Salnax on 23 August 2012
| stu_ said: It's good to hear that Nintendo are planning to continue develop these deep experiences, and seem to be recognising other mobile formats as competitors to the handheld sector. But it still makes me wonder why nintendo can't manage to sell apps from the eShop for the same price as the iOS store or the android market, to try and get dedicated gamers to spend not just more of their time, but all of their time with handhelds. |
It's the ESRB's fault. Nintendo agreed to be a part of the ESRB system, meaning that game developers have to pay a certain amount to get their games rated. Thanks to the relatively small market of the eShop, this means they have to raise prices in order to break even.
iOS games, on the other hand, don't follow the ESRB, since Apple says "meh, screw the rules. We'll rate games ourselves!" They rarely actually do so, but this is enough for governments, so developers can sell their games for as low as they want.
In other words, Nintendo's $2 to $5 eShop games are about as low as you can get while following the rules that have been in place since the 90's. Since phones are not gaming devices, they can get away with murder ignoring the rules.
