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baloofarsan on 17 August 2014
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I do not think that Nintendo really needs third party. I will not do any deeper analysis of the all-time-top-list of console games (vgchartz). http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/

  • The top 15 most sold games are from Nintendo. Half of them from the time that they "ruled the world" - the Wii-era and the other half from their handheld empire.
  • From 15th to 30th place there is only one third party, GTA, that for several reasons probably never will be on a Nintendo console.
  • From 30th to 50th place there is the other big third party, COD, that has been on Nintendo platforms but without much success. There is also Sims for PC
  • From 50th to 80th place, there is Just Dance that had the best times on Wii. Also PC games as WoW and Myst. Here are two N64 games, MK and Goldeneye. Here is a big one for X360: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
  • From 80th to 120th place, about 8 - 6 million copies, at last there are the games we normally consider third party (excluding the big-hitters GTA & COD). Here are FIFA, NFS, Tekken, Battlefield, Crash, Metal Gear, Here we find the one that Nintendo let slip away, Final Fantasy. Here we find games from the least successful Nintendo console so far, GC, with Smash Bros, MK:DD and Mario Sunshine.
  • From 120th to 200 place, about 6 - 5 million copies, are third parties like Dragon Quest, Assassin's Creed, Monster Hunter, Lego, Madden, MoH, RE, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Batman, Driver. Here is also Sonic that pretty much has migrated from Sega consoles to Nintendo.
  • From 200th to 400th place, about 5 - 3 million copies, there are a lot: Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, PES, L4D, Harry Potter, Tomb Raider, Borderlands, Star Wars, Splinter Cell, Rayman, Max Payne.
Well I will stop there: the third parties that Nintendo Wii U lacks from the top 400 are essentially GTA, FInal Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Borderlands, Max Payne. What Nintendo may lose from now on are FIFA, Madden, Assassin's Creed, COD, Resident Evil. These games have never been big sellers on Nintendo systems (the reasons for this is constantly discussed on this forum) except for RE.
There are probably a lot I have missed doing this analysis, feel free to comment.
EDIT: Minecraft should be here also, that is almost as big loss for Nintendo as losing Final Fantasy.
Fun Fact: when PS2 was on its peak Madden (combined) did not sell more than Mario Sunshine on a Nintendo console that was about to be obliterated.