Nintendo "Would Consider" Making Free-To-Play Animal Crossing Entry

Posted Wed 19th Jun 2013 16:20 by Damien McFerran

Tom Nook is rubbing his hands already

Nintendo has just announced that it is dipping a toe into the freemium market with Steel Diver, and nowAnimal Crossing: New Leaf lead designer Katsuya Eguchi has admitted that a free-to-play version of the popular life simulation isn't totally out of the question.

Speaking to VentureBeat, Eguchi said:

I think the main thing that we need to think about before even considering doing something like that is to determine what we’re going to make available from the beginning. I think that’s key in deciding whether we do something like that. If I find a business model that works, however — that works for Nintendo and the end-user — then I can’t say that [free-to-play] is something we wouldn’t consider.

Eguchi also noted that there's a large degree of crossover when it comes to Animal Crossing and free-to-play mobile and online games:

When you look at our main audience in Japan, they are definitely that audience that has smartphones. [They are] women in their late teens and early 20s. They are certainly playing free-to-play games on their smartphone.

Steel Diver is one thing, but turning Animal Crossing into a free-to-play title is something that Nintendo would have to consider very carefully. What are your thoughts? Would including in-app purchases in a game like Animal Crossing destroy what makes it great in the first place? Or perhaps you feel that there's merit in the idea? Post a comment to tell us what you think.

[via venturebeat.com]

 Steel Diver is one thing, but this is starting to get wary to me...

To be honest.. if this was a free to play game on smartphones with microtransactions it could be like the biggest thing ever.. if Puzzle and dragons already earns 100+ million dollar these last few months in Asia alone.. AC could dubble that with it's worldwide appeal..

Nintendo, do not listen to those investors suggesting this idea. They are willing to break open a safe with a car, so long as they get the few hundred dollars within the safe.

So that Tom Nook finally demand us real money?

Hmm, hadn't thought about that. Atleast the ones that say that Nintendo needs to expand their games outside of the industry would get what they want... But I'm still wondering at what cost that we haven't seen.

While it seems that Nintendo shut my mouth about how the handle their DLC practices, this one I'm much more on the fuss about...

THIS! ^

Only if there's an option to purchase the "complete" pack for a decent price and I don't have to be bombarded with ads.

Obviously that would be a good way to make more money, but Animal Crossing already makes good money. A big problem that would arise comes with the target audience. Sure, that audience is not limited to children, but they still are a big part of it. Usually parents don't want their children to be in charge of spending real money. I can imagine horror stories like "Tom Nook made my son lose all our money". Headlines like those would hurt Nintendo's family-friendly image.

I'd like to keep an open mind on this, as it could turn out alright. I like the idea of getting everything for a set price (the RRP), and knowing that the full game experience wont cost any more than what I've already paid. Microtransactions would mean that I wouldn't know how much I would end up spending by the time I'm through with the game. F2P would certainly allow a lot of new AC players who would otherwise not pay the full game RRP, as they aren't sure if it's for them. That is the main reason I would like to see a F2P version. Heck, why not have a full price/full featured edition and a F2P microtransactions version?!