Nintendo: Wii U online functionality will be free

[Michael_T]

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata doesn't believe there should be a fee for connecting Wii U consoles to the Nintendo Network.


According to a translation of Nintendo's annual shareholder meeting via Andriasang, Iwata said that having all users able to freely access the network will help spread the service's offerings through word of mouth. This tactic, his translated commentary suggests, is thought to lead to greater hardware and software sales.


Iwata also revealed that external developers were brought onboard with Wii U at about the same time as internal studios, which he hopes will counter lagging third-party performance. To prove Nintendo's renewed focus, Iwata reportedly pointed to the upcoming Namco Bandai collaboration behind the new Smash Bros. coming to Wii U and 3DS.

Source: Nintendo: Wii U online functionality will be free | Joystiq

Just like Steam & PSN, Nintendo Network will be free of charge.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Great that it will still be free, i just hope they have some half decent online system this time.

A universal friends list and actually allowing people to communicate in games would be a great start... only really played Smash Bros / Maro Kart online on the Wii... might as well have been playing bots.

 

[Rockman]

Nintendo still has a lot to improve so they can't really decide to charge people when their online gaming service somewhat sucked on the Wii, now it's time to get better so lets see how it turns out.

It doesn't really bother me if they charge or not, what it matters is the quality of the service, if it's free but shit then I won't use it regardless of being free of charge.