Why do most third party publishers ignore the Wii completely ?

[Veder Juda]

I think there are a lot of reasons why, and each developer probably as their own mis of them.  Here's what I can think of:

1. Bad marketing: I don't mean advertising, I mean research.  Before this generation started, everyone pretty much wrote Nintendo off as a future 3rd party; and when they got details on the "Revolution", most didn't take it seriously, or thought it some kind of Hail Mary pass by a company desperate to stay relevant.  Instead of taking the Wii seriously and trying to understand what Nintendo was trying to do, they ignored it, and threw everything they had into the HD pot.  Since it takes years to make the games, the games that are coming out now, where started before the systems came out, and the Wii struck gold.
   
   
2. Biased developers: Many of the developers are gamers themselves, which is what fuels their passion, but also creates a bias.  The people most motivated to make games, are the ones attracted to gaming by the games; and the bigs one like GTA or Call of Duty, will lure people in who want to make games like those.  The developers seem to only want to make games for themselves, and the only gamers they recognize are the ones who play those same games; they don't want to make games FOR other people, and so those gamers tend to be dismissed as "casual" or "non gamers".  Nintendo's focus with the Wii was to reach out to broader audiences, and the developers didn't want to play ball.
   
   
3. Catch 22: Third parties are uncertain of the Wii, so they don't want to sink huge dollars into Wii projects, and won't make AAA games on the Wii until the second rate stuff does better.  The gamers on the other hand, don't want to buy second rate crap, especially when Nintendo makes AAA stuff, and third parties make AAA stuff on the HD consoles; they won't buy the second-rate games when there are better games to buy.  Both the developers and the gamers are waiting for the other to move, and we get a stalemate.  Gamers won't buy bad games, and it's unfair to ask them to, so third parties need to step up with better games that can meet the demands of gamers, compete with Nintendo, and compete with their own HD games.  Then again, why would you compete with yourself, which leads to...
   
   
4. Audience fragmentation: What happens if game developers started putting their hardcore games on the Wii, and they started selling?  While having more fans is a good thing, it means they now have two audiences to satisfy, and have to create two games to reach the whole audience instead of one.  It's preferable to keep all the games of one kind on one platform and have everyone by that platform.
   
   For example, if Tatsunoko vs. Capcom sells well, then Capcom's in a tight spot.  It's great to have more fans, but now they have to keep making different fighters on different platforms; do they keep Street Fighter on the HD consoles, and make Versus games on the Wii?  In a perfect world, everyone would have an HD console and a Wii, so all fighter fans could play Street Fighter and vs. Capcom; but we don't live in a perfect world, so there will be HD fans who want Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Wii fans who want Super Street Fighter IV.  Capcom will be stuck either having to make each game twice, or having each game only reach half the audience.
   
   
5. Nintendo: Some of the older developers remember Nintendo from years ago; Nintendo wasn't evil, but they also knew that business was a tough game, and did play hardball when needed.  Hiroshi Yamauchi himself was known for his imperialistic management style.  Also, they've got the development resources to carry a system (almost) by themselves; if Nintendo takes the lead, there is little incentive for them to do 3rd parties any favours.  Sony and Microsoft are not in that position; while they may have some big titles under their belts, they need 3rd parties like "a fish needs water", and will do what it takes to keep them on side.
   
   Although, there were some third parties who switched from Sony to Microsoft because they were worried that Sony was becoming too powerful; now it seems like they are trying to keep the HD consoles at war with each other, as close to a 50/50 split as possible.

There are more reasons than these, but this is all I care to write right now.