So we all know about Retro right? Austin TX, 1st party developer, and world renouned game studio. They have a lot of talent in there, and they have games to prove it.
Now we all know about Nintendo. Kyoto, Japan, stubborn, overly controlling, and at times downright irritating.
Let's look at Retro's catalougue of games:
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Metroid Prime 3
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Mario Kart 7 w/EAD1
Wii U game (Rumored to be Eternal Darkness 2)
See the resemblance? All of those games are based off of Nintendo IP. Ever since 2001, Nintendo's been forcing their way on Retro. It's not like there are bad results, but I doubt people at Retro want to be Nintendo's puppets. It's time for Nintendo to give Retro free reign over their next project. They've more than proven themselves. This isn't EAD where Miyamoto can point and tell people what to do, they need more creative freedom. We don't want them ending up like Rare.
According to several articles I found, lots of key staff left after MP3, and several Retro employees were unhappy working on DKCR. Even more staff left after DKCR. Retro wanted to make a Zelda spin-off, and several new, mature IPs, and they were all terminated by Nintendo.
The tighter Nintendo's leash is, the more staff will depart from Retro. One can only hope that Nintendo approached Retro about MK7 with a "We want this game out by X date can you help us?" attitude instead of a "Drop what you're doing and get the hell over here" attitude.
Unfortunately, the effects of Nintendo's meddling can be seen at what used to be such a great studio: Nintendo Software Technology.
Things got a lot worse over at NST, and it lead to the disbandment of their console team. They (I think it had to do with Wii Crush?). They used to be so great, and now all they do is make Mario vs Donkey Kong games and DSiWare/3DS apps, when they used to be so great.
Nobody wants Retro to crash like NST did, so let's hope that this Wii U game "that everyone wants us to do" is something that THEY want to do as well. With the creative freedom they deserve, Retro can be THE best developer in the industry, maybe even better than Nintendo itself. /Rant
