14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo has confirmed that it would start selling certain games for its 3DS handheld console via the platform’s eShop online store, and that the first full game to be available digitally would be New Super Mario Bros. 2.
Nintendo hasn’t exactly been going through the best of times recently, as for the first time in its history, the Japanese company reported its first yearly loss in terms of income, owed largely to the drastic price cut made to the 3DS console last year.
Now, the company is sharing with fans and investors the strategy it has to get back on its feet and once again make lots of profit, which focuses on digital distribution and online networks.
First up, the company will continue to expand the Nintendo 3DS’ eShop online store and, starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2 this August, it will start offering full game downloads.
According to the company’s President, Satoru Iwata, quite a lot of 3DS games offer special features when you carry them around in your portable console, so downloading them onto the device’s SD card would provide easier access to these rewards.
“Nintendo publishes various titles that enable you to enjoy daily communication, such as 'Nintendogs,' 'Animal Crossing' and 'Tomodachi Collection,' with which you might like to practice every day. It must be easier for the Nintendo 3DS owners to feel the merit of being able to carry around only the Nintendo 3DS system with, in particular, these kinds of software titles stored inside," Iwata said.
Nintendo isn’t planning on abandoning its retail partners, however, as the full game downloads can be purchased either straight through the eShop or through retail stores where they’ll be sold in the form of vouchers.
The company is also ready to start promoting this new strategy to fans who might not be aware that they’ll soon be able to download full games onto their 3DS console.
"Furthermore," he said, "we recognize that one of the biggest hurdles for the expansion of our digital business is the limited methods to expose digitally downloadable products to potential consumers. This recognition is one of the reasons why we are taking this sort of approach."
New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be the first digital 3DS title, but you can expect many more to join it starting in August.