On a Q&A on the Nintendo of Japan website, President Satoru Iwata has announced that the company will kindly avoid charging customers for DLC for upcoming 3DS title Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Tom Nook would surely be in shock right now.
As fans will know, the series is centred around acquiring objects - furniture, fish, bugs, fossils, you name it. So its surprising that expansions that increase the number of these items won’t be charged for.
Iwata explains:
“…However, we do not intend to make downloadable or add-on content available for every type of game. We would like to supply consumers with only add-on or downloadable content which they are happy to pay for as compensation for creative work. For example, some might say that it would be unbelievably profitable to provide paid add-on content for “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” but we were concerned that a game in which you enjoy yourself more by the power of money would not be suitable, and we decided to avoid such a feature after an intensive discussion with the development team.
While they may be missing out on potentially gaining more profit (since there would definitely be players that are willing to pay), it’s awesome that Nintendo won’t be exploiting the game’s nature in that way. With continuous free content, I could see myself being hooked on playing the game more than any other in the series!
But the New Super Mario Bros. 2 DLC does require a monetary transaction in order to play it. So what gives?
On the other hand, we are selling sets of new courses for “New Super Mario Bros. 2″ by download and obtaining a very good response from those who have actually bought and played them. We see vast potential in this sort of add-on content. In short, we would like to find the type of add-on content consumers will find enjoyable in each game. We intend to basically create add-on content with which we will be able to make long-term relationships with our consumers.”
Makes sense to me. This is why Nintendo are top of their game and what differentiates them from other developers in this industry – they care about the gameplay experience for their players and will not risk that by taking every chance they get to squeeze more money out of their customers. Kudos.
Before details of the game had surfaced, admittedly I initially lacked enthusiasm for Animal Crossing: New Leaf. That’s because the prior Wii instalment did little to evolve the franchise. Of course, Nintendo have proved me wrong and surprised me over and over with announcements, but what does Iwata have to say to naysayers who accuse Nintendo of lacking in innovation?
“…One thing I would like to add, though, is that it might be true that Mario and Pokémon are franchises with long histories and tradition behind them, but we are trying to push the boundaries every time we develop a series title. In other words, the reason Pokémon has been continuously popular for about 15 years and Mario for almost 30 years now is that each sequel has something novel. So I frankly think that those who assume that Nintendo lacks innovation might be making judgments by looking at our game titles without actually experiencing them. Without ongoing innovation, even Mario and Pokémon would have lost their popularity long before.”
So now you know about what we can expect after the game’s release, but perhaps you’re wondering what will be already in the game when you’ve bought it? Check out huge blow-out of the game’s features right here, as well as details on StreetPass mode and more here.
[Source: NintendoEverything]
