A huge Nintendo fan wrote a letter to Nintendo.

[DevilRising]

The problem with that letter is the assumption that the reason Wii U doesn't have stronger third party support, is because somehow Nintendo doesn't want it to? And that somehow magically Nintendo could just make third party publishers put out more games for the console? Both fairly ignorant points to make.

I'm fairly certain that if Nintendo could get third parties to make more games for their system, outside of them having to hand every publisher a fucking money hat to do so, that they would. Third party support was strong at launch, and I'm sure they assumed sales would be much better than they have been, and that that support would REMAIN strong. Unfortunately, it has not been, on either count.

Several third party publishers say Nintendo needs to put out more games themselves to get the system more sales before they'll commit to making Wii U titles. And yet some of those same publishers in the past have bitched that their games "Can't compete with first party Nintendo game sales". So which is it? Personally, I think if more publishers took Ubisoft's approach, just saying "Fuck it" and supporting the system anyway, in hopes that sales will pick up and their investment will pay off, I think that would HELP the console sell. If, for example, GTAV were confirmed to be coming to Wii U, I think that would help. It shouldn't be a matter of "Nintendo needs to put out more games to sell their system before we bother", it should be "We'll put out some games for your console to help make it more attractive to buyers". Unfortunately, some publishers just don't see it that way.

So, I'm sorry, but personally I find that "open letter from a 'hardcore Nintendo fan'" to be kind of BS. It certainly IS incumbent upon Nintendo to put out more of their own proven franchises to help the system pick up steam. But third parties waiting around, shuffling their feet, afraid to commit, is also just as big a part of the problem. If more third party publishers had bothered putting out games in the first half of 2013, there wouldn't have BEEN the drought that there was. So it goes both ways.