We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
WiiU

Wii U eShop Pricing, Patching in Hands of Publishers

by Andy Goergen - November 17, 2012, 7:44 pm EST
Total comments: 13 Source: IGN, http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/18/nintendos-s...

Nintendo is taking a hands-off approach toward eShop prices.

Nintendo is allowing publishers to control the prices, and sales, of Wii U eShop content. 

In an IGN interview with Frozenbyte, developer of Trine 2, marketing manager Mikael Haveri said that "[the model is] very close to what Steam and Apple are doing right now, and very indie friendly."

In addition, Haveri stated that Nintendo is allowing developers to patch their games at no additional charge.

"Simply put they've told us that there are no basic payments for each patch (which were pretty high on most platforms) and that we can update our game almost as much as we want," Haveri said. "For indie developers this is huge."

Nintendo has historically taken flack for being too controlling with the Wii Shop Channel, forcing prices publishers weren't comfortable with or not allowing sales or demos. All indications are that Nintendo seems to have taken a wildly different approach with Wii U.

Talkback

TJ SpykeNovember 17, 2012

Considering Microsoft gives just one free patch and then charges $40,000 per update, indie developers should love this (which is why Fez has a major bug that won't be fixed because developer Phil Fry refuses to pay Microsoft the $40K to issue the patch even thought the bug was his fault).

OblivionNovember 17, 2012

If they're doing this with the Wii U, why won't they do this with the 3DS?

Mop it upNovember 18, 2012

This is good news, all of the restrictions on WiiWare didn't make much sense.

shingi_70November 18, 2012

Excellent quite excellent indeed.

alegoicoeNovember 18, 2012

its always good to have indie developers by your side, kudos to nintendo.

BlackNMild2k1November 18, 2012

PC Port Haven, as requested, incoming :)

Good Job Nintendo

http://i.imgur.com/vnxod.gif

tendoboy1984November 18, 2012

How does this compare to what Sony does on PSN? Are they more hands-off than Microsoft?

MrPhishfoodNovember 18, 2012

I can see things going out of balance if indies started chaging $1 for their games.

joshnickersonNovember 18, 2012

I would imagine there's some sort of standard minimum price.

LouieturkeyNovember 19, 2012

If prices get down to $1, I may be buying a lot of games.

Mop it upNovember 19, 2012

My guess is that the minimum price is $2, but that isn't much different from having $1 games.

Kytim89November 19, 2012

Does anyone think that game companies like Activision or Ubisoft would eventually discount the prices of games like Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Ops 2?

TJ SpykeNovember 19, 2012

Quote from: Kytim89

Does anyone think that game companies like Activision or Ubisoft would eventually discount the prices of games like Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Ops 2?

They rarely do on XBLA and PSN.

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement