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laopa said:
Yeah, but Sony was more focused on making the console well known and good to develop for. Nintendo was a stablished brand and wanted to factor out any kind of piracy for the console. They had a very different approach. |
Cartridge decision had nothing to do with piracy.
CD-ROM piracy was pretty much unheard of in the early/mid-90s that was never the issue. I remember seeing a CD burner for the first time in like 1996, they were still rare until the later part of the 90s.
There were various factors, I believe Nintendo had made in the early 90s a large investment in a cartridge factory, and they were reluctant to lose money on that investement. Beyond that developers like Miyamoto didn't like CD-ROM because of loading times.
Mostly it was likely just arrogance and a lack of vision at the heart of it. Also Miyamoto should've known his place, he's a developer, it should not be his place to dictate company policy and direction. Nintendo could have easily released a N64 with both CD and cartridges, a cartridge slot costs next to nothing if Mario 64 wasn't possible on CD. Never should've been an either/or decision.
