Forleden dag afsluttede eShop et fantastisk spiludsalg, hvor man kunne snuppe flere top-titler til betydeligt lavere priser end normalt. Men for dem, der håbede på at finde et godt tilbud på et Mario- eller Zelda-spil, var udvalget ret sparsomt; for som sædvanligt havde Nintendo ikke sænket nogen priser.
Nu har den tidligere Nintendo of America-præsident Reggie Fils-Aimé kommenteret sagen i et Twitch-interview med Joost Van Dreunen. I det interview forklarer Fils-Aimé, hvorfor vi ikke bør holde vejret for eventuelle prisnedsættelser på Nintendo-titler, og bemærker, at der blandt andet er historiske grunde til dette (transskriberet via Resetera):
"The Nintendo mentality is: we're shipping a game complete. It's ready to play. There's no, you know, day one update that's gonna take three hours. And so part of it is it's a different mentality. That is their thinking. I liken this, to this idea of Kyoto craftsmanship. So the company is headquartered in Kyoto. For those of you who are knowledgeable about Japanese history, the old emperor's capital, and a city known for its fine craftsmanship: linens, china, pottery, that is Kyoto. I'm convinced Nintendo as a company, has that same type of mentality."
Han mener, at denne perfektionistiske tankegang og ønsket om at levere færdige produkter af højeste kvalitet gennemsyrer Nintendos filosofi. De fastsætter derfor en pris for produktet, og den pris gælder, fordi produktet er pengene værd:
"We are going to build the best games, we are going to send them out feature complete, and as a result, this is where sometimes customers push back: we don't discount our games. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild never received a price discount from the day it was launched. Never was discounted. Occasionally retailers might decide to do something, but the company never discounted. It's part of this process: we're gonna make it the best we can, we're gonna send it feature complete, and we're gonna charge a fair price and that price is never gonna change."
At Nintendos titler konsekvent leverer et højt kvalitetsniveau, udgives i en poleret stand og er "funktionsfulde" (som Fils-Aimé udtrykker det), er i praksis en objektiv kendsgerning. Men hvad synes du om Nintendos prissætningspolitik?