If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Wii U eShop lets indie devs set prices and issue free patches

Trine 2 developer Frozenbyte has revealed a number of small concessions Nintendo has made with the Wii U eShop which make it a highly attractive destination for indies and smaller companies.

Speaking to IGN, Frozenbyte marketing manager Mikael Haveri said the Wii U eShop leaves a lot of power in the developer or publisher's hands.

"That's what we love about the new eShop, we have the power to price our products as we please, with just some basic guidelines from the big guys," he said.

"We can set our own pricing and actually continuing on that by setting our own sales whenever we want. It is very close to what Apple and Steam are doing at the moment, and very indie friendly."

On top of that, Nintendo doesn't charge indies for patches, something which often leads to major delays on console games getting fixes.

"Simply put they've told us that there are no basic payments for each patch (which were pretty high on most platforms) and that we can update our game almost as much as we want. For indie developers this is huge," Haveri said.

Haveri said Nintendo's embrace of a more flexible approach to digital distribution is an acknowledgment that its earlier eShops weren't "up to par".

"Nintendo messed up the worst last time around. Now they really know that they have to make a huge improvement to get back into the game," he said.

"What I have seen and heard so far is amazing and it's definitely going in the right direction as far as small developers are concerned."

Frozenbyte's Trine 2: Director's Cut launched on the Wii U eShop today; here's the launch trailer.

Cover image for YouTube video

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

In this article

Trine 2: Director's Cut

Nintendo Wii U

Related topics
About the Author
Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

Comments