Revolution games to be cheap - Iwata

Wii News | Nintendo head plays down prospect of advertising in Rev games.

We've already heard assurances from some of Nintendo's top brass that the Revolution will represent good value for money, and now company president Satoru Iwata has promised that the games will be similarly affordable.

In an article posted on CNNMoney.com, Iwata reportedly said that he "cannot imagine any first party title could be priced for more than $50 ($71AU, £29 or €42)." It's a bold statement from the Nintendo head, especially in light of the Australian Xbox 360 launch of a week ago, where new games typically went for upwards of $100AU, though whether such good value will extend to PAL regions is another matter entirely. "In the US, we're going to see the next generation cost an awful lot," continued Iwata. "I really don't think that there's going to be a lot of acceptance by current customers of the $60 price tag. They may allow that for a limited number of premium titles, but not all."

Whilst on the subject of the Revolution, Iwata also discussed the system's storage capabilities, confirming that the console would ship with 512 MB of flash memory built in, allowing users to store games that have been downloaded from the system's "Virtual Console", the service that will allow players to download first-party games that have appeared on previous Nintendo home systems. There'll also be slots for SD memory cards, not to mention the USB ports that are built into the Revolution. We'll hear more on this at E3, promised Iwata.

Finally, Iwata spoke briefly on the new trend of including advertising in games, a topical issue after Sony announced last week that in-game advertising would play a role in PS3 games. Iwata admitted to being somewhat puzzled by this new development, arguing that players will be too preoccupied in game worlds to notice ads. "We do not deny the possibility that Nintendo will be doing something like this in the future," he said. "Personally, though, I don't really think it's going to be a significant source of revenue to our industry."

Related Content

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09 Feb, 2006 And we will listen.

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16 Comments

Suetekh

7 years ago

$71 games, I will belielive it when I see it. Considering new GBA games are selling for almost that still I find it hard to believe that the Revolutions games will be anywhere near it.

Sin Ogaris

7 years ago

They'll be the same price as GC games, for some reason importers are still in the mindset that 50 cents US = 1 Aussie dollar (hence $60 XBox games costing $120 down here).

k1dcharm

7 years ago

I think the game will be cheaper to develope, but will Nintendo sell them for cheaper price? I doubt it... just look at GBA/DS titles, where are the platium/classic series?

Nev

7 years ago

k1dcharm wrote

I think the game will be cheaper to develope, but will Nintendo sell them for cheaper price? I doubt it... just look at GBA/DS titles, where are the platium/classic series?

GBA and DS games are a bit different, as the cost of manufacturing the cartridges is pretty hefty compared to CD's and DVD's. Which is why, instead of cheap games, you get two games bundled on one cartridge.

Let's just assume the cost of a DS card is, say, $20. So if you spend $1,000,000 making the game, and you want to make 50,000 copies, that's another $1,000,000. As opposed to DVD's, where if each disc cost you $1, that's only $50,000. Don't quote me on those figures, it's just an example.

It's true that we in Australia get ripped off when it comes to games. Using the exchange rate and adding GST, these new $120 games should really be just under the $100 mark, whilst games that retail for $100 should be under $90. Personally I find it hard to justify laying out that kind of cash. Even for an awesome killer app title I don't think I could pay over $100... it's like some kind of mental barrier.

Still, we're not as hard up as the kiwis. I was over there visiting family not long ago, and Toyworld was trying to sell Crazy Taxi on the GameCube for $120..

A port of a 6 year old Dreamcast game, for $120..... My sister wanted to get me a GameCube game for Christmas, and almost every store she went to said "What's a GameCube?" In NZ, they're as common as the plague, and about half as popular.

As for Revolution games, I think they'll go for the prices we're used to... but development costs won't factor into it too much. Nintendo is keeping development costs down to entice third parties to develop original games for the black sheep of the next generation consoles, not to give us consumers a break in the wallet.

Jim Dash

7 years ago

$70 sounds good, and much mre realistic to me. I'd be happy with that.

Spanca

7 years ago

How is this cheap? Games have always gone for a RRP of US$50, with only a few 360 games bucking the trend and going for $60. Just because it translates to AU$71 doesn't mean we'll pay that. Our RRP will still be $100 no doubt, as that's what it's always been when US games were $50. As if Nintendo Australia could do something competent!

VOOK

7 years ago

As long as it does'nt go over 99 bucks Im happy, anything less is a bonus.

arbok

7 years ago

i highly doubt they will be $71 - this isnt really a news story for Australians. Currently Americans pay $50 per game, and we will continue to pay $100 a game.

im really keen on downloading old nintendo games though because i only ever had the NES and i sold it, and i missed out on the SNES and N64!

Chris-Leigh

7 years ago

'This isnt really a news story for Australians.'

Yes it is - many Australians import, and this news will have an impact upon them.

ZNMS

7 years ago

Whilst on the subject of the Revolution, Iwata also discussed the system's storage capabilities, confirming that the console would ship with 512 MB of flash memory.

Does that mean no more memory cards or does a memory card come with the console?

Chris-Leigh

7 years ago

'Does that mean no more memory cards or does a memory card come with the console?'

It's built in to the console.

VOOK

7 years ago

And can be expanded with a SD card, or a USB Drive

Jellyfish

7 years ago

And don't forget possibly a 500 GB USB HDD

(take that Sony)! That'd be all or almost all of Nintendo's back catalogue for you play whenever.

InvivnI

7 years ago

Hmmm... after all these great sounding things I have heard coming to the Revo maybe I should get one of them next generation. Cheaper Games + Retro N64 (the generation I missed) and SNES (I had to give mine away) games sounds like a great deal. I might get a Revo first then buy a PS3 when the prices fall a bit. The GC never appealed to me, but the Revo definately does.

tbenton

7 years ago

Stupid importers, is there a perfectly logical reason that australians pay so much for video games? We should be paying $70AUD for every GCN game and $50 for GBA/DS. Is there any reason, beyond greed, of course, that we pay so much?

plufim

7 years ago

tbenton wrote

Shipping. But mostly greed.

And the fact that $100 was set way back in the 80s when our dollar was shot to pieces. They just realised that the RRP for a new game can stay that high and we'll continue to pay it - and that is all 3 companies, of course, not just nintendo.

I'd love to see nintendo australia stop screwing us around and set a damned precedent, we don't deserve this kind of shabby treatment.

Actually, would that make a good article? Why are games still $100? Get responses from sony, microsoft and nintendo for their justifications, and so on.

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