While Andrew was unable to join me on the Molehill Mountain Podcast this past Saturday, he still had something to say about our signature topic of the night, Super Mario Run’s always online requirement. The video is 4 and a half minutes long and great fun, like most his videos. Check it out.
He posted a similar video way back when EA tried the same thing with Sim City.
It feels like Nintendo is scared to death of piracy here. Most indie games go one of three routes to help mitigate the risk:
1) Release on iOS only, not Android.
2) Instead of requiring a purchase of the app, make the purchase price an in-app purchase
3) Require an online connection to validate the user
While 2 isn’t bad for the consumer (and is often even good, as it provides them a demo), both 1 and 3 screw over legitimate consumers. And all Nintendo really needed to do was pick one of these options, but they went for all three.
Honestly, as a consumer, I feel like Nintendo doesn’t really like us that much, and only tolerates us as long as we give them money and don’t play with their games the wrong way.