I know the CEO of SmileBoom or whatever won't actually read this, so don't take this as an actual letter to them or anything, it's just more of a shower thought to discuss.
I think it's not even a debate that having a free-to-play version of SmileBASIC would benefit developers, but whether it would ever actually happen mainly depends on whether there's profit in it for SmileBoom, so that's why this thread is profit-oriented.
I'm thinking having a free-to-play version of SmileBASIC would actually be incredibly profitable. By this I mean a version of SmileBASIC that is completely free and lets you run programs but doesn't allow you to make programs or even read program's source code.
You would think at first this would decrease profits. Mainly because there are some people who bought SmileBASIC just to play the games and run the apps but don't actually care to develop, and now these people will be getting the software free.
First of all, I don't have any data on this, but I think this is an incredibly small minority. Most people who buy SmileBASIC at least have some intention of being a developer.
Now, even though this is a small group, it would still, at first, decrease profits a tiny bit. However, I'm thinking that this would not only be made up for but be exceeded by the amount of new developers who would show up due to the change in the platform.
Currently, SmileBASIC is actually a pretty poor development platform for indie developers. It's only a hobbyist platform. This is really caused by one fact and one fact alone: you have to buy the development tool even if you just want to play games.
This makes it so that the vast majority of people will be unwilling to even give SmileBASIC games a try. It's mainly only developers who buy the app, and people who just want to play a game won't.
However, if anybody could play a game for free, then you open up the software market to the entire 3DS (and eventually Wii U) market. Your market is no longer exclusive to a tiny bit of hobbyist.
I think this would cause SmileBASIC to get significantly more popular, and would, in turn, attract way more developers who would purchase the app and, in turn, drive profits upwards.
Given they are releasing the Wii U version towards the end of the Wii U's life, I wouldn't doubt if we'd see an NX version as well. So imagine how many developers would be interested if you told them, "Hey! You can create software for this brand new home console easily! No catch!" unlike now how we have the big catch of "but pretty much no one will play it!"
Especially since they're introducing USB keyboard support. Developing games on the Wii U and possibly NX would be as easy as developing games on the PC, and the PC is the king of free exclusive indie games for a reason, and you're basically making the Wii U and possibly NX just as accessible for developers as the PC (maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still pretty darn close).
The fact you (at least from what I've heard) can so easily port games between Wii U and 3DS would also be a huge selling point.
Obviously, I doubt SmileBoom will ever implement a system where you can sell apps, so this wouldn't attract all indie developers, but it'd definitely attract quite a bit.
What do you guys think? I'm not an economist or anything so this all could be BS.
I also don't know Nintendo politics, which can be strange sometimes. Maybe SmileBoom has thought of this but were blocked by Nintendo, who knows.
If this happened, do you think you personally would become a more active developer?
