and which one of those companies still exists?

*yawn* doesn't the Wii already receive the most 3rd party exclusives of all home consoles?

2 comments :

1) Stop blaming solely third parties for their lack of Wii support, the blame lies as much with Nintendo with its failure to get its prime customers ( Third parties) excited about its products...
2) Stop assuming crazy sales if third parties were to massively support the Wii, It's unrealistic to expect the software market on the Wii would increase massively if more third parties were to support that console. Which means you would end up having a lot more product competing for a slice of a slightly bigger pie...

90% of the people on this site claim they have better ideas on how to run a development studio than the people currently doing this yet they fail basic maths and business practices 101......

Forget Sven - Japan is where the big decisions are made and Monster Hunter is as big an IP as Capcom's got.
Also Spybogs is in development.   Would like a new RE for Wii though....

Ail said "It's unrealistic to expect the software market on the Wii would increase massively if more third parties were to support that console."

Uh, what? isn't that the logical conclusion there sir? More support equals more sales. I am constantly baffled as to why people continually make assumptions and accusations about Wii not being able to sell software, when it sells the most software of any console on the market. The craziest thing is that with the lack luster third party support Wii has received it still sells the most third party software too, that is just incredible. The problem with HD games is that if it isn't a AAA blockbuster it doesn't get noticed.

The other thing that confuses me further is this attitude of arguing with facts. Its been said and proven that Wii dev costs are 1/3 -1/4 the amount of HD dev, which means that the sales needed to recoup are much lower as well. I don't think third parties are going to say well Mario Kart sold 15 million and our game only sold 3 million.

The situation is companies bet on tech, and lost, there is no way to paint the picture any other way when games like GTA bring in record revenues and Take 2 are talking of little to no profits. The party is over, the way of doing things last gen no longer apply anymore. It was only a matter of time, that Atari XE commercial is a perfect benchmark to look too, to understand the current landscape. If you look at history you will see the NES and Wii are near identical in their approach.

For comment number one: wat?

Seriously dude, third-parties are not a console maker's prime customers, we consumers are. Nintendo's gotten the bulk of us, and the trend will (likely) continue in the future. If third-parties want to join the gravy train, they can (and it appears that more are...). But getting third-parties to develop for your system is merely a means to an end. (And yes, we're the "end.")

For comment number two: that's one hell of an assumption you're making there.

What is it about the Wii's market that makes it stale, exactly? The number of Wii owners has been increasing, far more than the HD twins combined, and software sales have reflected that. The meme originally was that third-party Wii software doesn't sell. Now, third-party Wii software already sells nearly the same as total 360 software (including first-party offerings like Halo and Gears), despite the fact that Nintendo still has the lion's share of the sales. What makes you think this trend won't continue as more Wii owners are added?

And, of course, (most of us) gamers go where the games are. How many times have you heard someone, on these very forums, say that they're interested in one or two Wii games, but not enough of them to buy the system? Don't you think that getting more and more great exclusives will tip them over the purchase point?

I'm not guaranteeing that it's going to happen, of course, but the scenario you're outlining of gamers staying put while the games migrate seems highly unrealistic to me.

At least you have NPDs and Nintendo's profit to gawp at, right? Right!??

Or you could, you know, buy another console.

I know that Sven is a nobody. But some people think he is "special" because he talks in forums.  When really I think he (like most of us) likes to see himself spout off on the web.

although skeptical of what the future will bring, the past years 2006-08 are true.

wouldnt be surprised if the others come true...

Two of the companies are still around -- but not the original companies.

Broaderbound sells productivity software and Hoyle card games:http://www.broderbund.com/store/broder/DisplayHomePage -- this is actually the Irish company Riverdeep which acquired them from The Learning Company in 2001 (The Learning Company bought Broaderbound in 1998). Broaderbound's game lineup now belongs to Ubisoft.

Sublogic currently provides “part-task” simulations and pre-contracting consulting to industry and research institutions: http://www.sublogic.us/history/ It was reestablished in 1998 after being sold to Sierra On-line in 1995. (Microsoft got the rights to its best-known product -- Flight Simulator -- from the original founder).

Accolade was purchased by Infogrames (now d/b/a Atari) in 1999: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accolade_(developer)

Epyx went backrupt in 1989 -- shortly after this commerical http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epyx  The assets are currently owned by System 3 of the UK