Once upon a time, buying a video game was a homogenous experience. You heard about a game, went to your local big-box store, physically picked up the game, paid for it, and took it home where you could play it on the console in your living room. Maybe, if you were lucky, there might be a little demo station set up at the store where you could try out the game before you purchased it — assuming you didn’t have to body check six other kids out of the way to get a turn on the N64.
在一个时间为 O NCE，购买视频游戏是一个同质的经验。 您听说过一个游戏，去了当地的大型商店，亲自拿起游戏，为游戏付费，然后将其带回家，可以在客厅的控制台上玩游戏。 也许，如果您幸运的话，可能会在商店中设置一些演示站，在您购买游戏之前就可以尝试该游戏-假设您不必亲自检查其他六个孩子就可以得到游戏。打开N64。
Back then, your only options were what was available at the stores. If Kmart or Toys R’ Us didn’t have the game, you weren’t getting the game. In fact, there’s a very good chance that if one of these huge retailers didn’t have the game, it either existed exclusively in arcades or it didn’t exist. If a game wasn’t created and distributed by a big-name company, there was almost no chance that it was ever able to get off the ground.
那时，您唯一的选择就是商店提供的东西。 如果Kmart或Toys R'Us没有该游戏，那么您就不会获得该游戏。 实际上，如果这些大型零售商之一没有该游戏，那么它很有可能要么仅存在于街机游戏中，要么不存在。 如果游戏不是由大公司创建和发行的，则几乎没有机会能够起步。
Fast forward to today, where millions of games are just a couple of clicks away. All home consoles have e-shops where you can instantly download anything that’s ever been developed for your system. Small studios and even solo designers across the world are building incredible pieces of art that haven’t only sold, but have become cultural phenomenon. Imagine a world without Cuphead, Hollow Knight, Minecraft — the list goes on and on.
快进到今天，只需单击几下就可以实现数百万种游戏。 所有家用游戏机都有在线商店，您可以在其中立即下载针对系统开发的任何内容。 世界各地的小型工作室甚至个人设计师都在建造令人难以置信的艺术品，这些艺术品不仅已被出售，而且已成为一种文化现象。 想象一个没有Cuphead ， 空心骑士 ， Minecraft的世界-清单还在不断增加。
So where does Nintendo factor into all of this? After all, PC gamers have had access to incredible indies for the better part of 20 years. Microsoft and Sony followed up with their own digital download services, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, in 2004 and 2006 respectively. This opened up more opportunities for indie developers to get their titles out there. There’s only one problem — attracting new audiences.
那么任天堂在所有这一切中都考虑了什么？ 毕竟，在20年的大部分时间里，PC游戏玩家可以使用令人难以置信的独立游戏。 微软和索尼分别在2004年和2006年推出了自己的数字下载服务Xbox Live Arcade和PlayStation Network。 这为独立开发者提供了更多将其作品发布的机会。 只有一个问题-吸引新观众。
PC gaming has a prohibitively high cost of entry, with your average gaming PC costing upwards of $1000 USD. PlayStation and Xbox are cheaper, but can tend to scare off new gamers due to a perceived skill bar that they can’t reach. It doesn’t help that most of these consoles are still in the $500 USD range, which is still a pretty hefty sum for a kid to shell out only to discover that they aren’t that into video games after all.
PC游戏的入门成本高得惊人，您的平均游戏PC成本高达$ 1000 USD。 PlayStation和Xbox较便宜，但由于它们无法达到的感知技能水平，往往会吓跑新游戏玩家。 这些游戏机中的大多数仍处于500美元的价格范围内，这对孩子来说是一笔不小的数目，如果发现他们毕竟不是电子游戏玩家，这仍然是一笔不小的数目。
Then there’s Nintendo. For decades, Nintendo has been the entry point for young gamers. Franchises like Mario and Zelda are recognizable in every corner of the world. There’s a perception that these games are somehow less threatening, more accessible, and easier to jump into when you have no idea what the heck you’re doing. Factor in that Nintendo consoles are generally at least $100 USD cheaper than their competitors, and the whole idea of dipping your toes into the gaming pool is much easier to swallow — and that goes double for handheld systems.
然后是任天堂。 几十年来，任天堂一直是年轻游戏玩家的切入点。 马里奥(Mario)和塞尔达(Zelda)等专营权在世界每个角落都广为人知。 有一种看法认为，当您不知道自己在做什么时，这些游戏的威胁性较小，更易于访问，并且更容易进入。 Nintendo游戏机通常比竞争对手便宜至少100美元，而将脚趾伸入游戏池的整个想法更容易被吞噬-对于手持式系统而言，这是两倍。
Today, if you want to start your journey into the vast world of video games, the Switch is your cheapest option — a Switch Lite costs $199 USD, and if you grab one or two of the biggest name games, your total is still just over $300. Once you get that system home, you can immediately access the e-shop, where you’ll instantly find hundreds of games available under $20 USD. You can have a brand new device with a decent little library for the same price as a PS4 on its own.
如今，如果您想踏上广阔的视频游戏世界，Switch是您最便宜的选择-Switch Lite的价格为199美元，如果您购买一两个最大的知名游戏，您的总数仍然刚刚超过三百 将系统带回家后，您可以立即访问电子商店，在这里您可以立即找到数百种价格在20美元以下的游戏。 您可以拥有与PS4相同价格的全新设备，带有一个不错的小图书馆。
Nintendo is a company that knows exactly who they are and what they provide. They also know how to evolve. The company started in 1889 and produced playing cards, after all. They got big in the video game world by offering their unique — and often exclusive — brand of gameplay. Today, they have heavy competition with more money, more power, and more glamor. So what do they do? Something the rest of the big names have a hard time with — they attract brand new gamers.
任天堂是一家完全了解他们是谁以及他们提供什么的公司。 他们也知道如何进化。 该公司成立于1889年，毕竟生产纸牌。 他们通过提供自己独特的(通常是独家的)游戏玩法而在视频游戏世界中崭露头角。 今天，他们在激烈的竞争中拥有更多的金钱，更多的力量和更多的魅力。 那他们怎么办？ 其余的大牌公司都很难受–他们吸引了崭新的游戏玩家。
Nintendo could continue to do this all on their own. Their first party games are almost always big hits with mass appeal — just look at the sales for Animal Crossing: New Horizons if you don’t believe me. Instead, they opened up their e-shop in 2011 — a full 7 years after XBLA — and invited everyone to the party. Indie developers are encouraged to develop for their systems, and with Switch sales still doing so well, studios are jumping at the chance to churn out content. World wide, there are about 3 billion people playing video games. As of July 2020, Nintendo has sold over 62 million Switch consoles. The more Nintendo embraces the indie world, the more that number is going to go up. And the more indie games there are out there, the better the industry is going to be.
任天堂可以继续独自完成这一切。 他们的第一方游戏几乎总是具有巨大吸引力的热门歌曲-如果您不相信我，请看看《 动物穿越：新视野》的销量。 相反，他们在2011年(XBLA整整7年之后)开设了自己的电子商店，并邀请所有人参加聚会。 鼓励独立开发人员为他们的系统开发，并且由于Switch的销售仍然如此出色，制片厂正在抓住机会生产内容。 在全球范围内，大约有30亿人在玩视频游戏。 截至2020年7月，任天堂已售出超过6200万台Switch控制台。 任天堂对独立世界的拥抱越多，这个数字就越多。 而且独立游戏越多，整个行业的状况就越好。
Let’s look at Hollow Knight. Team Cherry released this little 2D Metroidvania for Windows in 2017 after raising funds for it through Kickstarter in 2014. Shortly thereafter it was followed by macOS and Linux versions. It gained some steam — no pun intended — and had already reached 1,000,000 copies sold when it launched for the Switch the next year. Today, that number has almost tripled, and a sequel is already in development. You can’t buy a Switch without someone recommending Hollow Knight to you within the first week or two, and it’s arguably one of the best games available on current gen consoles.
让我们看看空心骑士 。 Cherry团队在2014年通过Kickstarter为其筹集资金后，于2017年为Windows发布了这个小型2D Metroidvania。此后不久，紧随其后的是macOS和Linux版本。 它获得了一定的动力(没有双关语)，并且在第二年为Switch推出时已经售出了100万本。 今天，这个数字几乎增加了两倍，并且续集已经在开发中。 在第一到两周内，如果没有人向您推荐《 空心骑士》 ，您将无法购买Switch，它可以说是当前一代游戏机中最好的游戏之一。
When small studios develop high quality games at low prices, the rest of the industry has to adjust. Gone are the days where you can release a terrible game, slap a superhero on the cover, sell it for $50, and expect it to do well. Why would anyone buy Fallout 76, a notoriously buggy and uninteresting entry into an otherwise beloved franchise, when you can grab Dead Cells, Ruiner, and Celeste all together for the same cost?
当小型工作室以低价开发高质量的游戏时，整个行业都必须进行调整。 如今，您可以发布可怕的游戏，在封面上打一个超级英雄，以50美元的价格出售它并期望它做得好的日子已经一去不复返了。 当您可以以相同的价格将Dead Cells ， Ruiner和Celeste一起买下时 ，为什么有人会买到Fallout 76 ，这是臭名昭著的越野车和无趣的进入本来广受欢迎的系列的机会 ？
Nintendo knows what it’s doing. By embracing small studios and developers, it provides more value for the price than any other system on the market. Luckily for the consumers, we get to reap the benefits.
任天堂知道自己在做什么。 通过拥抱小型工作室和开发商，它提供了比市场上任何其他系统更高的价格价值。 对于消费者而言，幸运的是，我们可以从中受益。
Bre is a part-time writer based in Orlando, FL along with her handsome fella and two cats. She’s still working on her personal website, but you can find her anytime on Twitter and Facebook.
布雷是佛罗里达州奥兰多市的兼职作家，还有帅哥和两只猫。 她仍在自己的个人网站上工作，但您可以随时在 Twitter 和 Facebook 上找到她 。
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