InkyPen CEO talks about bringing the app to Switch, and why it's subscription-based

InkyPen, a digital comic subscription service, is on its way to Switch. Our friends at NWR sat down with InkyPen’s CEO Ronan Thomas to see why the Switch is a good fit for the app, and why they decided to go the subscription route.

NWR: I guess my first question is, why the Switch? Why does a subscription service for comics make sense on the platform?

R: One of the things is the form factor. Phones are too small, and having it on a laptop, or pads and other devices that aren’t dedicated to entertainment just doesn’t make as much sense. For us, that was the perfect fit. We had a lot of different platforms we were looking at, but Nintendo was our #1 choice and we were glad they accepted us into the fold.

NWR: So why is it a subscription service? Obviously, you’re signing a lot of deals and getting a lot of content, what is the difference with having a subscription service versus having it per download?

R: It’s mainly to do with what people want. The original idea was Peter, who runs Rain Games, approached me with the idea very early and we were complaining about the lack of good, effective ways to get and read content in the comic book world. This is the new model, people don’t like paying every time, opening their wallets every time, it’s just pay once and get everything and forget about i. In a world of DLC and day-zero patches and all this stuff, it’s refreshing to go back to simple business models that’s transparent and no funny business.