In a bit of a surprising, and at the same time not surprising at all, bit of news, we’ve learned that Nintendo has in fact set a minimum price amount for software offered over the 3DS eShop. For everyone but themselves.
Now, we’ve heard from Nintendo a couple times that they are in no way interested in a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of prices, kind of what we saw when the iPhone ‘marketplace’ opened up. They believe they have quality products, and we reported before that they had set a minimum price of their own products on the eShop at $1.99. What we didn’t realize then, was that this minimum was for everyone. That means no free demos, unlike WiiWare. So when I chastised Capcom for charging for a demo? Sorry guys, my fault. Maybe you did it intentionally, but you very well may have been forced into it.
So what does this mean? Well, we got the Pokedex for free, and the Netflix client was free, but at least for now it looks like no demos on the eShop. Hopefully Nintendo will realize what a stupid position that is, because I can’t count the number of games I’ve bought on XBLA and PSN because of a demo that I wouldn’t have otherwise touched. We need games, and you need 3rd party developers to sell big numbers on the 3DS. You need to make free demos a reality, so get to it!