Hi, I'm a long time lurker of VGChartz (mainly of the sales subforum), but a first time poster. I spent some time dissecting the unusual state of affairs as far as third party support is concerned this generation, and this is the jumbled mess that crawled out of my brain. Enjoy!
It's remarkable how unbelievably hostile major third party developers have been to the Wii: When they do develop for Nintendo, unproven teams with few resources are assigned to provide token support while the PS3 and XBox 360 continue to benefit from the brightest, most well-funded teams. And when they don't, well, Mike Capps and Rockstar's comments speak for themselves: Ranging from subtle jabs at the perceived state of the fanbase to outright insults leveled at the system by prominent industry figures, the industry at large seems to be sticking to their stance that Nintendo has declined into irrelevance, despite all evidence to the contrary. To that end, developers have mainly overlooked the Wii so far, and detractors appear to keep rationalizing their decision not to develop for the Wii, continuously falling back to a different rationalization as each major point is disproven (gimmick->fad->low game sales->low third party game sales->too much shovelware).
If I were to guess, I'd say there are three underlying reasons for their willful ignorance of the Wii's dominance: The first is that many developers likely invested heavily into the production of high definition assets, which would have left most teams today ill-suited to working with the Wii. This means that they must forge ahead with what they have, for better or for worse. Secondly, I think they believe that the Wii threatens the status quo of the gaming industry by potentially allowing smaller players armed with a very good idea to suddenly come to prominence. This is not to say development costs on the Wii are all that cheap, though, merely that anything that lowers the entry barrier rather than raising it is bad for established players like Epic and Rockstar. The third reason is that of pride, of being unable to accept the fact that the industry collectively misread the future in spectacular fashion. In that context, it makes sense for third parties to actively oppose Nintendo in the hopes that it will convince the gaming public not to purchase the system.
Having said that, it's even more remarkable how the Wii is continuing to sell at completely unheard-of levels in spite of the active attempts by the industry to stop its relentless advance. Not only that, but as this situation continues, there will exist an increasingly large power vacuum caused by the possibility of profitable third party development on the Wii just waiting for somebody to fill, which would be sheer folly to ignore. If there's one thing Nintendo has shown, it's that a system can be successful in spite of third party support, rather than as a direct consequence thereof, and developers that obstinately hold out for Nintendo's sudden demise must do so at their own peril. In short, third parties need to accept their mistake of not taking Nintendo seriously and get with the program, because the last major power to reach the new world is in serious danger of falling behind the competition.
Super World Cup Fighter II: Championship 2010 Edition
