RolStoppable said:
I don't think that's on Nintendo. You could call Nintendo's handhelds just as eccentric as their home consoles. After all, they are all designed by the very same company. However, third parties do find success on Nintendo handhelds on a more regular basis and the Nintendo handheld had the best third party software sales in every single generation (compared to its respective competitors). Why do you think that is? |
Placing the blame on third party devs only is unreasonable at best. Nintendo is the one making deals with these developers to bring content on their platforms. It's Nintendo in the end that has the responsibility to entice developers to create compelling content for their consoles. The fact is third parties don't want to create special versions of their games for a gimped console. Nintendo do things their way, very stubbornly. The Wii managed to be a hit for a certain type of games and crowd. But looking at Nintendo's performance since the N64, the Wii U is pretty much in line with how things have been for them in the market. When the casuals aren't there, the console sells mostly to Nintendo fans. The sales are pretty much speaking for themselves: In-line with the Gamecube and the N64.
Now you bring up the handheld market in the mix. A different market altogether, you have to admit. And one that Nintendo has always been the leader. Making games for the DS and 3DS isn't as expensive and doesn't involve nearly as much risk as making a high budget game for a console that doesn't sell.
"But... but... The Wii??" The Wii was mostly selling casual games. When third party devs made games that catered to the "hardcore" audience, sales were on most accounts disappointing, barely breaking even with the devs investment. It's not very difficult to see why devs would prefer to make their games on system where porting from one an other costs little and brings the most revenue in the end. The risk just isn't as high on the other home consoles compared to Nintendo's. Because that's where the actual crowd they make content for actually buy the games they make. Sony and Microsoft also help those devs by putting ads on their online services. Making sure people hear and know about the actual games...
I think it's really laughable when people blame anyone other than Nintendo for the mess the company is in right now. Developers go where there's money to be made. Totally normal. Figures from the last few generations show how difficult it is for them to make money on Nintendo's home consoles. To deny this, and make excuses like "they're just releasing lazy ports", only tells me that some of you don't want to face the possibility that Nintendo may not be as Godly as you see them.
