By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Pokémon Presents 2024

burninmylight on 11 March 2024
Shtinamin_ said:
burninmylight said:

What are we disagreeing about? The profitability for TPC?

I can't answer any questions about how much of a cut it would receive for putting mainline games on NSO. I'd love to know what the breakdown is for it between publishers and Nintendo. I'm sure the NSO apps are collecting data on games played and times playing them, so I wonder if that's factor. If someone has a source where Nintendo or publisher shared details, please share it here.

But the fact is that each console on the NSO app is missing big titles that were retail released on Switch in some shape or fashion. The only Castlevania games Konami has allowed on it are Bloodlines and lol Legends, meanwhile there are two Castlevania Collections containing the NES trilogy, two SNES games and three GBA games. Ditto Contra, except for Hard Corps. The only Mega Man game Castlevania has allowed on it is The Wily Wars. TWW isn't part of the several Mega Man collections containing all of the NES and SNES games. The only mainline Sonic game on it is Sonic 2, but you can get the original quadrilogy in Sonic Origins, to say nothing of other Genesis collections. Square-Enix hasn't released anything with Final Fantasy in the name on it, but you can get the FF Pixel Remasters from the eShop. There are a bunch of SE RPGs that were on the SNES that have gotten eShop releases and collections as well, like Romancing SaGa, Mana and others.

So based on publisher's actions, it seems more profitable to them to release their games themselves then allow them on NSO. TPC is just as much in it for themselves as all of the others. And like you said, someone would have to go out of their way to recode the classic games on NSO not to have a pause and rewind option to prevent duping, so if someone has to go in and touch code, might as well make it a full-blown SKU and release it on eShop or put it in a box in retail.

We were first discussing if TPC would ever put the mainline Pokémon games (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald) on NSO.

There is no doubt that TPC would gain lots of money from putting their games on NSO. But there is doubt that they would put it on the NSO. 

This is what I do know about NSO. Nintendo tracks game play time to the minute, they track how many times you've opened a specific game, they have 3rd parties titles (Konami, Capcom) being licensed for Genesis NSO (so we can conclude that all 3rd party titles are licensed as well). Nintendo owns 33% of TPC along with Game Freak and Creatures Inc (Nintendo is the publisher, Game Freak is the game developer, Creatures Inc are merchandise, anime, trading cards). They all have equal say* involving the future of Pokémon.
*This is just what I think about the TPC (cannot confirm but also cannot disprove): Creatures Inc. forces Game Freak to make a new generation game everytime they want to sell new cards, and produce a new anime. Creatures Inc. hasn't been very pushy lately (last 2 years) since they are releasing new episodes of Pokémon Horizons, and many other smaller animes like Pokémon Concierge.
Game Freak COO has stated that they will be talking about taking their time releasing game to ensure quality, which is why we have no new pokémon game releasing in 2024 as of now (I personally think they will release something for the holiday).

Nintendo would make so much more money if they convinced Game Freak to put their mainline GB/GBA games on NSO. But that would require more work for NSO GB/GBA because then they would have to make sure that those games need to connect to Pokémon Home, and can trade with each other (which is possible due to most GB/GBA NSO games having access to link cable), and disable savestates (or else there would be pokémon duplications of rare and powerful pokémon ruining pokémon torunaments etc). NSO (which includes GB) costs $19.99 per year for one account, then to access GBA you must purchase the Expansion for a total of $49.99 per year for one account. I feel like that is a lot of logistics of economics to determine how Game Freak and Creatures Inc. would receive money from Nintendo.

It just feels like it would be too much work. The "easier" route would be to just re-port them on the eshop for $10 for each game. Boxing would add additional costs like shipping and hardware (cartridges, case, covers). You lose money compared to no loss when on the eshop (maybe Nintendo takes a cut of the revenue, but it sounds like its worth it since so many small indie developers haven't gone physical for their releases).

Then we're actually on the same page and agree. As far as physical copies go, we live in a world where a special edition, collector's edition or reprint of a game gets announced, often with a limited print run. Nintendo themselves got in on this with that BS (I don't mean Satellaview) release of Fire Emblem 1 a few years ago. The one where they took the time to translate it, port it to the Switch outside of NSO, made a collector's edition with a replica NES cart and manual, then made the digital version a limited time event before delisting it. The freaking digital version. I would have gotten the game if it wasn't for that FOMO garbage, but I skipped it on principle.

Anyways, if Nintendo can get in on the limited collector's/anniversary/special edition, why can't it and TPC/GF get in on it with Pokemon? You know people would lose their minds over a similar offer. Throw a download code in a box with a reprinted manual, replica Game Boy box, a poster, a keychain and a soundtrack CD or code to download it from a site, and people would be fighting in the streets to claim that swag.