HappySqurriel said:
What you don't seem to be willing to see is that success tends to lead to greater success in this market ... With how well the Wii has sold this generation (along with the success of the Nintendo DS and the 'hype' around the 3DS) as soon as Nintendo approaches major third party publishers with information about their next generation console they will begin working on games for it; and the will probably devoted some of their better teams, with popular franchises, and adequate resources to complete these projects. With more, higher quality and better known games third party publishers will see far greater success than they did on the Wii; and it is likely that this will result in a greater focus on this system. If Nintendo releases the system before their competition it is likely that they will get ports of all major games being released to HD consoles today, and a significant number of games which are effectively exclusive or timed exclusive simply because there isn't a competition system to port them to; and by the time their competition arrives on the market, Nintendo's system can be significantly less expensive, with a larger more interesting library, and the full support of third party publishers. |
Problem is, the same did not hold true for Sony regarding the PS3 failing compared to the PS2, but this is another topic.
Present success better prepares one for future success, but it does not guarantee it. You may and most likely are exactly right regarding 3rd parties and the next Nintendo next console. However, to think just because Nintendo is #1 means they will get equal 3rd party support compared to Sony and Microsoft is a bit lacking.
The company cultures of both Sony and Microsoft inherently invite 3rd party support. Sony the most because 3rd party support is what made the PS1 and PS2 such smashing successes. Microsoft is along the same lines with their involvement in the PC gaming industry prior to launching the Xbox.
Neither Sony or Microsoft could last 1 year without a quality 3rd party release. Their biggest weaknesses besides an emphasis of technology over software is their unwillingness to generate quality 1st party games. Sony and Microsoft consoles in this respect are defined by 3rd parties, while Nintendo defines itself.
I believe Nintendo's 1st party successes have engendered an attitude of "we are #1 now, we were #1 then, and the products we make will never be outshined by a 3rd party product." I have not seen any 3rd party game released on the Wii to make me think to the contrary. The link Khuutra listed of the top selling 7th generation games is dominated by Nintendo 1st party games.
Regarding 3rd parties, Nintendo's 1st party success is it's weakness. Can the 3DS buck this trend? Of course.