Nintendo: Digital downloads actually benefit retail

[Zeus]

While all the talk may be on how the rise of digital downloads and the likes of Wii Ware will harm retail, Nintendo seems to think quite the opposite. According to Nintendo, services such as WiiWare are beneficial to retailers because it makes peoples appetites for games even bigger!

<blockquote>In an interview published today he said:
“The first is having more people being able to play games. We know from all our experience that what people enjoy on the services makes their appetites for playing games far bigger. That’s the first benefit to retail.”

Said Fischer: “The other way is that WiiWare is a laboratory. What we know is that some of the games that are – you could say ‘tested’ through this platform – they may one day get access to the normal retail channels. That’s because the developers have managed to polish their software through the WiiWare experience. That is going to provide sales.”</blockquote>

News Source: <a href="http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36124/Nintendo-WiiWare-benefits-retail" target="_Blank">MCVUK</a>

[stanleyopar2000]

ha ha..bullsht....nintendo knows this will cut out the middle man and they damn well know it...they are just feeding the retailers some bullsiht excuse to "calm them down"

[tech3475]

I bet you that the wii2 will feature a hdd and full games can be downloaded.

[QrafTee]

ha ha..bullsht....nintendo knows this will cut out the middle man and they damn well know it...they are just feeding the retailers some bullsiht excuse to "calm them down"

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I mean we all saw what happened to the PSP Go in some European retail chains.

[KingCane]

Correct me if I'm wrong but to my understanding retailers don't make ANY profit off of Game Systems. They sell them with the hopes of people buying games with them from their stores when they buy a system. So if that's the case why sell the PSP Go?

Like I said I may be wrong so don't flame me.

[Trashcat]

Because money you spend on downloads is not real and you can always afford to buy a game at retail no matter how much you "spent" on downloads, wait thats how piracy works

[RiPPn]

Correct me if I'm wrong but to my understanding retailers don't make ANY profit off of Game Systems. They sell them with the hopes of people buying games with them from their stores when they buy a system. So if that's the case why sell the PSP Go?

Like I said I may be wrong so don't flame me.

You are correct, retailers get less than 2% on a console sale, this is why you never see stores discount consoles. Same is true for Apple products. Games also have a very slim margin especially new releases. The items stores make money on are accessories and service plans, that's why retailers push them so hard. As I mentioned Apple has no margin, and the reason you know consoles will still be sold by retailers once everything is digital is because stores sell Apple products and Apple products don't have physical games to sell, just like consoles they make huge profits on the accessories and service plans. Hope that answers your question.

[tech3475]

As I mentioned Apple has no margin, and the reason you know consoles will still be sold by retailers once everything is digital is because stores sell Apple products and Apple products don't have physical games to sell, just like consoles they make huge profits on the accessories and service plans. Hope that answers your question.

Apple make allot of their profits via hardware sales, thats one reason why they are so over priced compared to most of their competition and why they dont like OSX on third party hardware.

The only exception to this is the iphone on contract but they get a cut of the contract as well.

[KingCane]

You are correct, retailers get less than 2% on a console sale, this is why you never see stores discount consoles. Same is true for Apple products. Games also have a very slim margin especially new releases. The items stores make money on are accessories and service plans, that's why retailers push them so hard. As I mentioned Apple has no margin, and the reason you know consoles will still be sold by retailers once everything is digital is because stores sell Apple products and Apple products don't have physical games to sell, just like consoles they make huge profits on the accessories and service plans. Hope that answers your question.

Thanks for clarifying that for me.

[MadonnaProject]

Well at least it took nintendo a little less than a decade to recognise the pleasures of the internet.