In Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s presentation to shareholders, he revealed an upcoming feature for the Wii U. Nintendo’s console will join the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, offering the ability to pre-purchase and pre-download titles.
The first game to be included in this program will be Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Nintendo will also sell cards at retail with pre-download codes for those that prefer not transmit their financial information.
The program will expand to other Wii U titles and eventually 3DS. Nintendo says this is part of its new digital strategy.
[Source: Nintendo]
Our Take
Hopefully part of this new digital strategy includes shifting to an account-based ownership system. Right now, it is exceedingly difficult to transfer an account to a new system, especially if the previous one is lost, broken, or stolen.