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Soundwave on 09 October 2012
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Chandler said:
Soundwave said:
Chandler said:
How many third party exclusives did the PS3 and Xbox360 get? Especially in the last 2 years? The Wii U already has like 10 of them in their launch window alone, excluding any digital exclusives of course. Admittedly, some of them get published by Nintendo but it's contract work with third parties, MS and Sony could do the same. People wanted Nintendo to step up and it looks like they did.


Launch window in the long term is somewhat inconsequential.

The key period for the Wii U is what happens afterwards.

You don't need a 1000 exclusives like I said. But 3-4 Bayonetta 2 sized exclusives every year from year 2-4 of the console cycle are important, and these exclusives should be "demographic broadening" .... meaning not "Mario _____".

Once Nintendo can get that they'll be OK, but until they do they're always going to have this problem with droughts. They haven't had a single console that had a really steady flow of content since the SNES, and that was 20 years ago now.


It would be nice if you could list the 3-4 Bayonetta sized third party exclusives that the PS3 and Xbox360 got every year until now because I have a feeling those are some very unrealistic expectations concerning Nintendo that not even the other two could satisfy.

The 360/PS3 have had Resident Evil 6, Borderlands 2, Dead or Alive 5, NiGHTS into Dreams HD, NBA 2K13, etc. etc. and this is like an average 4-6 week period for these consoles. There's always a ton of content coming out.

Granted yes these aren't exclusives, but unless you are a PC gamer, the PS3/360 are the cream of the crop right now. The Wii U will not have that benefit because when PS4/720 come out there likely will be fairly sizable differences between multiplatform releases available to the wide mainstream audience (not just locked away for people who play on high-end PCs).

Nintendo needs to prepare for this and ensure their platform has enough content. If you go more than 2-3 months without a major release -- this is a problem.

The fastest way to send people running to other platforms is with a software drought.

Personally I think Nintendo should just build-up a team of 5-7 trusted dev partners that they can work with. Platinum Games is one. Frozenbyte (Trine 2) could be another. Bring a few more of these studios on board, and it doesn't have to be super-expensive, there's lots of promising indie studios and Japanese dev houses that make great content, they just don't have any funding.

Nintendo's never going to be well liked by a certain section of the game industry (see: EA), they have their own POV and Nintendo has theirs, no sense in crying about it or whining about it. Go figure out some contigencies.

There has to be content in between the Marios and Zeldas and Donkey Kongs. Having one Zelda + Mario Party alone for the Wii the last 12 months is unacceptable, you cannot assume third parties give a sh*t about you (if they do, great, it's a nice bonus). You have to be ready with content if they bail out again.