After the relative debacle that was the WiiWare service, Nintendo has taken some great strides in making eShop development a much smoother process for indie and established studios alike, as evidenced by its revamped list of business policies.
The company announced the change in policies during this year’s Game Developers Conference, prior to its panel on eShop development. The new list is as follows:
- No concept approval
- Price and release date are set by the developer
- Freemium models are now supported
- Royalty share is now the industry standard
In addition to that, the Big N also unveiled a new development tool dubbed the Nintendo Web Framework, which makes it easier for web and app creators to port their games and applications to Wii U. The Nintendo Web Framework supports HTML and Javascript and is compatible with existing apps, opening the platform up to developers of all stripes (though they will still need to purchase a Wii U development kit before they can begin releasing games on the console). Together, these measures prove that Nintendo has certainly come a long way from the insular practices it once used, ensuring the eShop becomes a much healthier digital platform than WiiWare ever was.
Source: GoNintendo, Polygon
How Nintendo Addresses its Concerns
You know, instead of allowing these garage developers to ruin our industry by devaluing our software, let’s integrate them into our toolsets, and guide their development processes so that we can ensure the level of quality that these indie developers produce for our platforms remains high.