Posted April 9, 2007 http://www.cubed3.com/news/7238/1/Developers_Play_Catch-Up_on_Nintendo Industry News | Developers Play Catch-Up on Nintendo's Wii Bloomberg has an interesting report on how developers slow off the starting blocks and now playing catch-up to get their games on Nintendo's phenomenally popular Wii console. It starts by mentioning how EA turned around The Godfather in just eight months to try and make up for time lost during a period of indecision about the system. With resources originally poured into Sony's PS3 due to the massive success of the PS2 before it, now the Wii has sold through 3.56 million units so far in the US and Japan the tide is quickly turning. "Those companies are backtracking. They're going to need to get their best-branded product on that platform. That will take a good nine to 12 months." - said Anthony Gikas, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. U.S. and Japanese sales of Wii systems totalled 1.47 million in January and February, as states sales trackers NPD and Enterbrain, whereas the PS3 has reached a total of 604,331 in the same period and the Xbox 360 has hit 584,329 sales. According to London-based researcher, the Wii is also busy conquering Europe, although firm figures are unavailable. February's NPD figures showed that three Wii games entered the Top 10 in the US, all made by Kyoto-based Nintendo, whilst now a single U.S. publisher had a Wii game in the top 20 in February and has the Wii's lead grows there will be more pressure on Third Party developers to move resources over to Wii. Researcher IDC predicts Nintendo will ship 16.1 million systems this year, whilst Microsoft will push out 9.87 million Xbox 360 consoles and Sony will pump 9.1 million PlayStation 3 systems onto store shelves. The same company also believes Wii game sales will total $2.2 billion, second only to the Xbox 360 in the home console market. In addition to EA's increased support, New York-based Take-Two Interactive, home to the Grand Theft Auto series, now has plans to bring three games to the Wii in 2007. One of these is Manhunt 2, but what could the other two be? Reggie Fils-Aime has recently talked about how Nintendo has done all it can to get GTA on Wii, so perhaps Take-Two is now finally willing to give it a 'shot'. Spokesman Jim Ankner had nothing to add on the matter, though. Activision is another company behind Wii, adding another six titles in 2007 to the list of five already on the market, said spokewoman Maryanne Lataif. After the release of The Godfather, SSX Blur, Medal of Honour: Vanguard and Tiger Woods 07 last month, EA has announced another twelve games lined up for 2007 so far, one of which is the exclusive dance game Boogie and another exclusive in the form of MySims, plus a special version of FIFA 08. "We came back and redeployed a lot of our resources" - Earl, who heads Electronic Arts' Redwood Shores studio. And who can blame developers for taking this new stance, with Wii games costing between $2-$5 million to produce, in comparison to the $20-$30 million minimum required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 titles. On top of this, the Wii is actually helping to expand the market like the DS already has done, rather than stealing sales from rivals. Other than Nintendo, the biggest winner on Wii so far has to be French team Ubisoft, as the company jumped on-board the Wii right from the start and saw its Wii offerings boost sales for Q4 2006 by 24% to $405 million, which was followed by the developer raising its 2007 forecast for revenue growth in January this year to 16%. Seven games hit the Wii by December and six more are due before June, as stated by Tony Key, Vice President of Marketing, with him adding "It's not really a bet anymore. It's a viable system that's going to make us money." Stick with Cubed³ for further updates... Many interesting facts!! Sounds like there are alot of games planned! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 it's a pity that ubisoft has only prodouced 1 really quality title,That being rayman. Red steel is good but not great Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Looks like the Wii's really gonna take off in it's "second generation" of games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Hopefully. After SSBB, SMG, and MP3 things should stop depending on just Nintendo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 why don't devolopers ever learn? This is the exact same thing that happened to the ds and now look at ds. It's on fire! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Looks like my decision not to buy a Wii on release has paid off. I'll go and buy one in about 6 months, and enjoy it much more than I would have if I bought one before now.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Wow impressive figures there. Hmm...GTA on Wii...can you imagine that? xD *runs over to tv and humps wii* asdf I'm craving MP3 so bad >.< Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Sounds good. I really want Wii to do well just so people can go 'HAHA Luke Smith was wrong'. Apparently it's just Nintendo fans buying the Wii, same as the Gamecube. He actually made a joke in this weeks podcast about when Shane went to Japan and saw a boy with his grandparents all interested in the Wii. He actually called it a 'shitty console'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I hate the way Ubisoft seems to be gloating for all the money its made with their piss poor first mover games. Also wii doesnt seem so good if it becomes mainstream. I dont want to be playing chavs online Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Chavs are easily defeated by telling them to get off the dole. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I hate the way Ubisoft seems to be gloating for all the money its made with their piss poor first mover games. Also wii doesnt seem so good if it becomes mainstream. I dont want to be playing chavs online Don't worry, they'll all be playin GTA Wii Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I haven't played the Wii in a while. The 360's been distracting me too much, I still need to play Monkey Ball, Sonic & SSX properly. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Sounds good. I really want Wii to do well just so people can go 'HAHA Luke Smith was wrong'. Apparently it's just Nintendo fans buying the Wii, same as the Gamecube. He actually made a joke in this weeks podcast about when Shane went to Japan and saw a boy with his grandparents all interested in the Wii. He actually called it a 'shitty console'. Who's this Luke guy? And Shane? The 1UP blokes? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Who's this Luke guy? And Shane? The 1UP blokes?Yeah, I believe so, 1up guys, and by the looks of it... if they said those things... arseholes. Oh well, I don't care, fashion haters never hurted PS2. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I haven't played the Wii in a while. The 360's been distracting me too much, I still need to play Monkey Ball, Sonic & SSX properly. no you don't:) hate that game. i'm just wondering where the third party japanese suport is? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 *Passes everyone a pinch of salt* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Who's this Luke guy? And Shane? The 1UP blokes? Yeah, it's actually just Luke saying things. It's not like he's putting forward a good argument, he's not being funny, he's just saying ridiculous stuff. I like Gamespot a lot more, especially after calming down over the whole 8.8 thing. Jeff gurstman is a much funnier bloke who knows a hell of a lot more about games that Luke Smith. Ah, don't get me started... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 We'll see how it goes. So far we have Godfather, Blur, Rayman and Red Steel (imo) and SEGA. These are good 3rd party games, but we'll only see something conclusive after two years give or take. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I haven't played the Wii in a while. The 360's been distracting me too much, I still need to play Monkey Ball, Sonic & SSX properly. I'm the same. Still at the same point in Zelda that I've been at for about 3 weeks now. Too busy with Guitar Hero, Virtua Tennis, and actually I've been focussed on just 2 games for a few weeks now. Strange for me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 1.4 million wii's to just 600,000 ps3's? Haha. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Nice to see the Wii winning devs over. That means more games for us and more quality games. Now the games have to really sell though, which is often a problem on Ninty consoles. I'm also happy to see that most of the analysts were wrong and many people on this forum where right when they predicted that the Wii will do well. Go us! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 I'm the same. Still at the same point in Zelda that I've been at for about 3 weeks now. Too busy with Guitar Hero, Virtua Tennis, and actually I've been focussed on just 2 games for a few weeks now. Strange for me. I don't play Wii much lately, and if I do, it's so I can go on the web (The PC is in my moms room, so when she's gone to bed, I can't use it). I'm looking forward to the new webbrowser, hopefuly it should be out soon. The Godfather is the only Wii game i'm playing atm. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 When the Wii gets Guitar Hero, I will be able to die a happy man. That or I win the lottery or something so I can get the 360 version :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 9, 2007 Yeah, it's actually just Luke saying things. It's not like he's putting forward a good argument, he's not being funny, he's just saying ridiculous stuff. I like Gamespot a lot more, especially after calming down over the whole 8.8 thing. Jeff gurstman is a much funnier bloke who knows a hell of a lot more about games that Luke Smith. Ah, don't get me started... Luke Smith knows tons about games! Most of the stuff he says about Wii isn't meant to be taken seriously, like the 'shitty console' comment was funny at the time. 1up staff > Gamespot Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
