Reggie discusses the impact of free content, Seal of Quality, why Photo Dojo was free
Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime first discussed his thoughts about free content…
“I would not single out any particular company or any particular application store, but certainly it seems like, when content is being created and made available for free, that it is devaluing content, and is potentially devaluing the expectation of consumers for what content should be. I’ve heard from a lot of developers who say, you know what, these people are right. We do need to keep the value of our content at an appropriate level. Otherwise what we risk as an industry is investing time, money and energy to create something that no one has value for. What’s important is that the value of the content be high and be maintained. As an industry that creates this content, it’s in our interest to keep the value of the content high and not allow it to be devalued over time.”
Reggie then went on to discuss the disappearance of the Nintendo Seal of Quality…
“Nintendo cannot play a role of limiting in any way the content that’s available for our platform.”
Last but not least, Reggie commented on why Photo Dojo was made available for free for a short time…
“We were convinced that as soon as consumers had that game (Photo Dojo) and had that experience, that they’d share it and talk about it and it would be something that consumers would want. That strategy has worked. From the day that we stopped making it available for free, we’ve actually sold more than what we had initially made available for free. So, strategically, it’s looking at each piece of content and deciding what’s the best way to have consumers experience the content and maintain its value over time.”
