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happydolphin on 15 April 2013
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@gum. TV is a killer app, that was funny.

Carl2291 said:
happydolphin said:

I agree that it's the games that matter, I agree with you. But I don't agree that 3rd party support is the answer. Games are the answer. Whether it's 3rd party games or Nintendo-made games, as long as the expanded market is catered to the answer is there. Granted the console would also have to be at a price that the expanded market has this far embraced for Nintendo home consoles (<=200$).

The Wii and the cube show that Nintendo consoles don't thrive on 3rd party titles, but the Wii powerfully shows that Nintendo consoles _can_ thrive on purely Nintendo games. Simply looking at the top 20 will show us that.

In other words, the U situation and the PS3 situation are extremely different scenarios, since Nintendo actually doesn't need 3rd parties to ensure success.

 


3rd party support IS the answer. Nintendo cant single handedly support the Wii U alone, especially when they're also supporting the 3DS. They need and rely on 3rd parties to fill the gaps, and at times, take the reigns.

Yeah, the mainline big selling Nintendo games will do a whole lot to help the situation, but they arent the key answer. The key answer is the library as a whole. The Wii's main problem post-2010 was the library. It stagnated. Nothing worthwhile was releasing anymore. You had the odd hit like Zelda and the Just Dance games, but there was Months where literally nothing new released. No compelling software releasing = no sales. No compelling software + library not worth the $350 asking price = recipe for disaster.

Nintendo cant release a compelling Wii U game every Month. Between the Hundreds of 3rd parties, they can. They can keep the system feeling fresh. They can keep the system in the media spotlight. 

The Wii has sold over 842 Million units of Software, 761 if you take away the Wii Sports total.

Nintendo Published (Not developed) 388 Million of those games, 307 if you take away the Wii Sports total.

That means that over 450 Million 3rd party games were sold on the Wii. Trust me, 3rd parties matter. From "big" releases like MH3 and DQX to the shovelware like Carnival Games.

It's my understanding that the sales of 3rd party games on the Wii increased dramatically _after_ Nintendo secured a successful launch thanks primarily to 1st party titles. It is my understanding that 3rd party titles are not needed to push a Nintendo console in its early years.

Here is the yearly breakdown of Wii SW sales. I'm not sure how to get the breakdown by publisher anymore, but here is a start

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
8,454,915 74,814,653 177,044,396 181,775,778 182,659,103 135,509,472 72,256,872

If I could subtract the amount Nintendo sold per year, that would help us complete the analysis, but it is my strong understanding that 3rd party games did not push the Wii's success in the early years (2006 to 2009).