The Wii U will not charge for the ability to play games online or access any other online features, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told shareholders this week. In other words, Nintendo has no plan to bring a system like Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold Plan to the console.
Iwata said he feels that making online features free for everyone will help spread information about popular products by word of mouth. Lowering the number of fees on consumers will also likely help both hardware and software sales.
Separately, Iwata also disclosed that a group of third-party developers were given access to the upcoming console at the same time as the company's own studios. Iwata hopes that giving outside developers more time will translate into a quicker turnaround for the first wave of third-party Wii U titles.
[Via Andriasang]
