Nintendo Experiments with Splatoon 2’s Release with 3 Different Retail Versions
Gamesindustry.biz reports via Kotaku that Nintendo will be releasing three different retail versions of Splatoon 2 for Japan. The first version is standard stuff as it comes with the game’s cartridge and boxed case. The second is more of a gift card-type deal with a download code for the game. The last version is important as it will feature the game’s box, but will have a digital code instead of the cartridge.
Confused? Well, Nintendo is trying to pave the way for minimizing the risk of retailers amassing physical stock. In the GI article, they note a statement to investors from Nintendo’s late president, Satoru Iwata, “A fairly large volume of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for Nintendo 3DS was sold in the form of a POSA card, which is activated only when it goes through [cash] registers at retailers, and therefore the retailers do not have to shoulder the physical inventory risk.” Besides that, the game cartridge-less version may also appeal to gamers who like owning a boxed version of a game, but digs going digital for managing their gaming library. It’ll be interesting to see if sales of the third version will prompt more releases like this in the future for the industry.
All three versions of Splatoon 2 will carry the same price when it launches this July.