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makingmusic476 on 25 March 2010
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Metallicube said:

3rd party developers are immensly stubborn when it comes to Wii, particularly Japanese ones. I remember back in like 2007 Japanese developers were holding off on Wii developement because they were anticipating a Wii collapse and "waiting for a drastic change." Well lo and behold, that drastic change never came, so they continue to sit on the sidelines and wait for their savior the PS3 to make an impossible comeback, the comeback that will never happen.

PS3 is simply far more attractive to these developers, even if PS3 is performing poorly, its development costs are skyrocketing, and its software barely sells in Japan. This is because in releasing their games on a Sony platform, they don't have to worry about competing with Nintendo's games, which are generally superior. I suppose it's just easier to avoid Nintendo altogether rather than try to actually better their own games and outdo them.

Nintendo's greatest strength, the ability to make great and accessible games, is also their greatest curse, because it scares away 3rd parties that can't measure up.

Eh, Japanese third parties seemed to be moving to Wii in large numbers over 2008 and early 2009.  Monster Hunter 3 changed platforms and games like Samurai Warriors 3, Tales of Graces, and Dragon Quest X were announced.  Plus Nintendo had the support of Suda 51, Marvelous, and other smaller studios.

I'm not sure what happened after that.  Groups like NIS and Gust started announcing projects for ps3, No More Heroes was announced for ps3/360, and other things called into question smaller Japanese devs' support of the Wii, and companies like Koei-Tecmo returned their attention to ps3 in full force, announcing games like Hokuto Mosou.

If anything, I thought the Japanese would be the people to truly embrace the Wii, unlike Western developers.  Not sure what happened.

Also, Japanese people tend to buy a lot of games (often for exorbitant prices), and I doubt they're not buying them simply because Nintendo's titles are on the same platform.  In the West I could maybe see this, but not in Japan.