All Nintendo First-Party 3DS and Wii U Games to get Digital Release

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has announced an aggressive new move on the digital front, with the company planning to launch digital versions of future titles alongside their physical counterparts.

In a presentation for investors following the announcement on Nintendo's financial results, Iwata said, "Starting from [New Super Mario Bros. 2], the company will offer the software titles that Nintendo itself publishes in both packaged and digital download formats so that our consumers can choose the way to purchase them."

The service will also be available "from day one of the Wii U's launch".

He said that as well as giving titles a presence on the Nintendo eShop, his company would make download codes available for retailers to sell. This is because, "for the majority of our consumers, this is a familiar process as they are already accustomed to making payments at the retail outlets, and it can lower their psychological barrier to making online purchases."

Iwata also noted that making people aware of digital titles is a problem, and that having downloadable games be available from physical retailers would help address this problem.

There are a couple of catches for 3DS owners, however. "The digitally downloaded software will be stored in the consumer’s SD memory card and be playable only with the hardware to which it was downloaded so that, unlike how you can share the packaged software which are stored in game card format, the consumer cannot share the software with other Nintendo 3DS systems owned by other members of the family or friends."

Users will also have to have space on their SD cards, of course.

Are you likely to make the switch to digital titles for first-party Nintendo titles? Let us know on Twitter or in the forums.