More Storage Promotes Software Sales

Kris Erickson • Apr 10, 2009 • Comments (0)

Anecdotal evidence from developers Telltale Games suggests that when hardware manufacturers offer more storage space, customers are more likely to purchase downloadable content. The Nintendo Wii was hampered for a long time by its shortage of on-board memory, which capped out at only 512 MB. That is not a lot of space, even for relatively small Virtual Console titles. However recently, Nintendo announced that it would allow users to download and play content directly from High-Density SD cards. Since that functionality has been added, Telltale Games reports that sales of its episodic downloadable game, “Strongbad’s Cool Game for Attractive People” have more than doubled.

Telltale CEO Dan Connors attributes most of these increased sales directly to the newly available storage space:

"Nintendo's new solution really opens the door for players to add to their collection of downloadable games, which is critical for a series with multiple installments. This is a major step forward for episodic gaming. We're looking forward to even greater success on WiiWare with Strong Bad, as well as other projects."

If other developers experience similar growth in sales, it would suggest that hardware manufacturers have an interest in providing cheap, plentiful storage to gamers. Microsoft has been criticized for charging high prices for its proprietary Xbox 360 hard drives, and many users report filling up their 20- and 60 GB drives easily. Perhaps instead of charging more than the market price for these drives, Microsoft should consider subsidizing them with sales of downloadable content and Xbox Live subscription profits. Who knows how many customers are sitting on the fence because of a lack of storage?

For around $30, Wii owners can now have access to 16 GB of high-speed storage for the Wii.