A new patent filed by Nintendo shows the company's plans for a personalized rating system in the eShop. This system will allow users to see tailored recommendations for games in the Nintendo eShop.
Nintendo's New Patent Adds Personalized Suggestions to the eShop
Nintendo recently filed a new patent for a personalized rating system in the eShop. The system will give users tailored suggestions for new games to download based on ratings.
First spotted by Game Rant, Nintendo's new patent shows plans for the company's eShop to display ratings based on what it believes users' perspective is. Essentially, the new system would generate ratings for games in the store based on what it thinks the user enjoys and would want to play.
Although Nintendo doesn't explicitly detail how it will use the new system, it would make sense for the company to use it to suggest new games to users. Perhaps we'll see a new recommendations section in the eShop.
It's also worth noting that a patent doesn't necessarily mean the feature will come out–there are plenty of patents that don't ever come to fruition. All we know for certain is that Nintendo's exploring the idea of this new system.
Other games stores such as Steam or the PlayStation store don't include ratings systems, so this would be a new feature for game stores. Nintendo's new patent suggests the eShop will take an approach more similar to Amazon than game competitors.
How Would Nintendo's New Patent Work?
In the patent Nintendo explained how it would generate the game ratings. The exact system itself looks pretty complicated. Nintendo clearly has put a lot of research into this new system, hence the patent.
Without all the technical details, the eShop will take critic and user ratings and information about sales to establish a base rating. This rating will then be adjusted by the ratings from users with similar tastes.
With the new system, Nintendo would be able to provide users with more personalized recommendations for new games. Users will benefit from this by potentially discovering new games to enjoy. Developers could also benefit from this by having their games featured in the eShop.
Nintendo Is Switching Up Game Store Ratings
As we mentioned, Nintendo seems to be taking an approach more similar to Amazon than other game competitors. Implementing this new ratings system would change how the eShop encourages users to download new games.