Nintendo embraces crowdsourcing
Nintendo announced today that it’s giving the crowd a chance to develop video games for the company’s successful gaming system, the Wii, and sell them over the WiiShop channel. The new initiative is called the WiiWare program, and is expected to launch early 2008.
It is not yet clear what kind of tools and templates Nintendo will provide for the WiiWare program, but for people with a great game idea but little time, money, or energy to go through traditional development and retail outlets, this could be a significant opportunity. Nintendo has been the one to watch lately. Its market cap briefly passed Sony’s earlier this week, and the Wii continues to trounce the PlayStation3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in the marketplace. By tapping into the creativity of the crowds, Nintendo could have a nice low-risk, high-margin business on its hands with WiiWare. It will be interesting to see whether and how Nintendo will succeed in providing the appropriate tools and platforms for users to easily create their own video games. As video gamers will probably be very enthusiastic about the program (and mostly very familiar with internet and computers), the user-friendliness and the provided freedom will be the key success factors.
Christy said
am July 5 2007 @ 8:32 pm
When I was younger, my little brother and I used to tape blank sheets of paper together into one long strip. We would draw video games, create characters and instruction books. That was our summer project. We lived out in the corn fields and had no one to play with. Lol. Sounds sad, but it was so much fun!
Openeur - Open Innovation & Entrepreneurship » Bestpractice Blogflash - Nokia, Lego, Nintendo, Staples said
am July 7 2007 @ 10:57 am
[...] and computers), the user-friendliness and the provided freedom will be the key success factors. (openinnovators.net) Staples - Idea Hunt - Invention Quest BIG and Staples identified an opportunity for Staples to [...]
Openeur - Open Innovation & Entrepreneurship » Bestpractice Blogflash - Nokia, Nintendo, Staples said
am August 5 2007 @ 9:52 am
[...] and computers), the user-friendliness and the provided freedom will be the key success factors. (openinnovators.net) Staples - Idea Hunt - Invention Quest BIG and Staples identified an opportunity for Staples to [...]
Deidre sullivan said
am March 16 2008 @ 2:12 am
Thanks for the heads up about Nintendo. We haven’t heard much about this initiative.