Destructoid

While GDC is often a place to celebrate videogames, there's plenty of room for complaining, too. Nintendo and Apple were both targets throughout the show, as a number of game devs slammed their business practices and the way they've helped to shape gaming.

"We used to have a free and open game business," said EA founder Trip Hawkins. "And then Nintendo came along and introduced a thing called a licensing agreement ... At least Nintendo had the courtesy to tell you upfront that you were going to be screwed."

iOS developer Natalia Luckyanova said that Nintendo's licensing model made it tough for small developers to make a game, and noted the arrogance of the company for criticizing mobile game development, as Iwata had done at his GDC keynote speech.

Apple has been accused of over-encouraging supply, with 350,000 Apps available on iTunes and little chance for the majority of them to compete. In addition, the company charges developer $99 per year and takes 30% of each transaction. Hawkins noted that Apps make $4,000 on average, which "doesn't even pay for a really good foosball table."

While I agree that Apple and Nintendo could stand to loosen up a bit, I'm interested to know when the industry was a better place. Back during the Atari days, when the industry crashed thanks to a slew of unlicensed crap? It's easy for developers to lament the way things are run now, but I'm not totally sure it would be even better in a Wild West market.

http://www.destructoid.com/game-devs-blame-nintendo-and-apple-for-ruining-games-195757.phtml

So... EA is bitching about Nintendo's licensing agreement model which started in 1985? The very model that is what helped to stabalize the market and placate retailers after the crash of 83? And a model that has been adopted by every hardware maker since? I'll be honest, I think Nintendo's been too generous in letting some of the shoveled crap on the Wii get through licensing.

I'm not going to comment much on the Apple side, due to a lack of my personal knowledge on it, though I do think charging publishers both a yearly fee AND a percentage take is kinda high.

haha nsanity you're generally pretty quick on these but isnt there a thread already?

Ya know, I like varity , but the App store is just to much. I like the way consoles do things. It helps keep the crap out of your way, so you can find the actual fun games. Not that their is not tons of shovelware still on consoles, but least its in check and you can find the games you are wanting.

I should also add its the game devs that ruin games. When companies have to keep blaming customers and other companies for theirshort comings, it makes it pretty obvious.

How dare they said that to company that revive whole gaming industry.

The licensing model definetly hurts the industry in the long run, but who make hardware if it didn't come such a high chance of profit? Already we are seeing the days of loss-leading with hardware fade away with loss-leading consoles creating huge losses for the first years.

 As for Apple though, iOS will destroy gaming if it becomes the dominant platform -- traditional publishers and developers just can't profit off iOS and make good games, the platform is designed around teams of 3 or 4 people pumping out 60 titles per year and promotes plagerism with many games on the platform being near identical!

I think Nintendo needs to tighten up on the shovelware on their platforms; the DS's library is still manageable to wade through and find good games, but the Wii is getting buried really bad.

Its almost bad enough that, I think the stores should have a Wii shovelware section seperate from its average or above quality game section.

Apple on the other hand... are way too deep already. Their only bet would to be to make a seperate game store for select quality titles.

But seeing how little Apple cares about developers on its platform, they are setting sail to form a new continent called Shovelwaretopia.

PC gaming says Hi!

PC gaming says Hi!

Sounds about right; if anything Nintendo is too generous by allowing a ton of crap through the filter. Besides, I don't see EA releasing any good game on the system except maybe for DS: Extraction