- Access to extras like Netflix & Internet browser

Platinum Pass: (VAS)
- Free access to Club Nintendo Platinum Members
- Online Access to Nintendo Magazine
- Participation in online Nintendo sponsored tournaments (w/ prizes)
- Free/Discounted in-game goodies
- $10 credit towards WiiShop purchases
- System wide voice chat (independent of in-game usage)
- Universal Gamer code (no individual per game friend codes)


So let's pretend that the above is likely to happen, how would you want Nintendo to structure it?
What would it take for you to pay $25-$30 a year for Nintendo Online?

[KDR_11k]

Stuff like a single friendcode would just piss people off if it was pay-only. We grudgingly accept the current model because we think that the system is just shoddy and can't do better, if they turn it into a deliberate crippling method that we need to pay to get around there will be no more excuse.

[Mop it up]

Mario Kart with editor= Gold

I don't know if there is a track editor, but there are some fan-made tracks out there available for download.

[Dirk Temporo]

WiiConnect24: (Free)
- Multiplayer support for games

Except if it's still free, it's going to be **** just like it is now. The only reason to pay for online is to improve the multiplayer component, and a "universal gamer code" is not going to cut it. They have to completely revamp everything about the multiplayer section.

[stevey]

Nintendo online model is perfect right now and we will not get anything better by paying for it.

Do we really want this
Mario galaxy 3: $50
unlock Luigi: 10 wii points
unlock the final level: 15 wii points
start a new play through: 20 wii points

[Dirk Temporo]

Nintendo online mode is perfect

That would be funny if I didn't have an unsettling feeling that you were being serious.

[ThePerm]

Stuff like a single friendcode would just piss people off if it was pay-only. We grudgingly accept the current model because we think that the system is just shoddy and can't do better, if they turn it into a deliberate crippling method that we need to pay to get around there will be no more excuse.

the friend codes aren't shoddy because Nintendo is making a shoddy system, its because they are trying to make a system that prevents child predators and thus shields them from litigation. Although M rated game shouldn't have this because buying an M rated game means your an adult, but of course parents buy their kids M rated games anyways.

[BranDonk Kong]

Wii's online *COUGH* FRIEND CODE FOR (almostt) EVERY GAME *COUGH* just isn't worth paying for. Not even if it was $1 a year. If they ditched friend codes, and realized that GamerTags are the same thing, but more convenient, and people don't want to exchange codes with every person every time they buy a new game...then they could make something nice.

[Chozo Ghost]

Everyone hates Friend Codes. Maybe Nintendo could use lack of friend codes as an incentive to use their premium online service. Let's say you have the basic free online service that costs nothing, but uses Friend codes (much like now), but then ontop of that Nintendo also offered a premium gold online service thing that you had to pay for, but the huge draw for that is no friend codes.