Nintendo US boss Reggie Fils-Aime thinks loot boxes aren’t that bad.
At the recent E3, Nintendo US boss Reggie Fils-Aime discussed several topics including loot boxes. These micro-transactions are recently being seen in a not-so-favourable manner where players pay without knowing what they’re getting.
He thinks loot boxes have a “bad rap” and other developers have “made some mistakes” when it comes to paid digital content.
“The game mechanic of buying something that you’re not sure what’s inside is as old as baseball cards,” he told Bloomberg.
“What we believe at Nintendo is that a gameplay mechanic that offers the consumer something to buy that they’re not sure what’s inside can be interesting as long as that’s not the only way you can get those items.
“And that’s where some developers have made some mistakes. For us, its one of many mechanics we can use to drive on-going engagement in the game.”
We’re not sure if this means the Switch will have loot boxes or something similar in the future. But with its stance on the subject, it’s clear that the company isn’t averse to the idea.
In other news, when asked about Netflix and YouTube coming to Nintendo Switch, he confirmed that they will “come in due time”.
“When we launched the Switch, we were very clear we wanted to position the device as a game-playing device. We’ve done that, and so you’ve seen Hulu for example come on to the platform. In terms of other services, the conversations are on-going. We’ve got nothing to announce right now. But certainly those opportunities will come in due time.”
