Under pressure given that it's just posted its first ever annual loss, Nintendo has announced it plans to embrace full-game downloads.

The first will be in conjunction with with the physical retail release of 3DS' New Super Mario Bros. 2 this August.
New Super Mario Bros. 2, the sequel to the best-selling Nintendo DS title with 29 million sales under its belt, will kickstart Nintendo's big push in the digital market with future first party offerings expected to be downloadable via the 3DS's eShop.

"We will initiate the so-called digital download sales, or the digital distribution of packaged software, in addition to the sales of packaged software through the existing distribution channels," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in a presentation made to investors.

"In principle, starting from this software, the company will offer the software titles that Nintendo itself publishes in both packaged and digital download formats so that our consumers can choose the way to purchase them."

Time for change

Nintendo added that in addition to selling games digitally via the eShop, consumers will be able to purchase download codes from high-street and online retailers with retailers setting the price on these 16-digit codes to be redeemed via the eShop.

"Some may wonder why we are adding this kind of process, as it may seem more complicated," said Iwata.

"However, for the majority of our consumers, this is a familiar process as they are already accustomed to making payments at the retail outlets, and it can lower their psychological barrier to making online purchases.

"Some consumers are hesitant in purchasing digital download software because they are concerned about inputting their credit card numbers".

Digital destiny

Iwata added that by enabling retailers to set the prices on redeemable codes, Nintendo expects to see some competition between retailers offering cheaper costs for the digital versions.

Adding to this digital push, Nintendo confirmed that its upcoming tablet-controlled Wii U console will also embrace the digital download market in the same fashion starting on launch day.

[source: Nintendo]