Why third party core games fail(ed) on the Wii

[Qays]

jarrod said:

Qays said:

The thing is, for all their groaning, publishers don't seem to be doing that badly by focusing on the HD twins. We are, in fact, going through something of a core gaming renaissance, with new IPs being regularly introduced and performing pretty damn well without so much as shaking a stick in the Wii's direction. The reason for this is clear: a core game gains nothing by released on the Wii because that's not where the core gamers are.

Are you kidding me?  There have been more layoffs, buyouts, bankruptcies and closures for developers and publishers in the past 4 years than at any time since the big crash of the early 80s.  Companies now have to target a combined 3 platforms (360, PS3 and sometimes PC) rather than just one, spend up to 10 times what they used to on PS2 for development and promotion (budgets for AAA HD games have reached $100m plus this gen), and they get generally comparable sales as they did on just PS2, at best (most franchises are down really).  Most companies are barely staying afloat this gen, this is what you call a "renaissance"?

We're seeing consolidation, but none of the big players are in any serious financial trouble. The industry is becoming more efficient because production costs are higher. That's not a bad thing.