| Squilliam said: The Wii has a few problems - It costs more to develop than the HD consoles now for an established player after you take tools, training, risk of new franchises into account. Furthermore is Nintendo actually supplying sufficient development kits now to all those who want them? |
It pays to do a little research. Third party developers aren't that reluctant and costs are a fraction:
One of the things we like about that platform is the development coOne of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360.Farrell also talked about developing for the Wii as opposed to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, noting that it was far less expensive making games for Nintendo's console. Farrell prefaced his comments by noting that he wasn't "a development professional," but he said the development environment for the Wii was similar to the GameCube's. "[The Wii] wasn't a whole new programming environment," Farrell said. "So we had a lot of tools and tech that work in that environment. So those costs--and again, I hate these broad generalizations--but they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half."
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149154.html
Nintendo's Wii console may not wow you with its graphics, but it may be getting more third-party support than previous Nintendo consoles thanks to its cheap cost of development. Developing Wii games is expected to cost less than half on what it takes to build a PS3 or 360 title
.http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/cost-of-development-greatly-favors-wii-say-publishers/69714/?biz=1
DB: I won’t tell you the cost of the games, I’m just giving you ballpark numbers. Wii development is easily one fourth, one fifth, even one sixth of some 360, PS3 projects, and those projects are easier to sell to developers, and they’re also a shorter timeframe to get the game out. I mean, our development on Mushroom Men is eighteen months.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-in/news_index.php?story=18247
Majesco praises Wii development costs. Publisher intends to capitalise on cheaper Nintendo system Publisher Majesco has praised the lower development costs of Nintendo's Wii console, and intends to refocus its business to take advantage of the system's potential. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/majesco-praises-wii-development-costs
Development costs a quarter to half compared to PS3/360 Ubisoft's Red Steel game for Wii will incur a development cost of approximately $12.75 million, according to a report by JeuxFrance.com. Red Steel is being readied to launch alongside the Wii later this year. According to its developers, the game will have approximately 13 hours of play time.Wii is considered to be the cheapest next-generation console to develop for. In May, THQ president Brian Farrell estimated Wii development costs are in the range of a quarter to half of that required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 development. What does this mean for developers? A game such as Red Steel could cost them between $24 - $48 million on PS3 or 360.
http://www.n-sider.com/newsview.php?type=story&storyid=2337
There were a lot more but I think you'll get the trend here.
