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Nintendo UK - Yarnton once again backs up 3DS pricing, region-locking
The following comments come from Nintendo UK chief David Yarnton…
On 3DS pricing in the UK
“It’s still really good value. The fact it’s a 3D entertainment device – you can’t get anything that’s 3D at that sort of price without having to wear glasses as well. Get that one in. If we go back a few years, when we first launched the DS in 2004, 2005, people looked at us and said, wow, this is unusual, it’s got a touch screen. Who’s going to buy this at whatever price it was at the time? It was the same with Wii. People looked at that and said it’s all in a different direction. Now with 3D we’ve been disruptive again and innovative. To me, people will look at [the 3DS] and say this offers something I can’t get anywhere else. It’s the same with all the other products we had. It was an experience they could have with our products that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. As much as there’s a plethora of devices out there for all sorts of things, you can’t get a 3D gaming experience on anything else apart from the 3DS. It’s not just that. It’s the other parts of it, too. If you look over time, we’ve never professed to be anything else apart from a gaming company. That’s what our expertise is: developing, we think, really good games and consoles for them to be played on. It’s just that we don’t set the retail price. Someone can sell our products for whatever they want to. We don’t control that. But we’ve had a look online. We’ve been talking to retailers and they’ve been told their cost prices now. They’ve established price and we’ve been told, looking online, that it’s anywhere from £220 to £229.”
On 3DS region locking
“There are a number of different factors that come into it. Part of it is, when you’re looking at the software and the different areas, what additional features are included that may not necessarily be available in other territories. For example, we might have one territory where there’s downloadable content that’s not necessarily either suitable or we don’t have the means to do it in another territory. So therefore it may not be compatible. The other thing is, if we look at it at on a regional basis, we have to be very conscious of – the customer may not really care about this, but different territories have different ratings. We’re very conscious of making sure we tow the line as far as government goes there. In Europe we’ve got PEGI. In Australia there’s a different rating. America’s got a different rating. Japan’s a different rating. DVDs are also region locked. It’s nothing new. I know people would love to sample the box of chocolates from everywhere, but at this stage… As time goes on, who knows what’s going to happen.”