Miyamoto: Digital Distribution Not the Future
Nintendo's resident genius thinks that people still want the hard stuff
Shigeru Miyamoto
Speaking to The Mercury News, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't quite written digital distribution off, but he was somewhat sceptical about its all conquering nature, "The thing for us is we really don't see the future of video games being merely confined to digital distribution or moving solely or even to a majority of our products being distributed that way", he said.
The old, 'people still want something to hold' line was trotted out - "Personally, I'm one of those guys who, even if I have all the songs from iTunes, I want the CD as well. It's something that makes me — I feel more reassured with that physical media", Miyamoto said.
He also made a statement that might ring true for an employee of a platform holder, but would no doubt garner some puzzled head scratching in other quarters. "As a developer, it's not changing how much money you're bringing in; it really doesn't change what we're focused on."
Martyn Brown, head of Worms and Alien Breed developer and now all-digital self publisher
Team17, recently told SPOnG, "But even within 25% of retail price we still make double what we did on retail games. So, we like to think of it as win-win. The consumers are getting great value games, and we're not getting shafted."
Shiggy did grant that, "However, I think it creates a lot of opportunity for a lot of different developers." Still, you have to look at the Wii's lack of serious hard disk space and wonder if maybe a Nintendo man has a vested interest in poo-pooing the notion of digital distribution...
The old, 'people still want something to hold' line was trotted out - "Personally, I'm one of those guys who, even if I have all the songs from iTunes, I want the CD as well. It's something that makes me — I feel more reassured with that physical media", Miyamoto said.
He also made a statement that might ring true for an employee of a platform holder, but would no doubt garner some puzzled head scratching in other quarters. "As a developer, it's not changing how much money you're bringing in; it really doesn't change what we're focused on."
Martyn Brown, head of Worms and Alien Breed developer and now all-digital self publisher
Team17, recently told SPOnG, "But even within 25% of retail price we still make double what we did on retail games. So, we like to think of it as win-win. The consumers are getting great value games, and we're not getting shafted."
Shiggy did grant that, "However, I think it creates a lot of opportunity for a lot of different developers." Still, you have to look at the Wii's lack of serious hard disk space and wonder if maybe a Nintendo man has a vested interest in poo-pooing the notion of digital distribution...
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Comments
jamie 3 Aug 2009 10:46
1/9
Project Natal: it's got potential, but seriously, people will get aching arms by holding out there arms for 45 minutes playing a racing game. At least with sixaxis or the wiimote you actually have buttons for stuff as well as motion control. I want to know how you would actually brake, use turbo, look behind, etc etc in a racing game with natal. And what about FPS?
Developers won't take this seriously for a long time. The controller will be primary for the 360, but (as a PS3 owner) it will be interesting to see how Natal plays out. Heck, if it's good I'll get a 360. I think Sony has an ok concept with it's magic wand. Not too ambitious, so I would expect good games for it to start with, and then Natal will take over. I hate it's coloured ball at the top though. Would be good if Sony didn't get a sex toy maker in again to do their final design for it.
Developers won't take this seriously for a long time. The controller will be primary for the 360, but (as a PS3 owner) it will be interesting to see how Natal plays out. Heck, if it's good I'll get a 360. I think Sony has an ok concept with it's magic wand. Not too ambitious, so I would expect good games for it to start with, and then Natal will take over. I hate it's coloured ball at the top though. Would be good if Sony didn't get a sex toy maker in again to do their final design for it.
jamie 3 Aug 2009 10:47
2/9
Sorry, it posted on wrong page. Didn't do validation code and then read this article.
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Joji 3 Aug 2009 12:09
3/9
Lol, Jamie, we forgive you.
Back on topic. Well, I'm amazed that Miyamoto actually agress with me, I have had the same view for a long time. DLC and physical must co-exist and bring options to whoever decides to use whichever. It can be easy for industry big wigs to push the DLC bandwagon, but have they really asked the customers what they want? Not really, and that can be a problem.
Now, while I agree, that Miyamoto might have an interest in downplaying DLC, due to the Wii's lack of a hard drive, this is kind of shot down, by the fact that the 32gb SD card is now available for Wii, (something I've yet to see any developers exploit, or Nintendo promote, shades of N64 64mb expansion, wave your flag), and I firmly believe that even though Nintendo won't have a new home console for a while, that their next one will include a hard drive, either in flash or optical. After GC and Wii not having one, they'd be dumb to skip it a third time, but you never know with Nintendo (...watch out for that banana skin....Donkey Kong.)
Remember, they fear the online ventures of Live and PSN, but are slowly adjusting and getting comfortable with Wii and DS/DSi online functions.
As for Team 17, I think the DLC route is a better way to go, if you are a small developer like them. Hell, I'm actually surprised Team 17 still exist, kudos to them. This is why, Iphone is such a hit with aps, because you can be that one/two man bastion of creativity, produce something cool for iPhone and reap the rewards, bypassing the packing, shipping costs etc.
Back on topic. Well, I'm amazed that Miyamoto actually agress with me, I have had the same view for a long time. DLC and physical must co-exist and bring options to whoever decides to use whichever. It can be easy for industry big wigs to push the DLC bandwagon, but have they really asked the customers what they want? Not really, and that can be a problem.
Now, while I agree, that Miyamoto might have an interest in downplaying DLC, due to the Wii's lack of a hard drive, this is kind of shot down, by the fact that the 32gb SD card is now available for Wii, (something I've yet to see any developers exploit, or Nintendo promote, shades of N64 64mb expansion, wave your flag), and I firmly believe that even though Nintendo won't have a new home console for a while, that their next one will include a hard drive, either in flash or optical. After GC and Wii not having one, they'd be dumb to skip it a third time, but you never know with Nintendo (...watch out for that banana skin....Donkey Kong.)
Remember, they fear the online ventures of Live and PSN, but are slowly adjusting and getting comfortable with Wii and DS/DSi online functions.
As for Team 17, I think the DLC route is a better way to go, if you are a small developer like them. Hell, I'm actually surprised Team 17 still exist, kudos to them. This is why, Iphone is such a hit with aps, because you can be that one/two man bastion of creativity, produce something cool for iPhone and reap the rewards, bypassing the packing, shipping costs etc.
james 3 Aug 2009 12:27
4/9
wow, how behind the times. yes physical media is all nice and shiny I like reading a good manual, but who makes those anymore? The only physical media I buy these days are collectors editions, - when the actually have something of worth in them, not most of todays metal box CEs which, well really only have a metal box and thats it.
I think the nail was hit on the head - nintendo has no storage so they will push dvds. Its inane, and goes hand in hand with the lack of a capable graphics chip. The Wii is, unfortuantely a very half baked console. Why do we need to buy an expensive controller addon just to make the stupid thing do what it was sold as doing?!
Digital media benefits the producers, im all for it.
I think the nail was hit on the head - nintendo has no storage so they will push dvds. Its inane, and goes hand in hand with the lack of a capable graphics chip. The Wii is, unfortuantely a very half baked console. Why do we need to buy an expensive controller addon just to make the stupid thing do what it was sold as doing?!
Digital media benefits the producers, im all for it.
DrkStr 3 Aug 2009 12:40
5/9
I never thought i'd say this, but shigsy is an idiot on this one! Just cos he's not happy with all digital games, doesn't mean that the rest of us want tto pay for shipping and warehousing and packaging. Digital distribution isn't "coming soon" it's here, iTunes and iPhone app store prove that. Download speeds will get better and games will be a sensible download time.
How many games has sold on virtual console shigsy? do you want to give that money back and stop all downloads?
How many games has sold on virtual console shigsy? do you want to give that money back and stop all downloads?
Joji 3 Aug 2009 12:59
6/9
That's true, Nintendo have made some nice bank on WVC games. If they had expanded this out to include GB/GBC/GBA games, and they'd be less likely to say this, and be rolling in much more bank.
I can almost picture it. Deep beneath NoJ HQ, they have their own Mc' Duck style money bin, and frequently dive into it for fun. Reggie is always jumping in the deep end, while the water jumps out, when he visits. Lol.
Sure DLC is already here with iTunes/iPod, but even with those, you are offered a alternative form of payment, via physical iTunes cards, and stores still sell CDs, which have been around since the 70's. I think that if Nintendo were as tech and net savvy as MS and gamers, they'd see the big picture and think differently.
I'd support DLC more, if I was able to get a physical copy bought or ordered too.
I can almost picture it. Deep beneath NoJ HQ, they have their own Mc' Duck style money bin, and frequently dive into it for fun. Reggie is always jumping in the deep end, while the water jumps out, when he visits. Lol.
Sure DLC is already here with iTunes/iPod, but even with those, you are offered a alternative form of payment, via physical iTunes cards, and stores still sell CDs, which have been around since the 70's. I think that if Nintendo were as tech and net savvy as MS and gamers, they'd see the big picture and think differently.
I'd support DLC more, if I was able to get a physical copy bought or ordered too.
YenRug 3 Aug 2009 13:48
7/9
To those calling Miyamoto an idiot, here's a question for you: whatever happened to choice? Whilst you're happy downloading anything and everything, there are some people, like myself, who prefer to have a physical item in our hands rather than relying on a server still being available to download from, sometime in the future. Where does it say you can only have one or the other? No, I'm not some luddite, seeing as I've been into videogames since the mid-70's, and I won't deny that I have some music tracks and certain games as downloads only; my preference, however, is to actually have something for my money, rather than just a tick in a box in some database, somewhere.
deleted 3 Aug 2009 15:56
8/9
@jamie
You could hold the XBOX 360 controller while holding your arms out thus giving you buttons?
You could hold the XBOX 360 controller while holding your arms out thus giving you buttons?
DrkStr 4 Aug 2009 07:31
9/9
YenRug wrote:
To those calling Miyamoto an idiot, here's a question for you: whatever happened to choice? Whilst you're happy downloading anything and everything, there are some people, like myself, who prefer to have a physical item in our hands rather than relying on a server still being available to download from, sometime in the future. Where does it say you can only have one or the other? No, I'm not some luddite, seeing as I've been into videogames since the mid-70's, and I won't deny that I have some music tracks and certain games as downloads only; my preference, however, is to actually have something for my money, rather than just a tick in a box in some database, somewhere.
Thios is what people were saying about music five years ago, now there are no independant music stores near me and hmv has more dvds and games than music.
Besides, what makes you think your choice matters? If it's cheaper for sony, ms and ninty to do digital downloads they'll do them as soon as they can. Same with EA, Acti, THQ, etc. As soon as broadband is afster to download a game than to go to the shop and buy it, shops will have no chance and you will have no choice.