Will the banana be DLC?

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is reportedly toying with the free-to-play model for his company, according to an interview with Japanese newspaper Nikkei (which has been translated by NeoGAF, along with several other topics of discussion.) Iwata said in the interview that established franchises won’t be touched by free-to-play, such as Super Mario Bros., but believes such a model would be foolish to not take advantage of.

According to Iwata, “For new titles with no established base, if, in the process of development, we found it to suit the free-to-play model, we might follow that route, or we might do something like ‘cheap-to-play.’ Our sales methods have been freed up and I have no desire to extinguish that freedom. If we were to release something like that, it is not a betrayal but the birth of an interesting idea through our new found freedom, that’s all. I am not talking about changing how we sell Mario or Pokémon.”

Iwata is crystal clear regarding Nintendo’s stance as a company regarding free-to-play if they did decide to follow this model. And even then its not guaranteed. Still, knowing Nintendo is like any other gaming company out there, chances are we shall see a few free-to-play styled titles from Nintendo some time soon. The question then is which franchise will be the one that opens the floodgates?

Source: Eurogamer

Robert G.

All around gamer, teacher, historian and writer, making his home at Blistered Thumbs.

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