JEMC said:
Not necessarily true. When this gen started, many developers complained about high costs and some of us thought that they would choose to play safe and develop for the Wii. And after the initial closures our believes were reinforced... but no, they decided that the risk was worth it and forgot about the Wii. And part of that is due to the publishers, not the developers. So unless Nintendo builds a very robust online infrastructure and position themselves as a place were developers can launch their games without the need of middlemen (yes, something like Steam), I'm afraid that the situation may repeat.
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Yeah, you are right.
But if budgets double - rumor has it - that business model may not work this time. What also happened last gen, was that some developers like Ubisoft made money with Wii and they certainly didn`t invest on Wii, but on the HD twins. I`m gonna risk and say Sega and Activision as good examples.
More, since the market grew it help sell more and make a profit or brake even.
What was the cost of last generation? 70 euro/dollar games, paid dlc, paid Xbox live and now PSN (in part).
If budgets double even for the first projects, something has got to change. Higher price on game? Higher LDC prices? A raise on paid subscriptions like Live and PSN?
With the menace of mobile gaming the market is sure to at least be a bit more divided with more money being spent on those platforms aswell, which could lead to less being spent on home consoles. Wether because our own budgets are of the same amount or because we need to have money for other platforms.
I just don`t see a way that the business model as we know it to keep on being the same.
That`s Wii U might end up being a safe haven for some developers, specally if they don`t have the funds to double their budgets or can`t spend an extra year to develop a game.
Wii U will seem, i believe, less risk than a completely new generation. Of course it would help a lot if Nintendo, like you said, position themselves as a viable alternative.
