Report: Japanese Third Parties Unconvinced Of The Switch Are Now Scrambling

[DonFerrari]

Azelover said:

Why didn't they have second thoughts about the PS4 after Sony blew it with the PS3?(at least initially) They even supported the Dreamcast at launch.

Something smells. I don't think these developers hate Nintendo, they're jealous.

I remember back in 2007 Hirai in an interview said something like: "we can't let Nintendo run with the market". Basically confirming right there it's conspiratory in the way it was worded and the question.

But here's the thing: when Nintendo does well, the industry does well because they bring a lot of people in. These developers have to make their minds and bury their resentment once and for all.

Yamauchi is DEAD. WTF are they holding a grudge for? Stupid.

Are we nurturing Conspiracy theory?

Ljink96 said:
It's sad for those who didn't plan, great for those that did. Good on Koei Tecmo for not doubting the company that made them who they are. That's the thing a lot of these companies who exist on Nintendo's upbringing don't trust the company enough to have something planned for it. Sure, Wii U was a scary time for developers but the situation that the Wii U was in directly inverse to that of Switch. New leader, new and strong idea, Zelda at launch, Mario 7 months later (both genre defining games) and it's a handheld and is being used mostly as a handheld. The warning signs were right in their faces. And while Indies are making a good profit on Switch, it's the huge 3rd parties that are missing out on sales, who would have thought.

The switch is going to be another great era of Nintendo so Japanese 3rd parties in particular should support the Switch in any way they can. Especially since Nintendo has a stranglehold in Japan. Seeing that I believe the Switch will be around for 10 years, Japanese developers should have time to put their all into developing crafted games for Switch, I hope they take advantage of it because who knows where Nintendo might go after the Switch. This thing has crazy potential, and Nintendo is just getting started in terms of software. Hopefully this was a wake up call to those who didn't make plans.

I remember most Nintendo fan on this site frowing when we say it's more of a handheld... and defending it is a Console, nintendo says it's a console, it just happens to be portable.

vivster said:

Darashiva said:
I actually don't get why it is such a huge issue for some people that third parties are being cautious about the success of a new console. There's never any guarantee that a console is going to be a profitable platform for a developer, and even if it would have been a success in Japan, one region isn't enough to justify a huge support for any console outside of niche titles and genres.

See that's completely wrong. Any developer not developing for Nintendo right now is obviously a Nintendo hater. If you don't blindly throw millions at an unreleased Nintendo console you're not only a hater but also very stupid because Nintendo consoles are always guaranteed to make you a profit. And if they don't it's obviously your game's fault for being terrible.

Yep... Game X sells 4M on PS4, 2M on X1, 100k on Switch... obviously that is the fault of 3rd party for not making a good game, just the sheaps on the other consoles to buy this bad game.

routsounmanman said:

Hynad said:
Easy to call out third party devs after the facts.

“The facts” state that console MH games don’t sell well. That didn’t stop Capcom from devoting a huge amount of effort and resources to MHW. 

“The facts” weren’t there for PS4 launch after the shaky PS3 situtation. That didn’t stop third parties from flocking to the system from its first year, no questions or tests required. 

It seems Nintendo, the company that has singlehandedly saved companies like Capcom, Square Enix and Konami, is the only one that has to prove themselves. 

Show one PS platform were 3rd parties in general had any difficulty and you may have a point... now look at N64, GC, WiiU and even Wii and you'll see a lot of them failing to have good sales.

And did Nintendo financed those companies? If not, how did they save those?

Nautilus said:

Darashiva said:
I actually don't get why it is such a huge issue for some people that third parties are being cautious about the success of a new console. There's never any guarantee that a console is going to be a profitable platform for a developer, and even if it would have been a success in Japan, one region isn't enough to justify a huge support for any console outside of niche titles and genres.

My problem is that the developers werent cautious with the PS4, and that was a home console(Im talking about japan here, since the article is about japanese companies).I get if it were companies that dont traditionally develop for handhelds, but for these companies that do, I dont get why they didnt get in earlier.Nintendo handhelds(since Switch is part handheld) never sold badly, and developers that have games that are more portable centric, like Capcom with MH, are nowhere to be seen(MH XX port doesnt count.That game is a port of an port of an expansion.I lost count of how many times Capcom resold that game).Which, if you ask anyone here, would be a garantee that would sell well on the Switch.

Thats whats mindbogling.The part why its ok to go early to other consoles, or at least offer decent support, but not for the Switch, which would also be a safe bet.

Those companies betted (and mind you, not in the first year) because of WW sales, that PS had conquered for 3 straight gens. And considered that as safe fail plan X1 and PC could/would get ports in case PS4 failed.

Nintendo said it was a console, VGC forum goers said it was a console. Just now people are starting to accept it as HH.

Nautilus said:

Darashiva said:

I'm guessing the main issue the companies had there was that Nintendo was stressing the fact that the Switch wasn't going to replace 3DS or take its place, so a lot of them probably just expected the handheld market to remain mostly with the 3DS, instead of moving onto the Switch, at least initially. This is naturally just speculation, but that could very well have played a part in their thought process.

If thats the case, then they are dumber than forum dwellers.If we already knew that was PR talk by Nintendo by the time the first trailer was revealed(and mind you, many companies close to Nintendo, like Square and Capcom, already knew what the Switch was), then those same companies should have suspected as much.And as Rol said, the same happened to 3DS, so thats probably not the reason.

You perhaps alreday knew. Nintendo marketed it as a console and there were a plethora of Nintendo fans here that claimed it was a console that you could use portable instead of being a HH that you could connect to the TV.

Those companies aren't privy of Nintendo internal strategy, and Nintendo so far is talking more like this is a console and not the successor of 3DS.

Goodnightmoon said:

Hynad said:
Easy to call out third party devs after the facts.

 

vivster said:
And nobody could blame them.

Many of us knew this would happen and we are not experts, how is possible they weren't able to see it? It was obvious for anyone with a brain.

Look above.

And I don't remember you calling out the Nintendo fans that defended the Switch was more of a HH that you can connect to the TV than a console that you can play portably... were their brain ok?

And I remember a lot of brain working Nintendo fans saying WiiU was going to be a sucess and lead the gen.

Alkibiádēs said:

Hynad said:

“Obvious” for those who were already sold on it because it’s from Nintendo.

Everywhere else, people were unsure about it because of how far behind the other consoles it is from a power perspective. Meaning porting any existing and upcoming projects wasn’t going to be a smooth and straight forward process. Plus, coming off the failure that was the Wii U, nobody can hold it against them for being cautious.

Also, I would suggest you keep those ironic jabs about people’s brains out of your over-defensive comments if you wish to stick around. 

It was a handheld, it was always going to be a success. It was also obvious it was going to be a bigger success than the 3DS because Nintendo could now focus entirely on one platform instead of splitting their resources between two platforms. 

Nintendo has a 100% success rate when it comes to handhelds so far, so if a Japanese gaming company didn't see this coming then they deserve to fail. The ones who were too late to react or bet on the wrong horse have pretty much sealed their faith (Capcom, Level-5).

Yes it was all obvious... I bet it was also obvious 3DS was going to be a success because it came after DS record breaker and that WiiU was going to be a sucess coming after Wii Nintendo's best seller and leader of the gen.

So much love for the companies you want support... if they don't support Nintendo they deserve to fail.

Rogerioandrade said:

Nautilus said:
Thinking more about it, how out of touch can japanese developers be?Switch is a hybrid, so that means its part handheld, and Nintendo handhelds have always been successful in Japan.It may not have been DS or 3DS numbers, but it would hav been successful in Japan.How the hell they didnt see that?

My thoughts exactly. When I finished reading the article, I just thought .... what the heck? Did they forgot the 3ds? Did they forgot the games they did for the 3ds? The 3ds had very good third party support, specially Jrpgs and indie games, I just couldn´t believe that companies simply forgot about that device. To me, it would feel just natural that companies would move their projects for handheld games to the Switch

Nintendo is still not saying Switch is the sucessor for 3DS.

 

@Thread... it's nauseating to see so many people thinking all companies are dumb and stupid as if they were CEO themselves and also so many that wish the companies that don't support Nintendo to fail (same people that complain of lack of support when a game doesn't release there, and complain to death for any shortcoming they perceive on the game and say they won't buy and that the game deserve to fail).... to much self-entitlement.