Nintendo Really Likes Selling DLC And That's It

Let's start with someone is going to whine that other companies do it too, that's not what I'm talking about.

Mario golf is going to launch with just about half the courses and half the golfers. I'm ok with the courses being a huge Tiger Woods fan but I don't like the characters. I think that all the characters should be unlocked from the start. That's my take on it and it's probably right.

The other point is this. Nintendo loves DLC and rightfully so but they seem to be focusing on adding DLC to games while completely ignoring everything else. Usernames and purchases are still in this murky fog that don't give uses full control over their identity and content as we see elsewhere.

I'm all for selling what you can while you can but each time Nintendo launches new games with DLC it makes the rest of their online infrastructure look that much worse.

Yeah, it's a load of crap that nintendo doesn't think you own your digital content. Which is why i don't buy anything that i can get physically.

Also the season pass and day 1 dlc shit has now spread to nintendo.. but at least they're just keeping this stuff on 3ds, it's not spreading to wii u.

Pikmin 3 did dlc right.

Source. That should help others know what you're talking about.

I agree with you on all points but does the game (sans DLC) not have as many courses (or at least holes) as its predecessors? I heard from some people that this is the case and that the DLC adds ~40% more to an already full game.

It will be interesting to see the US/Canada pricing for the DLC (it is €14.99 / £13.49 for the season's pass in Europe). At least the game is $29.99 in the US, making the addition of DLC not too strenuous for the wallet. In Canada, it will be $34.99, and the DLC will probably be more expensive as well.

nintendo's first dlc milking...

im a proud father

Wait so from the looks of the forum, you guys are telling me that Nintendo has started to have DLC with the 3DS and WiiU and not with DS and Wii before? Are you freaking joking me? That is really sad and pathetic of Nintendo! And now they are copying other companies with the DLC by forcing players to purchase them in order to unlock in-game content and less of bonus features. That is what I call a fail in their online infrastructure.

I wish games in general would go back to where you have to actually complete certain objectives in order to unlock secret game elements instead of pay to unlock them or everybody is available from the start.

But if anything, Nintendo is horrible at selling DLCs, they are far behind industry standards.

I agree that they need to get their act together when it comes to online purchases.

I have no complaints at all concerning the Mario Golf DLC, though. The game is being sold at a reduced price and has at least as many holes as the other Mario Golf games. Besides, it also gives you the option to significantly increase its content for a reasonable amount of money.

Just like it happened with Fire Embem, at least in terms of content and price, Nintendo is doing DLC the right way.

I don't know if I'd say the right way, they seem to not really know how to give a game legs with DLC.

Call of Duty and Battlefield are great examples of DLC extending the life of a product.

Nintendo's efforts on Fire Emblem was really halfhearted because it was so disjointed from everything else. I see the same problem happening with DLC characters for Mario Golf. By the time some of them are released people are going to be done with many parts of the game. It's going to feel really slapdash.

On the opposite end, Pikmin 3's DLC was pretty cool and an example of how to properly price add-ons. I'm sure they haven't done this with every DLC pack, but I remember Call of Duty charging 14.99$ for a map pack which included rehashes from previous titles. Nintendo remixed 10 existing multiplayer maps and charged 2 bucks, and when they provided 10 brand new maps, they charged 5.

I'm in full agreement that Nintendo needs to restructure the way they handle consumers' digital purposes, but as far as the cost-to-content ratio for their add-ons, I think they're better than anyone else in the industry. If only we got more of it, I'd love some DLC for Mario 3D World.

& I hope this game flops hard...hates dlc. :P

Isn't all of the announced DLC coming out on a one-month window following the release?

Good thing I have no interest in Mario Golf.

LOL good point. Me neither.

Yes there are issues, but I don't see a problem with Nintendo's way of DLC. Its a lot better then say Xbox or PlayStation DLC...

*gasp* DLC? Oh man, all is ruined...please.

The game is $10 cheaper than regular retail price and the game itself has just as much content as previous titles.

So for $5 more than retail price ($15 season pass), you get a very beefy Mario Golf game. I honestly don't see much of a problem here. It could've been much worse as we have seen from other games.

@KBFloYd: Nope. Nintendo were innovators in this field.

See: the amazing e-reader card packs that 'unlock' themed trainer battles and enigma berries. Requires an e-Reader device. Packs sold separately.

This was actually a step up from requiring Pokemon fans to travel to events in specific locations, though they still do some of that today. Depending on where you live, these may be a very long road trip, or an international flight away. Nintendo's first exploration into DLC was the Famicom modem in 1988, and later via the Satellaview for SNES.

I don't think Nintendo are doing anything wrong here. There is a lot of demand for these sort of things today, and Nintendo are merely meeting those demands. The base game is slightly cheaper than other games, and doesn't have less content than previous iterations, so it's hard for me to look at this like it's any kind of scam.

Granted, the idea of purchasing any digital content on 3DS still makes me cringe. I don't want to buy a game or DLC I know I can't play if I have to replace my 3DS or want to use a second one for whatever reason. Meanwhile, whatever I buy on my Vita is bound to my PSN account, not my Vita, and I can access it on any Vita I log in to. Ninty need to get on this.

I agree with that. I got a full game with Pikmin 3, then there was cheap extra content to keep the game alive months after. In fact, I'm still playing that game. I wish they did more of this, for example, selling new tracks DLC for Mario Kart 6 months after release would be awesome. Or a new world in Mario 3D World.

They actually have done that with every map pack for every COD since Modern Warfare 2. :(

I am all for DLC on Nintendo's biggest games. I would love to have new Mario Kart courses to race on and even new levels on the Mario platformers.

I have nothing against DLC if well implemented. But not a penny will go to Nintendo from me for anything digital until they sort their accounts out. At this point, I'm fairly convinced that it's not that they don't know how, it's they refuse to. They could easily do so if they desired. Giving people accounts....

1) takes control out of Nintendo's hands. They're petrified of this.

2) they want to encourage people to rebuy the same games over and over. Tying accounts to the console is conducive to this.

Pulling digital purchases off an account tied to hardware and placing it in the cloud to be able to be downloaded to any system after only bought once robs Nintendo of potential redundant revenue. I've seen many people on various boards saying they've bought games over and over so I've no doubt Nintendo's making good money from this policy. They are essentially viewing and treating digital content as physical products without the physicality.

From a business perspective I can see why they don't want to do it but it's a very anti-consumer move motivated solely by greed. Nintendo is going to fight tooth and nail every step of the way against giving us accounts not tied to machines for as long as it's able. It makes me laugh to hear people claim that this is a company that cares so much for the gamer when shit like this exists.

This isn't a thread about DLC, DLC is good and anyone against it doesn't like gaming.

Nintendo really offers less than anyone else for DLC. The "others" allow DLC to be used on multiple machines and multiple accounts. Nintendo's policies are broken and DLC by Nintendo is the worst we've seen out of the main three.

The whole point (kudos for most of you seeing this) is that there's a lot more to a company's online infrastructure then DLC but for some reason that's the only place that Nintendo wants to spend any time and money.

Ya but they have to. Don't you see that (with all due respect), advance the DLC cause.

Everyone knows that Nintendo's online infrastructure is broken and needs work. It doesn't mean that they should pull out of DLC altogether until they fix their infrastructure. Fixing this can take a long time. Playstation and Microsoft got passed these problems long ago because they got on board early. Nintendo needs to handle both of these things at once. DLC is important, and releasing it for games such as Pikmin 3, Mario 3D World and Mario Kart 8 asap is important to do sooner rather than later.

I'd rather them provide perfectly fine DLC on their broken infrastructure as long as I can still get a good experience out of the DLC, rather than them not doing anything about DLC until they've fixed it. Do both at once, it's all for the same cause. Which is what they're doing. The reason it's such as wreck is because they got to the party extremely late.

Your base premise isn't really justified. They've done the Nintendo Network ID, and they've dabbled in F2P and DLC. They're only just beginning. Saying that they're only focusing on DLC is simply false. They haven't even got DLC on their top tier franchises yet.

I don't think anybody disagrees their online strategy is lacking and puts consumers at disadvantage, but I think where people are arguing Nintendo's strengths are how much content they provide compared to their competition, and how little they charge for it compared to the rest of the industry.

I only buy Nintendo Wii U retail games and I don't support their online offerings until they fix the Nintendo Network and it's approach to consumers. I'm penalized for owning two Wii Us? They need to get their act together because vast legions of consumers like me are just waiting and not buying. We have the money Nintendo, fix this Nintendo Account anti consumer garbage.

Well said, I'm in the same boat. They have had since the Gamecube to start taking notes for online gaming. They had the entire Wii generation to take notes on how to handle DLC, but if they are making money of users to continue to keep RE-buying digital copies, well no wonder.

I love Nintendo, I bought their NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U at launches. Same for handhelds. But while I did buy games on Wii VC, I did so out of ignorance and it was only this generation that I realized how backwards their digital policies truly are. I hope more people wake up because if enough people vote with their wallets, Nintendo will have no choice but to look at Steam, GOG, PSN, XBL, etc and conform to consumer demands.

I will continue buying physical retail copies of 3DS and Wii U games, but I won't buy anything from their online store until they fix this anti consumer account nonsense. It's a shame, as I would love to support their online store...and I know I speak for vast number of RL friends as well.

I think some people are too young or naive and simply just don't understand the Nintendo Network online-account issue.

Or just don't care. The sad thing is many know about it but don't give a damn. Maybe when they've invested hundreds or more into digital games, their console breaks, and Nintendo refuses to let them re-download they'll start caring.

Iwata's come out and said that accounts not tied to hardware is not possible on the Wii U's tech (which is pure BS, I don't buy a word of it) but that we'll see cloud accounts next system. Which will be like, in another 3-4 years probably. And we'll see if he puts his money where his mouth is at that time....I highly doubt it. If he's still around, that is.

This is a pretty interesting topic, seeing some good comments. There's too much for me to sift through and comment on all of it, but I'd like to highlight a few that stood out to me:

This is true. I would say that, yes, it's a shame Nintendo is embracing DLC as the rest of the industry has. But I would say that Nintendo is pretty bad at making good DLC. One exception mentioned here, the Pikmin 3 DLC... I remember reading about that before, and it did sound somewhat interesting. Something about a Holiday-themed stage? Anyway, I guess I don't see a very smart or good implementation of DLC into most Nintendo games. I think there's a lot of potential for a company like Nintendo to make good use of DLC, but so far they've underwhelmed me. And DLC also seems to go a bit against the Nintendo way, don't you think?

I was always a fan of unlocking stuff as you play. I think Smash Bros. is a good example of this scenario. Back in the day, that feeling of seeing "Challenger approaching!" and not knowing who you were about to bring to your roster was exciting. I think the reason why the unlocking feature has died off a bit is because game companies figure we'll find out all of a game's secrets as soon as someone talks about it on the web. I still have an appreciation for unlocking content, even when it isn't a big secret. I think it's part of what makes gaming fun in general, is completing a challenge to receive some new power or tool.

I don't like DLC, and I like gaming. So that "never happened". Moving along...

That is kind of true. Nintendo has essentially been doing things that are pretty similar to or as bad as DLC for years now. Whether it's requiring people to run out and buy a new peripheral to play a specific game, or creating two different versions of a Pokémon game so the kiddies can "catch 'em all". I also owned an e-Reader so I know what you're talking about there. I have written lists on this stuff before.

But I would say that Nintendo and DLC still seem like a really odd mix. From my perspective, Nintendo has always been about creating games that people can look back on and appreciate years from now, games that hold up through the years. It seems a bit backwards that Nintendo is embracing the digital space when they are so backwards and far behind in that department. But I guess it also was backwards and odd that Nintendo embraced using weird peripherals and services for different games which no longer work in modern times if you were to play the game again.

Why not? The PS3 never got cross-game chat. It was not possible with their OS.

I believe The Wii U OS is locked in a way that won't make that possible. I also believe that by Iwata mentioning it, he's aware that it's a problem. And I'd think that if he knew people were holding back on purchases, he'd patch the OS to allow that.

@Ovirew: You haven't played pikmin 3?

You should, it's incredible. There's challenge maps that either have you fight enemies or collect fruit, they released remixed stages of those challenges as dlc, and all new maps as well. They gave the first of those for free, for the all new maps they gave a cool christmas themed one.

You believe what you want.

Iwata is a proven liar and everything that comes out of the man's mouth is either an excuse or some defeatist mentality on why something can't be done or why his company is consistently lacking. Besides, an account on the cloud has nothing to do with the hardware. The Wii U is capable of downloading digital content, that is all that's required on the hardware end. To allow people the ability to log-in on any system to download games is on Nintendo's side of things, not their hardware.

Iwata (by his own admission) has been aware of a lot of problems plaguing the company for years now, always comes out and says so, yet nothing is ever done about them. All he is good for is blowing hot air. People are holding back on purchases you can bet, but there are also those out there who buy Nintendo's digital offerings even with accounts the way they are. It's simply a matter of whether he believes which scenario is bringing in more revenue. And since he hasn't changed it, I think it's safe to assume he thinks the way it is now is bringing in more than if it were the alternative.

No, but it has all to do with their OS and how their software is written.

Again, the PS3 never was able to get cross game chat. I only mention that because it's a similar situation where the console had the power and the gamers were loud with what they wanted, but it just wasn't technically possible. It's the same with the Wii U.

I agree 100% on your thoughts on Iwata. I think he's killing Nintendo. But that's a different topic.

What is incredibly bullshit is that my Club Nintendo Account has a record of every digital title I've purchased on the Wii, Wii-U, and 3DS e-shop, and it's linked to my Nintendo Network ID, but none of those purchases are actually linked to an account.

Is that what happens if you buy a new Wii U, Nintendo lets you redownload your stuff? I thought you had to send the console in and they did that for you. If that's the case, then....damn, that sucks.

To the second statement I quoted, maybe Nintendo doesn't want to pay for having a cloud service for it's users.

Or again, they're not set up to. They would need some infrastructure and software to allow a database of users access to games they purchase. Maybe what they have now is a server with a whole bunch of roms in a file share where they allow access by serial numbers, which is why customer's purchases are tied to the hardware. And that may be a reason why you can redownload your stuff with a Nintendo rep as they would manually allow your new console access. Seeing that Nintendo is late to this type of online interaction, I wouldn't doubt that they have some archaic way of distributing software. I can also imagine Iwata saying "people don't want to be confused by cloud and multiple devices".

It's obvious that Nintendo has a hardware verification system going. To change this to a user system is a big task considering you have millions of users. It may not be worth the time, effort, and guaranteed influx of support calls when you're already halfway through an unsuccessful console's life.

Listen, I'm not necessarily trying to defend Nintendo, and I most certainly want Iwata gone. But this is one thing that I believe could be out of their hands.