Miyamoto Wants The Game Industry To Stop Overcharging Its Players

Shigeru Miyamoto--most well known for creating best-selling franchises like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and Star Fox--wants the video game industry to gravitate away from the free-to-play model. Warning his peers to not be greedy, Miyamoto hopes future games will stop overcharging players.

According to Bloomberg, Miyamoto said that Nintendo is exploring alternate ways for getting players to pay for mobile games. "I can't say that our fixed-cost model has really been a success," Miyamoto said, "But we're going to continue pushing it forward until it becomes entrenched. That way everyone can develop games in a comfortable environment. By focusing on bringing games to the widest range of people possible, we can continue boosting our mobile game business."

Miyamoto went on to say that he recognizes the effects that streaming services, YouTube, and MP3 file sharing have had on the music industry. Most people don't buy records, CDs, or even songs anymore, and instead subscribe to an app or software to get their music. Television is heading that way with services like Netflix and Hulu, as is anime with Crunchyroll and Funimation. Miyamoto thinks video games developers need to find a way to follow suit.

"It's necessary for developers to learn to get along with subscription-style services," Miyamoto said. "When seeking a partner for this, it's important to find someone who understands the value of your software. Then customers will feel the value in your apps and software and develop a habit of paying money for them."

Miyamoto's comments come after Nintendo's attempts at adopting a free-to-play model for the company's past two mobile titles: Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Although Heroes has received mixed reviews, Pocket Camp was harshly criticized for pushing players to buy into the game's microtransactions. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Heroes still performs well for Nintendo, but Pocket Camp does not.