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Train wreck on 23 April 2014
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RolStoppable said:
Mythmaker1 said:

The difference between the question in the thread title and the examples in the OP is that, unlike those examples, there's an actual basis for third-parties to avoid Nintendo. 

They have a history (albeit one that, depending on your perspective, is in the past) of being a bad partner, their tendency to make radical changes to their hardware makes them an unreliable platform, and from a purely financial perspective their platforms offer less potential return for third-parties.

Two simple tasks for you:

1) The PS3 made programming hard and drove up development costs, its sales pace was far below expectations which in turn crippled third party software sales to the point that in the year after the PS3 launch almost every big third party publisher posted losses and had to close studios. During the same timeframe, the PS3 sold the lowest amount of third party software between itself, the 360 and the Wii. Explain how the PS3 could end up with the best third party support in the long run.

2) The 3DS had built over a ten million lead in installed base over the PSV in Japan and Monster Hunter was very successful on Nintendo's handheld. Explain why God Eater 2 skipped the 3DS.


1.  The increased development cost came from SD development to HD development, not because of the PS3 specifically, especially since the x360 was the lead development console 3rd parties used.  Porting cost were high for the PS3 hince why many developers sent the job to their B teams (Like Bayonetta).  Factor 5 and Free Radical both choose business decesions that were determental to their companies.  They made bad games.  Even if the Ps3 was easy to develop for, both games were commercial failures.  Development hell and most likely well over budget, their writing was on the wall. Konmai was able to escape this with MGS4 because the game was critically acclaimed, a franchise with an exisitng userbase and constant high sales.  Sony receives the best 3rd party support due to its longivity for their home consoles, the risk reward for games after 6 or 7 years tend to be better with an establish userbase and lower cost due to lower sdk and fees.

2. I guess Nintendo/Capcom are the only ones who can make under the table deals.