Topic: Reggie: If You Don't Want People Trading In Games, Then Make Better Games

[bluelander]

The NOA President seems comfortable with having the least restrictive used game policy, and doesn't see Nintendo stopping physical sales of games any time soon.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/34636

Reggie Fils-Aime told Polygon in a recent interview that the best way to deal with issues concerning the used games market is simply to "ensure their games are so good that people don't want to trade them in." He cites the "super strong" replayability of Nintendo games as the reason that the company remains much less impacted by the used games market than games that "are annualized candidly," or "games that are maybe undifferentiated."

The topic of used game sales is making the rounds in industry circles due to the fact that when consumers trade a used game back to a store and another consumer buys that copy instead of a new one, the game's makers receive no direct benefit from the second "used game" sale.

When asked if Nintendo would ever consider folding to publisher pressure by placing restrictions on used games (akin to what Sony, and to a larger extent, Microsoft, are enacting) Fils-Aime said that "it seems to me that every major publisher has come and said 'we don't mind used games.'" He went on to say that he's unsure of how much the ability to play used games will influence a consumer's choice, but that his current thinking on the subject was simply "to give the consumers a great gameplay experience."

Reggie also talked about how he doesn't see Nintendo stopping selling physical boxed copies of games at retailers, despite the company's major steps into selling their games digitally as well. Digital downloads of games on Nintendo systems like the 3DS or Wii U by their nature cannot be resold or traded in, thus avoiding the used-game issue entirely. However, Reggie further explained how they were going to continue selling physical copies of games because "retail is a key part of our overall business. Retailers play a huge role in driving awareness."

"We couldn't do a program like what we are doing with Best Buy without the power of retail and letting consumers play four games that haven't been released yet," he pointed out, "we see a very strong role for physical product in the near-term."

[the asylum]

Somehow, studios got by just fine without DRM in the old days.

Used game DRM is a shameless cash-grab, and nothing more.

[NWR_insanolord]

Budgets were smaller and prices didn't drop as quickly. Not defending the practice, but this is a very different industry from the one in the old days.

[marty]

This is almost word for word what I wrote about CliffyB's tantrum about used games.  Good on Ninty for not being dumb.

[AnGer]

What the man says.

In addition to that, my personal impression is that parts of the used games market have been somewhat "perverted". My usual games shop takes any game from since the dawn of video games... Gamestop on the other hand refuses anything older than this generation. Which kind of defies one of the merits the used game market has.

@NWR_insanolord: Prices drop quickly on products that don't sell because retailers want to get rid of them. Games that sell aren't marked down that quickly.

[shingi_70]

something something Wii U not selling.


I'd disagree i've traded in a ton of good games before and the only time I haven;t is due to a great mulitplayer mode or If i bought it through a digital storefront.

[UncleBob]

Also not defending, but back in ye olden days, games were virtually impossible to copy (carts, like NES, Genesis), not cost effective (CD writable  drives used to cost well into $1,000+) and distribution relied on who you knew and a physical delivery method.  Now, I could take a game, copy it, and distibute it to thousands of people in a matter of minutes.

You didn't need DRM  back then - the barriers preventing piracry were enough to stop most folks.

[Oblivion]

SHOTS FIRED, SHOT FIRED

[broodwars]

Nintendo could learn from their own advice. I think I've traded nearly my entire 1st party Wii Collection in at some point or another, save Metroid Prime Trilogy; Donkey Kong Country Returns; and Xenoblade. : : :

While I agree with Reggie's sentiment, that just seems like an exceptionally easy answer from a company that rarely takes risks and focuses on titles that lean heavily on nostalgia.

[Oblivion]

I've noticed something in the past few days. Long time Nintendo fans seem to be the one fed with with Nintendo at this point, and those that only play the occasional first party game every genenration seem to be pretty excited by what they have coming up. For example, when this news was posted on Reddit's subreddit /r/gaming, instead of them bitching about Nintendo going third party only, etc., they were actually nodding their imaginary heads and agreeing with Reggie.

[broodwars]

I've noticed something in the past few days. Long time Nintendo fans seem to be the one fed with with Nintendo at this point, and those that only play the occasional first party game every genenration seem to be pretty excited by what they have coming up. For example, when this news was posted on Reddit's subreddit /r/gaming, instead of them bitching about Nintendo going third party only, etc., they were actually nodding their imaginary heads and agreeing with Reggie.

You only just noticed this?  :

[Oblivion]

Well, yeah. If you went back in time into last week, the roles were reversed. Nintendo fanboys were singing their praises, while the rest of the online gaming community were saying that Nintendo was dead.

[TeaHee]

I just spent hours fighting with the DRM on my computer and digital movie downloads.  Three service reps later I still can't get the movies to download.  Guess what my stance is on DRM.  Not for piracy, but making legitimate purchases so hard to use is ridiculous.

[azeke]

You can't really compare Nintendo to other publishers because they have how should i say it -- very unique pricing scheme when seven year old games are still sold for 100% of the day one price.

[Ian Sane]

My first thought was "Nintendo probably lacks the online experience to even make a console with the Xbox One's DRM".  Whatever, I'm glad they're not into that.

I've noticed something in the past few days. Long time Nintendo fans seem to be the one fed with with Nintendo at this point, and those that only play the occasional first party game every genenration seem to be pretty excited by what they have coming up.

Makes perfect sense.  My beef is mostly that all this is just so unoriginal and stale.  The longer someone has been a Nintendo fan the more familiar they will be with Nintendo's tropes and cliches and thus the less interesting the same old stuff will be.

[leahsdad]

You can't really compare Nintendo to other publishers because they have how should i say it -- very unique pricing scheme when seven year old games are still sold for 100% of the day one price.

Is it an intentional scheme, or market pressures?  You're right about some 1st party games....New Super Mario Brothers Wii still goes for $49.99, and the Gamestop price for a used copy is, if you can believe it, $44.99.   RIGHT NOW.

But at the same time, how many times have you seen new copies of Other M floated around for $5 to $10?   

And on the cartridge front, compare Pokemon Diamond, which is selling for $29.99 USED on Gamestop, to let's say Advance Wars Dual Strike, which is going for $9.99 used.

[Mop it up]

It'd still be nice if their digital side were a little less restrictive, but I'd rather have that than ridiculous restrictions on retail games.

[TrueNerd]

Anecdotally speaking, he's right. I never trade in Nintendo games while a lot of other games seem pretty expendable. I did trade in Twilight Princess but then I bought it again when it went Players Choice.

[jarodea]

3rd Parties: "Easy for you to say Nintendo."
Nintendo: "Yes, that's why we said it."

[nickmitch]

It's like how a Mario Kart: Double Dash!! LAN party sounds like a great idea. A similar set up with a PS2 FPS would be terrible. Though you'd probably find people willing to do that with Halo on Xbox, you certainly would not with COD.