burninmylight said:
Nintendo: - Tired of getting cuckolded by big publishers for decades, for myriad reasons (console ability, brand image, old grudges, moneyhatting)
- Stopped competing in the power arms race a decade and a half ago
- Still realizes that it can't sell consoles and gain marketshare solely on the strength of its own output
- Finally has a console that can handle the same games as other consoles/platforms and give customers a reason to want to own those games on its console instead of others
- Out of the big three, has the most reason to want to promote a healthy environment for indies and AA devs/pubs that don't have AAA budgets, don't have agendas to try to herd customers toward particular consoles, and don't have grudges based on past decisions.
Indies: - Can't run with the big dawgs on the dedicated home consoles
- Too large, too deep of an ocean on platforms like the App Store, Google Play and Steam, where the race-to-the-bottom and free-to-play models have become the hard standard
- Even though many games release every week on the eShop, it's not to the extent of the previously mentioned platforms, where they immediately get buried if they don't make the top seller's list
- On a console where customers and critics naturally accept less power for portability/flexibility, it's easier for smaller games and games with smaller budgets to shine
- As stated in the article in the OP, Nintendo fosters an active relationship and promotion
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The eShop would be just as much of a clusterfuck as Steam if it was 16 years old like Steam is. Or perhaps not. I bet Nintendo has some sort of quality control that sets the bare minimum standards. Meanwhile Steam allows pretty much anything on their platform, including ultra lazy asset flips.
