President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata on DLC

With the recent move to add additional content to Mario Kart 8, President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata clarifies the company’s policy on DLC.

There’s been a lot of discussion online as of late pertaining to Nintendo‘s approach to DLC. Many have wondered how exactly they’ll implement downloadable content going forward. So far it’s been very tame, with the occasional game like New Super Mario Bros U receiving new levels, characters, etc. and for a decent price at that. Sure, we do have software like Fire Emblem Awakening, in which Nintendo released a bevvy of additional maps, items, and characters; but for the most part the company has kept a safe distance from DLC-practice.

Iwata has declared that Nintendo will not deliver deceptive DLC. In other words they will abstain from particularly nasty methods, like locking content that is already on the disc, or developing incomplete software. This is a responsible administration of downloadable content, and arguably should be an industry standard. Unfortunately, the advent of digital distribution has brought with it some evils that occur all too often. It would be ideal if Nintendo could stoke a revolution that alters the way corporations maintain their distribution of digital expansions.

Source: Playeressence