Iwata talks game pricing

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has taken a pop at publishers for the way they price their games, criticising the current system where retailers cut the price of titles soon after they launch.

Speaking during a corporate management briefing, Iwata said: "We believe that each software should have its own price point depending on its volume, theme, contents or energies and time spent for the development, namely, the development costs.

"Once the suggested retail price is announced, we should stick to it," he added.

At the moment, publishers aren't keen to release games with lower price points, since they're worried retailers and gamers will assume they're of a lower quality.

Advertisement
But Iwata believes this does more harm than good: "If the suggested retail price of any and all software is marked down in 6 months or 9 months, the customers will learn the cycle and wait for the discounting," he explained, "Which will simply aggravate the decreasing sales of new software."

Read Full Story >>
eurogamer.net
90°

World of Warcraft developers form wall-to-wall union at Blizzard Entertainment

The new unit comprises over 500 developers representing the entire World of Warcraft development team.

Read Full Story >>
gamedeveloper.com
2d ago
XiNatsuDragnel1d 18h ago

Unions in gaming are necessary fr fr

montebristo1d 6h ago

I used to be anti-union, it kills productivity, investment and turns product mediocre. Their games suck anyways though so what was lost? Might as well get their people paid until they are dissolved.

shinoff21831d 6h ago

Unions are necessary regardless of how you feel. You know how fked the working class would be without them. As if we're not already.

montebristo1d 5h ago

No they aren’t, regardless of how you feel. Unions make zero sense for skill based labor. They are for people who press a button every 10 seconds on an assembly line. “working class” is a made up term. I don’t care about corporations or developers, I just want good games lol. Killing your incentives to appease the lowest common denominator doesn’t lead to great games imo

montebristo23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

I wasn’t trying to be offensive if I came off that way. The Union is an old mentality and I can see their usefulness but also the danger. We’re in the age of AI and robots and skill based labor. Unions can be dangerous these days. You could replace your entire workforce in one move. Checkmate. Look to the kiosk replacing workers in the 20 dollar minimum wage era.

Well run businesses don’t need unions. If you need a Union that business won’t survive anyway. Unless it’s propped up by the government with corporate welfare (which is the real issue). If you’re not going to spend some on your workers (Amazon, Google) then your welfare is cut off. No tax breaks. All you put together don’t match their wealth and resources, the union is a traditional memory at this point and counterproductive with this new enemy we face. They need a flying elbow from the top ropes. And by “working class is a made up term” I just mean we’re not a class system and even CEO Bobby Kotick puts in a days work lol. Or did.. It’s just a vague term that doesn’t mean anything no offense lol. People say “middle class” but that can change quick right? Up or down. That’s not a “class system”.

90°

The Industry Needs To Modernize These 6 Fantastic Classics

The Simpsons: Hit and Run, The Legend of Dragoon, and Chrono Trigger would benefit substantially from a modern remake.

Knightofelemia1d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

The Xenosaga trilogy, the Wild Arms games, Xenogears, Parasite Eve, Dino Crisis, Suikoden. The Warriors game I know nothing about but it looks interesting. Anybody can do a list of games they want to see get modernized I would lose my shit if Namco brought the Xenosaga trilogy to modern consoles.

80°

The 'Kawaii' Is A Nintendo Wii The Size Of A Keychain

Modders have cooked up something pretty special – a Wii console which is small enough to fit on your keys. A wee Wii.

Read Full Story >>
timeextension.com