Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto says fixed price games are preferable to free-to-play

Super Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, says Nintendo is doubling down on fixed, "reasonable prices", rather than free-to-play models.

Shigeru Miyamoto has said that Nintendo is shunning the free-to-play model in favour of fixed price games at "reasonable prices".

"We’re lucky to have such a giant market, so our thinking is, if we can deliver games at reasonable prices to as many people as possible, we will see big profits," he said at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC), via Bloomberg.

This comes after Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aimé said that loot boxes "have gotten a bit of a bad rap," comparing them to "baseball cards".

"I can’t say that our fixed-cost model has really been a success,” Miyamoto added. “But we’re going to continue pushing it forward until it becomes entrenched.

"That way everyone can develop games in a comfortable environment. By focusing on bringing games to the widest range of people possible, we can continue boosting our mobile game business."

Nintendo's Super Mario Run followed this model, and although it was downloaded over 78 million times back in January 2017, only 5% of players went on to pay to unlock the full version of the game.

Miyamoto said that "it’s necessary for developers to learn to get along with” subscription-style services.

“When seeking a partner for this, it’s important to find someone who understands the value of your software. Then customers will feel the value in your apps and software and develop a habit of paying money for them.”