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Nintendo on limiting used sales: make better games

While the world and his dog is attacking Microsoft for its stance on used games and Sony is being a little coy about third party publishers potentially blocking the sale of them, Nintendo has another idea about how to restrict used sales: make better games.

This was said by Nintendo of America head, Reggie Fils-Aime, who said that the most commonly traded games were those that had little replay value or were replaced year on year – like sports titles. He has a point too, when did you see a used game shelf that didn't contain a smorgasbord of Fifa games?

“We have been able to step back and say that we are not taking any technological means to impact trade-in and we are confident that if we build great content, then the consumer will not want to trade in our games,” Fils-Aime said while speaking to Polygon.

“Certainly, that impact games that are annualised and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content.”

used
Any game with a number after it, is practically guaranteed to end up here sooner or later. Source: Wikimedia

He went on to say that first party Nintendo games have a history of not being traded in as much as their contemporaries. This doesn't necessarily go the way of every Wii or Wii U games, with some low quality third party games sitting in used bins for eternity, but the likes of Mario and pals, very rarely grace the used shelves.Aime ended the interview by reiterating that Nintendo has no plans to make any restrictions on used games.

KitGuru Says: I have to agree. I own one or two Xbox 360 games, the rest have been traded in over the years. My Wii games though? I still have most of those. Mario Kart, Smash Bros, House of the Dead Overkill, Mario Galaxy, these are all games that I can pick up and play time and again. Sure Microsoft and Sony have their worthy keepers too, but Nintendo's stance as a party console maker has definitely given it a good library of replayable games. 

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One comment

  1. Why they didnt think about it before?I admit Mario,Zelda games are fun but for how long they will give upthrust to Nintendo.Plus weak Wii u console.Will it be able to run quality games.Its hardware hindered its ablity.We have seen same with Wii,It remains a question to be answered by time>