Squilliam said: The Wii made it easier for small players and new entrants to the industry and it made it harder for established medium/big developers and publishers. If the market weren't split into two distinct levels like we had last generation there would be a different dynamic going on. |
It made it hard for the "big" devs/pubs because they are not taking it as seriously as they should.
To understand it better we should look a developer or publisher's shoes and we will see why there are many mistakes on Wii games. I will stereotype in this case (there are companioes that do not fall in any of these):
common "blind" medium/big developer or publisher:
These companies have been making games for multiple plarforms and/or PC and have established themselves in the business for the benchmarks in their games. As the hardware was getting better in raw power with a resul of better graphics and sound. It is understandable that a though that the games they will release will be much better than the ones they did last generation, that they can trully realize their visions and have less limitations. They see themselves as "evolving". It is not sin but simple logic: "you have the budget to fully use high powerred hardware, why not use it"?.
With the Wii not being as powerful in raw power, it collides with their business and game development strategies.Whan a company falls into the logic that better hardware = better games, they do not see the Wii as a huge opportunity for them. This is why they do not release games for it or the games they released.... well... you know better than I. Because of the bad sales or weaker than the HD counterparts they blame the Wii gamer and do not learn from the feedback, they just don't care to do so because they do not see a common Wii gamer in their list of customers
If we change the term "Game" to "Software Application" that does a job, if your software does not sale it's because it does not perform the job that is intended to do in the way the consumers want, so it's your fault, not the customers.... And the Irony is: a game is a Software Application
This is not the case with handhelds because is a different model than consoles.
common "blind" small developer or publisher
These companies do not have the same budget and resources to directly compete agaisnt the medium or big ones and they games are relatively "under the radar". These companies in order to start growing are starting small, with small hardare requirements and as many platforms as possible. These companies have a desire to grow (which doesn't?) and have a known place in the market as a great innovative game creators. The most common and logical approach is to start small and then evolve with each iteration of grouth.
The Wii has become, for many, the best step towards that goal, chaper to develop, new kind of customer, innovatice control mechanism, and taht the big/medium companies have not exploided it yet, so they have a better chance to grow. However, there is also a logic that better harware = better games, and because they see the Wii as their stepping stone they make the Wii game like they would do for an HD with the difference of motion controls. This in result has a gave with an overall quality better than the ones released by the "big" companies, but perform poorly in sales because they do not want to see the values these new customers have. They based on assumptions.
There is a common feature taht a few companies share, no matter the size. I they see the wii as the platform for easy income (profit) with poor excuses of games they label as "casual"... we have shovelware