Nintendo Too Dependant on 1st Party Releases?

[jammy2211]

Of course companies care how many they sell, they would be bothered if it was a million selling game for example, for a developer it would mean more money for future development off the publishers, longer to spend between games etc...

 

Looking at the sales of a game isn't what a company does though. A game could be designed to only sell to 10 000 people, and made on a very very small budget, but if it sold to those 10 000 it would be the profit they wanted and thus successful.

 

As long as companies are making more profit on Wii games then 360 / Ps3, why on Earth would they care if First party games sell more? They're job is to make the most profit by selling games, not simply just sell the most games.

 

Secondly I don't think you totally understood what I meant by Nintendo being victims of their own success. I mean as in people don't generally see Nintendo consoles being the best consoles for third party content and this has lead to Nintendo not having number 1 spot for the last 2 generations and has created the current view that Nintendo consoles are only good for 1st party titles, this could ultimately also long term ruin the Wii in the end.

 

What matters is how the industry views Nintendo. I think GameCube and N64 were regarded as terrible options for third parties, and this was justified for the most part. Even then third parties could enjoy success if they actually put some effort into their games, but now the Wii and DS have changed that alot.

 

DS has proved an incredible source of income for alot of tiny developers, and the big names are too enjoying great profits. As for the Wii, we've seen 2 million sellers from third parties, along with a wide range of hugely profitable games. Looking at the exclusive list of third party games you have to suggest the industry can see different potential in the Wii that the GC didn't have.

 

The PS3 has a projected 7-10 year lifespan much longer than any console, it will no doubt drop in price down the years as more and more are sold leading the economies of scales and as chip sets become cheaper and easier to assemble, leading to a much more competitive looking market than now, i think the lack of A* third party titles could start to show more then.

 

Yeah in 3-4 years the PS3 will be a much more profitable platform, that's a given. Thing is, it's never going to be more profitable then the Wii, and with a long list of smaller developement teams around the globe what are they going to do while they wait for the prices to drop? Develope for the Wii / DS.

 

Alot of the major developers are setting up specific teams and IPs for the Wii, and even when the PS3 sales have dropped they're still going to have these teams working on the Wii. I'm not saying the Wii is going to have all the third party support, but it's definitely not going to have the least.

 

Companies can't just keep taking hits waiting for developement costs to drop, so they will move resources to the Wii. Bare in mind Wii developement costs will drop as well, and they already requires much smaller teams and developement times to make a good game.

 

One thing that has really crossed my mind is that no matter how successful the Wii is Nintendo will never achieve the same level of success of the NES owing to the now fragmented games market, people will always view Nintendo as a fallen giant who have admittedly risen from the flames to be great once more but that unprecedented level of success they enjoyed will never be repeated...

 

I don't think we can know that, theres alot of if's and buts and what about's.

 

If this 'expanded audience' thing really works, at the same time as Nintendo holding onto their core market then there is no doubt there is alot of success to be had.

[tapedeck]

I still see the chance for 99% of Nintendo games to sell well. The place where Nintendo could make more money and become ultimately at one with the hardcore and casual crowd is with Wiiware. We could see titles such as a "NEW!" Mario World or "NEW!" Excitebike...Things which wouldn't look out of place in the SNES or N64 era but are cheap downloads. If Wiiware is done right Nintendo could be doubling their current profit. And so too could other developers with the correct software.

If Nintendo developed a new Zelda on the engine of Ocarina Of Time would it sell? Would it's franchise roots make the graphics redundant? Is a good game really still a good game regardless of graphics? Would it shake up the industry and create new playing fields? I'd love to see Wiiware and VC as one, with new games with graphics ranging from NES, SNES and the N64. The money to be made there could be vast...tapping into the hardcore crowd promising new mega drive games for god sake! Imagine a Sonic game on Wiiware in the style of Sonic on the megadrive...Would this really be a bad thing...Would it be moving backwards? I really hope Nintendo don't licence the roof out of Wiiware. We will see soon enough but if done correctly, Wiiware could break all boundaries - Merging old with new. This is what I would like to see. With the history of IP's Nintendo have, they are in the best position to develop this idea. Am I alone on my retro-becoming-present love? Should the past just be left in the past? Has the VC proven that people's affination for an old title is a marketable venue? Should Nintendo leave it there? So many questions as ever!!!

[flameboy]

Looking at the sales of a game isn't what a company does though. A game could be designed to only sell to 10 000 people, and made on a very very small budget, but if it sold to those 10 000 it would be the profit they wanted and thus successful.

 

As long as companies are making more profit on Wii games then 360 / Ps3, why on Earth would they care if First party games sell more? They're job is to make the most profit by selling games, not simply just sell the most games.

 

What matters is how the industry views Nintendo. I think GameCube and N64 were regarded as terrible options for third parties, and this was justified for the most part. Even then third parties could enjoy success if they actually put some effort into their games, but now the Wii and DS have changed that alot.

 

 

Of course 3rd parties would be bothered about how much better 1st party titles sell. Every one of those sales is potential sales in their eyes as well, if they aren't hitting that number of sales or even close to it then they are going to be concerned, they could be making way more money. The users are out there buying games in their masses of course third parties will want to tap into it these sales and try and match them to make more profits... I very much doubt a company makes a game for console that has 6 million users and thinks we will be happy if we sell 10,000 lets design it with that in mind. They want to sell as many as they can!

 

I don't see with how you can say with regards to the gamecube that it was justified, the Gamecube was Nintendo's worse selling home console ever and had a measly share of the console market, also the third party sales were awful with multiplatform titles selling miles better on playstation 2 and xbox (with the exception of the Link buoyed Soul Calibur 2).

 

I think EA are taking a step in the right direction, having different teams and studios working on the different versions of the games, rather than just porting them as an afterthought.... this is something more studios should do.

[jammy2211]

Of course 3rd parties would be bothered about how much better 1st party titles sell. Every one of those sales is potential sales in their eyes as well, if they aren't hitting that number of sales or even close to it then they are going to be concerned, they could be making way more money. The users are out there buying games in their masses of course third parties will want to tap into it these sales and try and match them to make more profits... I very much doubt a company makes a game for console that has 6 million users and thinks we will be happy if we sell 10,000 lets design it with that in mind. They want to sell as many as they can!

 

The crucial difference is, if they're not selling as well AND not making money, then they will just stop developing for the console. Instead the situation is the games are making lots of money, but still not selling as well compared to 1st party games. This means they'll still want to make all this money, and thus create better, bigger budget games to try and compete with 1st party games for sales. This only suggests more and better third party support, thus making Nintendo less dependent on first party titles in the future.

 

I don't see with how you can say with regards to the gamecube that it was justified, the Gamecube was Nintendo's worse selling home console ever and had a measly share of the console market, also the third party sales were awful with multiplatform titles selling miles better on playstation 2 and xbox (with the exception of the Link buoyed Soul Calibur 2).

 

I agreed with what you're saying, GameCube was awful for third parties. I think you misread what I wrote :S. Even then I think companies could have had success on the GameCube, but very few developed games which suited it's userbase, and the few occations they did they received great sales which I illustrated a few posts ago.

 

I think EA are taking a step in the right direction, having different teams and studios working on the different versions of the games, rather than just porting them as an afterthought.... this is something more studios should do.

 

It's not that easy for other companies, EA are the biggest third party in the world and can afford to do that sort of thing.I'm sure plenty more companies are intending to do something along those lines though, and there are ALOT of small time lower budget companies that are 100% exclusive to the DS and Wii simply because every other platform is too expensive.

 

It's what happend with the DS really. It received some really shoddy PSP ports, the touchscreen was used in pointless ways. The DS required companies to develope their games in a completely different way to any other platform before, and after a year ago they had realised this and we started seeing the amaizng innovative games.

 

Wii is the same really, companies are TRYING to develope game ideas and concepts around what they know from the PS2 days, but it simply can't be done. Many companies have already learnt from the DS that you can't do that, and are producing games like Zack and Wiki, MySims, No More Heroes, Nights 2, Rayman Raving Rabids 2 etc exclusively for the Wii, seeing as they're not possible on another console.