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Reggie - Nintendo not worried about used games, not moving away from retail
The following comes from a Polygon interview with Reggie Fils-Aime.
"We have been very clear, we understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games. They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase. Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content. Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong. The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer want to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin. So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average – much, much less. So for us, 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."
Will Nintendo ever get to a point when they start worrying about used games and consider offering regulation?
"The fact of the matter is, we will see what happens with publishers, but it seems to me that every major publisher has come and said we don't mind used games."
Next, Reggie also talked about digital games and how they measure up to traditional retail.
"I don't see [Nintendo stopping the sale of game discs] in the future, certainly not the near-term future. For us, retail is a key part of our overall business. Retailers play a huge role in driving awareness. Their stores play a large role in consumers having an experience with their interactives. We couldn't do a program like what we are doing with Best Buy without the power of retail and letting consumers play four games that haven't been released yet. The only place you can see these games is either here at E3 or at a 100 best buy locations in the U.S. and in Canada. So we see a very strong role for physical product in the near-term."
In the end, Reggie isn't really that worried about used game policies and where they go from here, seeing as how Nintendo doesn't have to deal with that aspect too much.
"I think we'll have to wait and see. I am not sure what the next steps will be, how the different competitors will respond to each other. Again, for us, it is about the games. We want to give the consumers a great gameplay experience."
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"We have been very clear, we understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games. They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase. Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content. Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong. The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer want to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin. So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average – much, much less. So for us, 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."
Will Nintendo ever get to a point when they start worrying about used games and consider offering regulation?
"The fact of the matter is, we will see what happens with publishers, but it seems to me that every major publisher has come and said we don't mind used games."
Next, Reggie also talked about digital games and how they measure up to traditional retail.
"I don't see [Nintendo stopping the sale of game discs] in the future, certainly not the near-term future. For us, retail is a key part of our overall business. Retailers play a huge role in driving awareness. Their stores play a large role in consumers having an experience with their interactives. We couldn't do a program like what we are doing with Best Buy without the power of retail and letting consumers play four games that haven't been released yet. The only place you can see these games is either here at E3 or at a 100 best buy locations in the U.S. and in Canada. So we see a very strong role for physical product in the near-term."
In the end, Reggie isn't really that worried about used game policies and where they go from here, seeing as how Nintendo doesn't have to deal with that aspect too much.
"I think we'll have to wait and see. I am not sure what the next steps will be, how the different competitors will respond to each other. Again, for us, it is about the games. We want to give the consumers a great gameplay experience."
Link