Let's try not put words into my mouth. I clearly said quality control which is part of what a publishing party does for a game being created. They keep uptodate on progress, they ensure the quality of the game is up to their standards. Additionally, Nintendo actually are involved in development through their SPD 2 group, headed by Yamagami. And they helped with game design, testing and tuning. http://www.valhallagamestudios.com/en/2014/09/thought-2014-09.html So much for Nintendo being not being involved with this game. Also Nintendo were not helping with the game with 5 years of development. THQ only gave Itagaki the IP back in July 2012. So ultimately, Nintendo's job is to ensure quality of game software they are publishing. And they were involved in development. And now they want nothing to do with it? |
I was aware of SDK's involvement and that Nintendo only came on board in 2012 which ties somewhat into my point. The fact that it has been development for five years and still apparently has major playability issues, suggests that the development process experienced significant problems.
If Nintendo had been involved from the outset, perhaps quality control would have been enough to keep the game on track, but quality control can only get you so far if a product is fundamentally flawed.
Nintendo may have realised this and pitched some development assistance in hopes of righting the ship, but it clearly didn't work. Anything I've read about Nintendo and their third party partnerships these days suggests that they are happy to lend technical support but tend not to get too heavily involved, leaving directorship with the outside studio. If they get eavily involved it just becomes 'another Nintendo game'.
Did Nintendo give best efforts to try and fix the game? We can't know for certain but there comes a point where you have to cut your losses. And seeing as they had a hand in development they should have good insight into whether it was worth persisting with trying to fix this game.
Nintendo has certainly dropped the ball before in terms of supporting quality releases e.g. The Wonderful 101, I just don't think this is one of those times.
