LucasArts President Jim Ward on Nintendo's third-party relationships

[shams]

sinha said:

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Nintendo:

Q Has the Wii changed the thinking in any way at LucasArts?

A No, it hasn't changed thinking. I'm excited by it. The Wii came out of nowhere. And by the way, with all due respect to Nintendo, they're not the greatest at third-party relationships because they're kind of focused on their own games. So we didn't really know a whole lot about this thing, and they weren't out there trumpeting, "We're going to broaden the industry." They just kind of let it happen. But that direction and that effort - I'm on a mountaintop cheering that on. And so . . . for us, there was a bit of a wait-and-see in terms of "Well, what in the hell is this thing even?" and "Is it going to take off?" But the minute we understood what it was, we began development.

Welcome to Nintendo.

The reason they make SO MUCH money is from selling 1st-party software - unlike both MS & Sony (more Sony, but also MS) - who make money mainly off licensing.

Call them selfish or whatever - but its about smart business planning. Ninty want to have the "first" WiiSports game out, the first "WiiFit" game out (etc..). 

Before everyone jumps onboard, and goes "clone" crazy.

You have to gain Nintendo's respect - and the more you do, the closer they will let you get to (some of) their secrets. Capcom & SquareEnix are examples of companies that get a lot closer than other developers.

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They have been burnt badly in the past with various companies "stealing" (i.e. cloning) secrets or ideas. Nintendo these days is about keeping secrets as close to their chest as possible, until something is actually ready for market.