Quote:
Originally Posted by Dextro
The WiiU is flopping hard and you can't expect third-parties to just be nice guys and release for the system. They aren't running charities.
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True but the problem is on both ends of the spectrum. Nintendo launched a poorly marketed system and one that is underpowered compared to its soon to launch competition. It still has not successfully sold the public on the touch screen, its defining feature, nor has it produced any compelling software to draw people in. And after E3, this is even truer, even if the games do look fun.
On the other hand, third parties have little reason to complain about their fortunes on Nintendo systems. They haven't (with a few exceptions) seriously supported a Nintendo system since the Gamecube, arguably. To find strong third party support that wasn't just shovelware, you'd have to go back to the Super Nintendo. And that was mostly because Nintendo was the top dog, at the time.
But if we just look at the Wii, the DS, and 3DS, we can see that developers have shifted toward the West and have embraced Sony and Microsoft even if it meant their own demise. The notion that only Nintendo games sell on Nintendo systems is false, the truth is that many third parties have either passed on or offered poor support.
Just look at the Wii:
The Wall of Shame. This chart was made back in 2010, but it captures the bulk of the third party efforts given toward the Wii.
What would make any third party developer think that they'd just snap up big sales now that the Wii U was out? The gaming audience has basically been trained to think that most of their stuff on Nintendo was shit, and that the "real" games are on the PS and Xbox. And in many cases, they're completely right. No one asked for a Dead Space rail shooter, a Soul Caliber adventure game, or a Castlevania fighting game, among other "wtf" ideas.
And it's true that the system was woefully underpowered compared to those two, and the standard controllers were different. But the system supported multiple controller configurations; you didn't have to use motion controls. And despite being underpowered, you could deliver great games for the system, especially if you built it from the ground up.
But this is an industry were companies were spending huge amounts of dollars making AAA games and going bankrupt for it. Releasing sequel after sequel even if the sales weren't there. And pushing things like DLC and Online Passes even when customers despised it. That's the ecosystem built on the the HD twins: go AAA or go home. Many studios risked everything and lost hoping to be the next big thing, and "B" grade titles vanished. If it weren't for the rise of "indie" games, nothing would exist beyond overly budgeted, focus tested, aggressively marketed titles. Imagine if the only movies that Hollywood made were Summer blockbusters, and you get the idea.
So yeah, I can sympathize with consumers and third parties baffled by Nintendo's decisions. I can also sympathize with Nintendo's bafflement with an industry seemingly focused on spending itself out of existence. This last generation, one of the few winners was Nintendo, who gimmick or not, managed to rake in billions while its competitors "won" the generation but did so by losing billions and damaging their companies.
Is it any wonder why they chose that path again? You can't win an arms race with companies determined to spend "whatever it takes" to win, even going bankrupt, and you can't always win with gimmicks or by relying on third parties determined to push graphical fidelity and "cinematic immersion" even when many of those titles will be critical successes and commercial failures.
Nintendo's problem is that it exists outside the industry that has been created since the Playstation, and it can't compete with the money that Sony and Microsoft and many third parties are willing to spend to "win".
Clearly the Wii U is not the lightning in a bottle the Wii was, but Nintendo has nothing to gain by pretending they are something they're not. There is now two markets in the gaming industry: Nintendo, and everyone else. They're going to have to figure out how to manage that market if they want to remain in business. And there is a market for them, a big one....possibly even bigger than the "everyone else" market. But they'll have to learn and adapt faster than they've been, although there are some signs they're doing just that.