Nintendo planning to simplify DLC with Wii U

Nintendo is hoping the recent addition of Near Field Communication built into the Wii U tablet will help simplify the DLC purchasing process, which Nintendo's president thinks is too complicated.  President Satoru Iwata believes that Nintendo has struggled to establish its online digital games business because online transactions are "not simple enough" for the typical Wii user.

“It is said that with each extra step [in purchasing DLC], the number of consumers drops by one-tenth,” Iwata told investors in a Tokyo financial briefing last week.  “Our challenge is how to improve such steps one by one.”

Nintendo is hoping NFC could be the solution, allowing customers to make purchases with the swipe of a credit card onto the controller.  Basically Nintendo wants to remove the hassle of entering all of the credit card information online.

“If we can provide a system in which consumers can use such e-money, they will far more easily be able to make payments than by entering credit card numbers or purchasing the Nintendo Prepaid Cards at stores,” Iwata said.

Of course, Iwata ensured there would need to be a way to make online transactions simple and swift, yet prevent people from making accidental transactions.  The overall idea, he said, was to establish a "solid system in which consumers will make payments at their will and with a minimal amount of effort."

Iwata admitted to the investors that Nintendo is often too precautious with its online services, but did say Nintendo will make a "bold attempt when the time is ripe".

“Unless the timing is right, we will lose the consumers who do not have an Internet connection," he explained.  “We have not gone so far yet because our developers have a belief that our products should be available to as many people as possible.”

While I'll admit entering credit card information is a bit of a pain, it has never prevented me from actually making a purchase.  Then again, I'm also not the typical Nintendo Wii user.  If you take a step back and look at the overall picture, there are a lot of families and older population that purchased a Wii that really have no prior experience with gaming consoles.  It is those people that, I feel, Nintendo is targeting with their "simplified" purchasing process. 

At the same time, the Nintendo Wii is not really known for a great online catalog.  Many of the games, as fellow GameZone writer David Sanchez likes to put it, are "downloadable Nintendo poop".

Nintendo recently announced plans to release the Wii U by the end of 2012.

[Develop]