The real reason why 3rd party games do not sell well on Nintendo hardware

[NightDragon83]

cyberninja45 said:

NightDragon83 said:
1: Nintendo games are always the best sellers on Nintendo consoles, though there are some exceptions.

2: Ever since the N64 days 3rd parties have halfheartedly supported Nintendo consoles, and many of the biggest 3rd party titles have been left off Nintendo consoles altogether during this time like MGS and GTA for example. And yes, I know MGS appeared on the GC as a port/remake of the first MGS, and GTA appeared on DS in Chinatown wars... not the same thing as having a flagship game in the series launch on a Nintendo console.

3: Nintendo themselves. Unlike Sony or M$ who have no problem sharing the spotlight with major 3rd parties and their software, Nintendo does not actively push or advertise major 3rd party games on their consoles. Sure, occasionally they'll throw gamers a bone like "rescuing" Bayonetta 2 from certain doom, and actually signing a deal for some exclusive 3rd party games like they did with Capcom during the GC era (most of which were promptly ported to PS2).

4: Nintendo's audience. This also ties in with #2, because while SEGA, Sony and M$ have all gone for older gamers, Nintendo has always targeted younger gamers and families. Not a bad thing back in the NES/SNES days, but a terrible business decision in today's market with the majority of gamers in their 20s and 30s and who constantly crave cutting edge technology and new and challenging gameplay experiences rather than the same-old that Nintendo continues to offer on their consoles.

So basically there's only one reason that 3rd party games don't sell well on Nintendo hardware... and that reason is Nintendo.

1. This goes with my point that most nintendo games are high quality games.

2. This is the same as my point that most 3rd party games are either terrible or cash grabs.

3. Because MS and Sony need the 3rd party games to sell their consoles so they will promote them on alot, ps360 would not sell on 1st party alone.

4. Yes nintendo does cater to a wider audience.But do you think the gamers that buy metroid, zelda and xenoblade are children 7 and under or families?

No... which is why 2 out of 3 of those series have absolutely abysmal sales compared to the more casual offerings on Wii.  Prime 3, one of the best games on the Wii, couldn't even crack 2 mil, and Xenoblade, arguably one of the best games this gen period, can't even top just 1m WW on a system that has an install base of nearly 100m.  In comparison, a 3rd party "cash grab" like Just Dance 3 has nearly 10m in sales... which means at minimum 1/10 households with a Wii has Just Dance 3.

Even Zelda doesn't have the selling power it once did... Skyward Sword has done just 3.6m over the past 15 months, again, on a console with nearly 100m units WW.  In comparison, Skyrim sold more than double that in the same time on the 360 alone.  Ironically enough though, the 360's "top selling game" is the Kinect pack-in Kinect Adventures... which proves that the causual audience (which makes up about 90% of Nintendo's current userbase judging by sales) will buy anything that comes with a plastic peripheral.