WiiTalk - The Complete Nintendo Wii Resource - View Single Post - Nintendo's relationship with Third party developers.

Gaffer · 26-05-2007, 12:19 PM

EDIT: rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd tack this onto the existing one

As a follow on from my previous entry regarding 3rd party titles, I thought I'd follow it up a little.

In short, the story so far is as follows:

Sony, M$ and most developers pooh-pooh ninty's new "Revolution" console and decide to go all out supporting either 360 or PS3.
360 appears...so far so good. PS3 gets ridiculous delays and pi55es off most of Euroland in the process, and additionally ends up being monster hard to code for.
Revolution appears (now called Wii of course) and decides to show everyone how it SHOULD be done. Poorer graphics, but gameplay and FUN factor leagues ahead of the competition.
Goes on to sell out everywhere......even now. Demand is unprecendented.
Aforementioned developers along withn rivals M$ and Sony are quite literally caught with their pants down ----- "Oh Noes.....who'd've known this'd happen?" they quietly opine to one another (Sony has even gone so far as to attempt to copy Ninty with their half-arsed 6axis controller).
Importantly, all these developers who previously ignored the potential, have suddenly woken up and are now spending MORE time developing for the Wii than for ANY other console (360 included).

Now it takes about 1-2 years to create a game. Games on the Wii are far far far cheaper and easier to code than either Xbox or PS3 (ave spend to develop a big budget Wii vs. PS3 game = 4mill vs. 30mill

). Not only that, but with it's runaway success so far, developers have realised that they made a mistake opting to ignore it.
Of course, Ubisoft is the exception, being the only notable 3rd party to REALLY go the whole hog with dev support for Wii early on.

Now look at the above statistic. 1-2 years.
Hmmmmmmmmm....interesting Mr Bond

. This means that the 3rd party games that developers quickly stuck their A-teams on, will only really start hitting us around Xmas '07 time.

Another interesting fact; number of games currently in development for each platform (excluding already released and not for release in EU):
PS3 - 166
360 - 224
Wii - 208

Also numbers of exclusives currently in development for the consoles:
Wii = 69
PS3 = 40
360 = 39

Remember, I'm just giving "currently in dev" figures here......for instance, the 360 has 31 already released exclusives meaning that it's total is a whopping 70. Wii and PS3 released much later...but the gist is the same.

On top of this, Nintendo has a few more tricks up it's sleeve.....for instance, the pending release of a Games Channel that allows you to download new games (rather than classics a la VC) similar to XBL and Sony's online service.

They're also starting their online service (Mario Strikers Charged) and it looks like they may at least hold their own against the competition even if they don't scale the heights of XBL.

So in short, yes, it's not shocking that most of the 3rd party efforts to date, have been very shoddy - but that's because the devs realized they were about to miss the boat and they'd better get SOMETHING out there and get it out there FAST. Hence the slew of utter crapware foisted on us by Ubisoft early on. However, as the userbase of the Wii continues to expand (eventually surpassing that of the 360), 3rd parties will have no choice but to support the Wii and cash in (which I believe they've started to do already).
The misconception is that they don't want to take on Nintendo's own hard hitters such as Mario Kart/Galaxy/Strikers/Papery Thingy etc etc...but this is a silly argument imo as then why would these SAME developers "take on" the likes of Halo or Gran Turismo?
If they were all as cowardly as that, we wouldn't see ANY 3rd party efforts on any console.
No. I believe a 3rd party developer just wants to make money. They don't particularly care if the console maker themselves makes good games, that won't stop them competing....they still want to make money themselves (regardless of wether it's Ninty/Sony/M$ they're "competing" against).
I personally couldn't give a 5h** WHO made the game I buy....it just needs to be GREAT. This is why I bought Heatseeker. The idea that the majority of Wii owners care more about Nintendo games is utter rubbish imho.....ESPECIALLY since I have a sneaky feeling that MORE Wii owners are new gamers than the specific "Ninty-loving" minority.

The proof of the pudding is that the Ninty-loving minority had gamecubes...but the Wii has surpassed the sales rates of Gamecubes so far.
Where have the extra people come from? Yes, that's right, they're not people specifically looking to play in-house Ninty games (nintendo-loyalists), they're the otherwise normal non-gamers mixed with previous non-ninty gamers who simply want a fun title.
So the idea that it will only be Nintendo titles that sell on the Wii I believe to be a false prediction this time round.
Yes, Ninty titles will sell.....but won't necessarily automatically be the only ones that will (i.e., unlike in previous generations, this time round I don't believe that people are buying the Wii to just play their favourite Nintendo games).

Incentives to develop for the Wii (apart from the biggest one of FAT PROFITS

) include Nintendo already releasing the capability for third parties to go online gaming as well as for them to include Mii's in their games (Sega's currently making one for instance).

So hold on to your seatbelts folks. Like any console, the first year is the poorest. It's Xmas '07 when we'll really start to see the 3rd party onslaught.

26-05-2007, 12:19 PM	#8 (permalink)
Gaffer Best Avatar on WiiTalk Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Sitting in my Nowhere Land. Posts: 1,278 Mii Mood: Wii Username: Gaffer Wii Code: 5822.9585.9861.0525	3rd Party Titles part 2. EDIT: rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd tack this onto the existing one As a follow on from my previous entry regarding 3rd party titles, I thought I'd follow it up a little. In short, the story so far is as follows: Sony, M$ and most developers pooh-pooh ninty's new "Revolution" console and decide to go all out supporting either 360 or PS3. 360 appears...so far so good. PS3 gets ridiculous delays and pi55es off most of Euroland in the process, and additionally ends up being monster hard to code for. Revolution appears (now called Wii of course) and decides to show everyone how it SHOULD be done. Poorer graphics, but gameplay and FUN factor leagues ahead of the competition. Goes on to sell out everywhere......even now. Demand is unprecendented. Aforementioned developers along withn rivals M$ and Sony are quite literally caught with their pants down ----- "Oh Noes.....who'd've known this'd happen?" they quietly opine to one another (Sony has even gone so far as to attempt to copy Ninty with their half-arsed 6axis controller). Importantly, all these developers who previously ignored the potential, have suddenly woken up and are now spending MORE time developing for the Wii than for ANY other console (360 included). Now it takes about 1-2 years to create a game. Games on the Wii are far far far cheaper and easier to code than either Xbox or PS3 (ave spend to develop a big budget Wii vs. PS3 game = 4mill vs. 30mill ). Not only that, but with it's runaway success so far, developers have realised that they made a mistake opting to ignore it. Of course, Ubisoft is the exception, being the only notable 3rd party to REALLY go the whole hog with dev support for Wii early on. Now look at the above statistic. 1-2 years. Hmmmmmmmmm....interesting Mr Bond . This means that the 3rd party games that developers quickly stuck their A-teams on, will only really start hitting us around Xmas '07 time. Another interesting fact; number of games currently in development for each platform (excluding already released and not for release in EU): PS3 - 166 360 - 224 Wii - 208 Also numbers of exclusives currently in development for the consoles: Wii = 69 PS3 = 40 360 = 39 Remember, I'm just giving "currently in dev" figures here......for instance, the 360 has 31 already released exclusives meaning that it's total is a whopping 70. Wii and PS3 released much later...but the gist is the same. On top of this, Nintendo has a few more tricks up it's sleeve.....for instance, the pending release of a Games Channel that allows you to download new games (rather than classics a la VC) similar to XBL and Sony's online service. They're also starting their online service (Mario Strikers Charged) and it looks like they may at least hold their own against the competition even if they don't scale the heights of XBL. So in short, yes, it's not shocking that most of the 3rd party efforts to date, have been very shoddy - but that's because the devs realized they were about to miss the boat and they'd better get SOMETHING out there and get it out there FAST. Hence the slew of utter crapware foisted on us by Ubisoft early on. However, as the userbase of the Wii continues to expand (eventually surpassing that of the 360), 3rd parties will have no choice but to support the Wii and cash in (which I believe they've started to do already). The misconception is that they don't want to take on Nintendo's own hard hitters such as Mario Kart/Galaxy/Strikers/Papery Thingy etc etc...but this is a silly argument imo as then why would these SAME developers "take on" the likes of Halo or Gran Turismo? If they were all as cowardly as that, we wouldn't see ANY 3rd party efforts on any console. No. I believe a 3rd party developer just wants to make money. They don't particularly care if the console maker themselves makes good games, that won't stop them competing....they still want to make money themselves (regardless of wether it's Ninty/Sony/M$ they're "competing" against). I personally couldn't give a 5h** WHO made the game I buy....it just needs to be GREAT. This is why I bought Heatseeker. The idea that the majority of Wii owners care more about Nintendo games is utter rubbish imho.....ESPECIALLY since I have a sneaky feeling that MORE Wii owners are new gamers than the specific "Ninty-loving" minority. The proof of the pudding is that the Ninty-loving minority had gamecubes...but the Wii has surpassed the sales rates of Gamecubes so far. Where have the extra people come from? Yes, that's right, they're not people specifically looking to play in-house Ninty games (nintendo-loyalists), they're the otherwise normal non-gamers mixed with previous non-ninty gamers who simply want a fun title. So the idea that it will only be Nintendo titles that sell on the Wii I believe to be a false prediction this time round. Yes, Ninty titles will sell.....but won't necessarily automatically be the only ones that will (i.e., unlike in previous generations, this time round I don't believe that people are buying the Wii to just play their favourite Nintendo games). Incentives to develop for the Wii (apart from the biggest one of FAT PROFITS ) include Nintendo already releasing the capability for third parties to go online gaming as well as for them to include Mii's in their games (Sega's currently making one for instance). So hold on to your seatbelts folks. Like any console, the first year is the poorest. It's Xmas '07 when we'll really start to see the 3rd party onslaught.