During an earnings briefing with investors held in Tokyo, Nintendo’s global president Satoru Iwata revealed that New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be available for Nintendo 3DS as a digital download as well as a packaged product.
This forms part of a plan to “push forward” with their Nintendo Network, with the company “envisioning the digital distribution of packaged software and is aiming at expanding the digital business.”
The title, recently confirmed by Nintendo, will be downloadable to an SD Card, where it could then be used as per any other Nintendo eShop release.
“The digitally downloaded software will be stored in the consumer’s SD memory card and be playable only with the hardware to which it was downloaded so that, unlike how you can share the packaged software which are stored in game card format, the consumer cannot share the software with other Nintendo 3DS systems owned by other members of the family or friends”, Iwata discussed.
“Also, vacant space in SD memory card is needed in order to store the digital download software. On the other hand, as consumers can purchase the software through the Internet, they do not have to visit the retail outlets, be concerned about an out-of-stock situation or even carry around multiple game cards in order to play digitally downloaded counterparts when they are away from home.”
He also revealed that consumers would be able to purchase redeemable codes from retailers, allowing Nintendo’s digital activities to gain further traction.
“Our consumers can visit retail outlets or the retailers’ online shopping sites, look for products of interest, make a purchase decision and actually pay for the product there”, he began.
“The retailers then can issue the 16-digit software exchange code. As you can see on the screen now, consumers can enter the 16-digit code at the Nintendo eShop to download the software.
“Some may wonder why we are adding this kind of process, as it may seem more complicated. However, for the majority of our consumers, this is a familiar process as they are already accustomed to making payments at the retail outlets, and it can lower their psychological barrier to making online purchases.
“Some consumers are hesitant in purchasing digital download software because they are concerned about inputting their credit card numbers. Also, payments by credit cards or cell phones are unavailable to some people under a certain age. Accordingly, offering a familiar payment method should lower the hurdle for our consumers to purchase digital download software.”
New Super Mario Bros. 2 to be available as digital download
