Used games only a problem if people want to sell, Fils-Aime says

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"Impacts games that are annualized … much more than it impacts Nintendo"

If developers and publishers have a problem with used game sales, Reggie Fils-Aime thinks they should make games people don't want to sell. The president of Nintendo of America spoke to Polygon about the controversial issue of used games on next-gen consoles.

"Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content," Fils-Aime said. "Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong. The consumer wants to keep playing Mario Kart. The consumer want to keep playing New Super Mario Bros. They want to keep playing Pikmin. So we see that the trade-in frequency on Nintendo content is much less than the industry average--much, much less. So for us, we have been able to step back and say that we are not taking any technological means to impact trade-in and we are confident that if we build great content, then the consumer will not want to trade in our games."

Microsoft has clarified that it will leave resale restrictions up to publishers on Xbox One, and Sony has said PS4 publishers can continue with used-game-monetizing online passes if they so desire.

Of course, Nintendo's burgeoning digital sales might make staying out of the used game argument a bit easier for the company; Animal Crossing: New Leaf broke day-one eShop sales records when it released on June 9.

"The fact of the matter is, we will see what happens with publishers," Fils-Aime said, "but it seems to me that every major publisher has come and said we don't mind used games."

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.