Firstly let me start off by saying you should take all of the following rumors with a massive grain of salt. I've been friends with a guy who works at Nintendo for quite a few years (I won't say where but I wouldn't have thought his position would give him access to this sort of information). He's constantly giving me all sort of interesting "information", a lot of it completely rubbish but two recent events he got completely right. He told me a few days in advance that a 2D version of the 3DS was in the final stages of design and that The Wonderful 101 was originally planned as a Wii game. So I thought I'd share a few of his other rumours he's dished out on the off chance any of them are true.
- W101 development was an insanely drawn out and expensive project. The game would have required over 2 million sales to break even and NOA tried to draw attention to their Japanese counterparts that it was unlikely to be a good investment.
- NOA tried incredibly hard to bring GTAV to Wii U, including offering to pay for the port. Rockstar made it clear to Nintendo they see them as a company they have no intention to create products for ever.
- EA internal studios have returned all Wii U dev kits. Will offer nominal 3DS support. The conspiracy theories aren't accurate. EA just identified the console was underpowered and wouldn't appeal to consumers.
- 10 months before Wii U release, many first party developers co-signed a letter to higher ups informing them that the Wii U was an underpowered and unstable piece of hardware that limited their ability to design games. The letter was ignored.
- Retro has been planted with Japanese employees in decision making positions. Ignores NOA to follow Japanese orders. Employees unmotivated and just enjoy low hours with high pay.
- NOA know they're trying to sell a dud product. Reggie furious behind the scenes with the direction the company is headed. Iwata wanted closer control of the American arm to limit his influence.
- Wii U virtual console to eventually reach a library "as good as Wii." No gamecube planned. NOA accepts prices are insane but is dictated to by Japanese HQ.
- No cross purchase planned. Nintendo's financial plan is to milk existing customers for as much as they can because they don't think they can attract new consumers. Reggie is furious with this approach but has no support from higher ups.
- NOE virtually an extension of Japanese HQ.
- Massive talent flight from EAD as employees feel Nintendo aren't trying to make critically acclaimed games. Decision making dictated by older higher ups.
- Miyamoto's "secret IP" is a widely held joke within the company. Will never result in a decent game as he is a shadow of the game designer he once was. Japanese branch continues funding the project much to the disdain of the American branch.
- Miyamoto had no real input into Pikmin 3.
No idea if any of this is true. But interesting theories in any case...
