Joelcool7 said:
lol no most third parties learnt their lesson after Wii. When the Wii launched it didn't get support from bigger studios because they were embarrassed to support it. 360 had already been on the market for a year and most studios had completely shifted to 360 development. Going back to the drawing board to make Wii software seemed stupid since any studio and publisher that could afford next generation software was already invested in 360. Many publishers like Atari, Majesco and Midway didn't make the jump to PS3 and barely supported 360. The development costs were too high. Midway and Atari made the jump as soon as they had the capital needed Midway went under and Atari had to shed all of its internal development shutter most of its studios and has been on life support since. THQ did try supporting Wii but failed for a few years which lead them to put their money behind PS3/360. UbiSoft was the first publisher to have faith in Nintendo and actually brought some great content including the new IP Red steel. However early success shorted out and UbiSoft withdrew much of its more "hardcore" games focusing instead on low budget casual content and games like RavingRabbids. Sega invested a shit load and suffered greatly watching its more hardcore content bomb. EA was skeptical and stayed away too long and never achieved the level of success UbiSoft did. Majesco saw enough success on Wii/DS to save the publisher from its troubles. In the end it really didn't go so well for publishers on Wii. This wasn't to do with power all the developers and publishers wanted to make serious dough they wanted sales as high if not higher then on the HD systems. Developers were embarrassed to support Nintendo. However this next generation will be different. THQ wants UbiSofts spot as Nintendo's biggest third party supporter. THQ is stealing UbiSofts business model and they hope to win big with the support new hardware at launch with as many high quality and new IP you can. THQ is on its way down and it needs WiiU to survive. So THQ's full support is a given. UbiSoft is intent on maintaining its title so their support is also guaranteed. Atari, Majesco and every other struggling publisher is also guaranteed. Sega is very likely as is Activision to play major roles. EA who was not the biggest Wii supporter has changed its tune and appears to be a massive Nintendo supporter. Every major publisher in the industry that aren't first party are likely going to support WiiU. Why? A couple of factors. 1) Development costs, Dev costs are expected to double even triple on PS4/NextBox. THQ stated a 100$ retail price would be necessary just to break even. This means any publisher struggling cannot afford to put its main support behind Sony or MS. A single failed title could sink a studio even a publisher. 2) Unlike last generation when superior hardware had already been on the market for a year. This time WiiU is the first out of the gate. Nintendo's hardware is next generation and more powerful then PS3, developers will develop for WiiU at least two years before they can safely transition to more powerful hardware. Their is at least one whole year in which developers won't have final specs from Sony and MS meaning in the meantime they will focus on the most powerful current piece of hardware. 3) Hardware the tablet controller the free and open internet network the other features like NFC technology etc..etc.. these will all drive developers much like the Wiimote did initially as did Kinect. 4) Nintendo themselves is focusing massively on bringing back the hardcore demographic. So with a rumored Forza competitor as well as all of Nintendo's. Recent hiring at Retro and NOA and Nintendo's choice to focus on more western markets and hardcore games. Nintendo will have a year unchallenged to convince the core gamers to buy WiiU if they do Sega, THQ and UbiSoft will not have the sort of trouble they did this generation Nintendo appears to be in a far more advantageous position then they were when they launched the Wii!!! |
What do you mean by publishers were embaressed to support Nintendo?
The reason 3rd partys didnt support Wii much is because of the extra costs involved for very little return in sales, for multiplatform games wii has to have a seperate set of assets and a seperate design for the control mechanics due to its very differnt controller. So choices quickly turned to make a Wii only game or make a game that can be sold on PS3, 360, PC and even Mac. Wii has effectivley been competing with all the other platforms combined. Also with the marketing and development help that Sony and MS provide 3rd partys, Nintendos offering was just not that attractive.
Not to mention Wii's demographics are alot more diverse than the other platforms, its easy to make a game that appeals to alarge percentage of PS3/360 owners, a far more difficult task on Wii.
