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FrozenByte says Wii U eShop offers Steam-like options for devs - free patches, update and more

by rawmeatcowboy
18 November 2012
GN Version 4.0
The following info comes from Trine developer Frozenbyte...

"We started working with the Wii U back in March, right after Nintendo contacted us for the first time. We had the port of Trine 2 working in about two days and then after that it was just about getting the game to look nicer and to implement the touch screen related features."

- developers set their prices
- devs determine when they have sales

"That's what we love about the new eShop. We have the power to price our products as we please, with just some basic guidelines from the big guys. The step to this is purely from Nintendos's side and they clearly see that [their] previous installments have not been up to par. We can set our own pricing and actually continuing on that by setting our own sales whenever we want. It is very close to what Apple and Steam are doing at the moment, and very indie friendly. As a small company we rely a lot on the long term sales of our games, not just how well the game does in the first month. Selling for more than two of the first weeks has been very difficult on the console side so far."

- no basic payments for each patch
- devs can update their game almost limitlessly

"We expect it (the approval process) to be longer than what Steam has, but still very competitive compared to the current console standards."

- adding in DLC is also free for devs

"Nintendo messed up the worst last time around. Now they really know that they have to make a huge improvement to get back into the game. What I have seen and heard so far is amazing and it's definitely going in the right direction as far as small developers are concerned."

- Wii U will have a larger shopping environment than 3DS eShop

"Now we can actually just upload videos about our game after the launch and still have the players come back and have a conversation about it. This makes it possible for everyone to continue that mutual relationship a lot further, rather than having it stop at the transaction.

Nintendo's eShop has the possibility of showing the way for the future of downloadable games on consoles. Not everything is up to par, but so far it looks like a far superior channel to be a part of. We hope that companies like us realize that and more indie games become available on the Wii U eShop. In the end this is how we see the future of console gaming and hopefully we are not too far away from that reality."

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