WiiWare threshold misinterpreted

via Games Industry


An anonymous developer has confirmed that a WiiWare sales threshold - below which a studio makes no money - exists, but says it has been misinterpreted by the press.

"I'm concerned this recent threshold news is generating an artificially negative wave of press. The spirit of the threshold was never to screw the developer - it was, as far as I can tell, a quality control mechanism to prevent the service from getting overrun with a bunch of crappy games," the source told our sister site Eurogamer.net.

"Once the threshold is crossed, the developer is retroactively paid for every single unit sold below the threshold. I know there has been confusion on that point in the past.

"From the stats I've seen and heard developers report, the threshold is easily surpassed within the first day, or at least the first week, for many games," the source explained.

"I hear rumours within the dev community that Nintendo recognises a problem here, where occasionally an entirely legitimate game just doesn't make it, and is looking for a way to make exceptions, to ensure small devs are paid even if the threshold is not reached. Just rumours though, so who knows.

"I just fear this is one of those things that sounds a lot more evil than it actually is," added the source.

Earlier this month, it was reported that many indie developers struggled to meet the sales threshold, which Nintendo said was a "private and confidential matter".