Nintendo recently announced that it was exploring the free-to-play model for its console and handheld systems. It seems that we now know which of the company's IPs will be the main testbed for the grand experiment. The answer might surprise you - it's Steel Diver.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's long-time happiness manufacturer, revealed that the submarine game - originally released on 3DS at launch in 2011 - will be re-tuned and tweaked to adopt the free-to-play model in some way.
"There is something we're doing with the Steel Diver idea that I think is going to open things up with that game... It's going to be very fun," Miyamoto said to IGN. He didn't say whether the game would hit 3DS or Wii U (or both), but suggested that the game wouldn't be a simple port, due to the ways in which Nintendo is exploring the new business model.
"We're exploring from a perspective of where we can take that from a multiplayer standpoint - it's going to have this four-player battle mode that I think is going to be very interesting," he added.
Steel Diver, then. We shouldn't have been expecting Mario or Pokémon, to be fair - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata specifically ruled out "trusted" IPs for taking the free-to-play route.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's long-time happiness manufacturer, revealed that the submarine game - originally released on 3DS at launch in 2011 - will be re-tuned and tweaked to adopt the free-to-play model in some way.
"There is something we're doing with the Steel Diver idea that I think is going to open things up with that game... It's going to be very fun," Miyamoto said to IGN. He didn't say whether the game would hit 3DS or Wii U (or both), but suggested that the game wouldn't be a simple port, due to the ways in which Nintendo is exploring the new business model.
"We're exploring from a perspective of where we can take that from a multiplayer standpoint - it's going to have this four-player battle mode that I think is going to be very interesting," he added.
Steel Diver, then. We shouldn't have been expecting Mario or Pokémon, to be fair - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata specifically ruled out "trusted" IPs for taking the free-to-play route.
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