All that Icon Games Entertainment wanted to was brag about how many times its downloadable Wii games had been purchased.
The small developer posted a complete year-in-review of 2011, letting its dedicated consumers see sales numbers from services like the Playstation Network, iTunes App Store, and Wiiware.
But after the list was posted, Nintendo contacted Icon Games and asked them to remove all references to Wiiware sales numbers. It is apparently against the Wiiware policies to post this information, even if it’s related strictly to your company.
Now, Icon’s director Richard Hill-Whittall is speaking out against the poluicy.
“Are they scared to reveal how their online services perform or do they just dislike developers being able to run effective businesses?” he opined in a blog post.
He called the policy “incredibly unfair and damaging to indie developers publishing on Nintendo stores.”
It should be noted that Sony and Apple were perfectly content to let Icon Games keep sales numbers up that related to their digital download platforms, even if they may actually have similar policies in writing.
“I don’t believe Nintendo are necessary alone in this policy, but I believe they are by far the most draconian in enforcing it. I have seen many different reports from developers for games on XBLA, PSN, Steam and so on with details of sales figures, but never anything for a Nintendo store,” Hill-Whittall said.
