Nintendo Planning Paid Wii Video Downloads Later This Year

Wii no Ma channel to see update. Iwata promises next step for the service.

2009-11-04 19:00 / Anoop Gantayat / Comments

Nintendo's Wii no Ma service has been quiet since launch.

We haven't heard much from Nintendo's Wii no Ma Channel since it kicked off earlier this year, but it does look like Nintendo has some big plans for the service. CEO Satoru Iwata outlined some of those plans during a Q&A session at the company's Tokyo financial briefing last week.

Since launching this past May, Iwata revealed, Wii no Ma has made its way into 930,000 households and has been used by 2.48 million people.

Before the end of the year, the channel will be updated to allow for paid video downloads. Currently, the video content at the service is free of charge, but even prior to release Nintendo did say that paid content would be a part of the Channel's future.

While not sharing further details on what kind of paid content will be offered, Iwata did say that Nintendo will be working to take the service to the next step. He believes that pushing the service could get more people using the Wii, including those who might not normally play games in the home.