Nintendo: Mobile Games “Biggest Risk” To Industry

With Nintendo 3DS retail games expected to cost anywhere between $35 and $50 each, it’s no surprise that Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime is becoming a little worried when it comes to mobile gaming.

Speaking to GameTrailers TV’s Geoff Keighley, Fils-Aime made it clear that one and two dollar games are “one of the biggest risks today in our gaming industry.”  He went on to contrast “fully-functional” 3DS games like Mario Kart 3DS with cheap games on mobile devices, such as the iPhone and iPod Touch.

“Angry Birds is a great piece of experience,” he told Keighley, “but that is one compared to thousands of other pieces of content that for one or two dollars I think create a mentality for the consumer that a piece of gaming content should only be $2.”  Taking a final shot at the mobile market, he added that he thinks “some of those games are actually overpriced at $1 or $2, but that’s a different story.”

Isn’t it a bit hypocritical of Reggie, especially when Nintendo plans to launch an online store for downloading free or cheap titles and applications?  Despite the logistics of this feature, Nintendo will continue its focus on full-priced retail games, as to avoid the whole PSP go fiasco.