How Flipnote Studio 3D could bring Nintendo big bucks if that was the real issue.

A lot of people think that Nintendo is not releasing Flipnote Studio 3D because it would not bring them a lot of profit. And they have a point: after the 30-day free trial, they will only get about $0.99 per month per user. And that's only users who care enough to get a subscription! But here are a few ways Nintendo could significantly increase their profits from Flipnote Studio 3D.

1. Flipnote Gallery: World subscription: $0.99 a month

This is the most obvious, since it's already a planned part of the service. The small fee, when multiplied by the number of users, likely helps pay for the gallery's servers and moderation. And it gives subscribers 100 Coins, 3 Star Coins, and access to FG:W at any hour of the day or night. Not a bad deal.

2. Star Coin packs: $0.99 each

Since Star Coins are required to a) post a Flipnote with the guarantee that it won't be taken down in 30 days and b) add a Creator to your favorites, it's pretty obvious that most users will be dying for more than 3 each month. So if Nintendo offered the ability to purchase a pack of 5 or so Star Coins for $0.99, it's obvious that people would be interested, both Creators and Collectors.

3. Premium Subscription: $4.99 per month

Even with a subscription, you are pretty limited with what you can do on Flipnote Gallery: World. Almost every action requires a coin: commenting on, posting, downloading, and of course, rating Flipnotes. And you only have 100 per month. For a lot of people, that will be enough. But not for dedicated Flipnote Fans.

Nintendo should offer a Premium subscription service for those who are more serious about their Flipnote. With a premium subscription, you would be able to post, comment, and download Flipnotes for free. No coin required. That way, all 100 of your coins could go toward rating Flipnotes.* If Nintendo offered a premium subscription, all types of Flipnote fans would be willing to pay the extra price. People there for the social experience could chat without worrying about conserving Coins. Hardcore Flipnote collectors could download unlimited Flipnotes to their SD cards for their own personal enjoyment.

A Premium subscription service, even one that's not exactly like the one I described here, would greatly increase Nintendo's profit from Flipnote Studio 3D.

*I considered the idea that the Premium subscription would give unlimited Coins--but that would utterly neglect the purpose of limiting the Coins in the first place. A limited number of Coins (for adding to Flipnotes) GREATLY increases the value of coins when compared to Stars. Stars were unlimited and thus literally worthless. One person could add a million Stars if he (or she) had enough patience. Stars were so worthless that Hatena calculated popularity based on the number of people who added stars, not the number of stars added. So all that time adding stars was wasted. One star = 1,000,000 stars from the same person to Hatena's popularity algorithm. With a limited number of Coins, Nintendo can (more) reliably use the number of coins per person as an indicator of quality.

In Conclusion

If Nintendo were to offer premium services such as Star Coin packs, or a Premium subscription, they could gain a lot more income from Flipnote Studio 3D. And people who are not interested in such features could easily ignore them. It's a win-win situation. So why is Nintendo not doing this?

For one thing, it would take some time and resources to incorporate such ideas into the software. But the main reason is that Nintendo Co., Ltd. doesn't think it's necessary! Apparently, the $0.99 a month subscription (or 100 yen) is enough to justify running Flipnote Gallery: World in Japan. In other words, it would also be enough if Flipnote Studio 3D were to be released in the West.

Since Nintendo is not desperate to make more money from Flipnote Studio 3D (not to mention that they have released Miiverse on 3DS (completely free) since FS3D was delayed), we can assume that the application is not being delayed because of financial reasons. The real reason remains an elusive and frustrating mystery.