Nintendo USA CEO Reggie Fils-Aime criticizes the way iOS game developers choose to set their AppStore prices. He says that the current prices are much too low and that the publishers are creating a "standard" according to which the prices for games should be low. According to him, gamers would consider that games are becoming "dispensable" due to the low price and consumers would be inclined to buy games for a few dollars from the AppStore instead of those offered by Nintendo. In case you didn't know, the games available from Nintendo cost several tens of dollars, a much too high price for what they offer.
Reggie Fils-Aime, President and Chief Operating Officer for Nintendo America, has criticized the low prices charged for games on smart phones and similar devices. He said that the low prices were one of the biggest risks that the gaming industry faced at the moment. Fils-Aime thought that by charging so little for games, publishers were creating a "mentality" for consumers that games should never cost more than a few dollars. He also thought that it created a culture that content was disposable because it was so cheap.
Of course, the quality of iOS games is slightly below those available for Nintendo, but the price difference does not reflect the quality difference between them. Nintendo has a habit of asking tens of dollars for new games at each release, while in the AppStore the most expensive games cost up to $10 and developers have a habit of making discounts for them around the holidays. This policy affects Nintendo and it is good to be so because the company will be forced to offer games at competitive prices for its users.
