Topic: Future of third parties and what it means

[SixthAngel]

As we have seen this generation third party game makers now put their games on everything that can possibly run them.  In the past third party exclusives were hugely important but this generation we have seen them die off when most of those that were planned to be exclusive at first stopped being so when the ps3 didn't light the world on fire.

We are now entering a new generation of consoles where every game most likely will be able to be ported to the other consoles.  From all accounts they most likely will be ported to everything under the sun too.  If a console only gets one or two big 3rd party exclusives they may very well have them all.

We have features like the Upad and Kinect that most likely won't be able to be completely replicated on other consoles.  Do you think these will attract support and get meaningful 3rd parties to sign on for exclusivity?

What do you think this is going to mean to the next round of consoles?

Without the draw of third parties to any particular one what will  they use to draw in the fans?  Will it be first parties, controls, exclusive content or some other feature?
We are going to be entering new territory with all the biggest third parties' guns most likely going multiplat from the very beginning.
What do you think this will mean to the future of game consoles?

[broodwars]

I think the future of 3rd parties will depend largely on where the economy is 2-3 years from now.  A large part of the reason why 3rd parties went multiplatform this generation is that the economy tanked, so these large-budget games need to sell on more than one console to turn a profit and Sony & Microsoft were less-willing to pay for exclusivity (the new battleground is DLC-priority and download title-exclusivity).  If the economy stays as it is (or gets worse), I would expect 3rd parties to stay as multiplatform as possible.  If the economy picks up, 3rd parties might see more of a benefit to platform exclusivity.  I think 1st party is still going to be the determining factor for platform purchases.

As for the Wii U's tablet controller, I wouldn't expect more than a token effort by 3rd parties to take advantage of it.  It's just not worth the cost to devote a large number of resources and manpower to really taking advantage of the thing if your game is going to sell as poorly as 3rd party games normally sell on Nintendo consoles.  I would only expect that to change if Wii U software sales dramatically exceed historical expectations.  Even the Kinect, as well as it has sold, has barely had more than a token effort of support by 3rd parties so far.

[Chozo Ghost]

3rd party games on Nintendo consoles generally do poorly because they are cheap on rails spin off crap instead of the real game that gamers want to play. If the Wii U starts getting the same quality games as the competition gets then sales should improve.

[Ceric]

I think we'll be seeing more exclusivity as 3rd parties start to take advantage of the specific control options.  Look at the DS Family.  Nintendo rarely uses the Touch screen to full advantage.  3rd parties on the other hand have really done some neat things.  I think that is where the Wii U will be going.

[Ian Sane]

The uniqueness of the Wii remote didn't attract anything other than third parties wanting to get some sort of product out.  There was no legitimate enthusiasm towards it from third parties.  Same with Kinect.  No one really cares and the games reflect it.  Having an oddball accessory gets you some half-assed junk but the "REAL" games are kept to something more generic.  I predict the Wii U tablet will be similarly neglected.

[Ceric]

I disagree simply because Touchscreens are known and have been around for a very long time.

[Chozo Ghost]

Maybe most developers won't make great use of the Wii U Tablet and its touchscreen capability, but the beauty is they don't really have to. The U Tab is perfectly usable as a traditional controller, which is an advantage the Wii mote didn't really have. Yeah, you could turn the Wiimote on its side ans use it as an NES controller, but as Metroid Other M showed that didn't really work out so great. The Nunchuck and Classic controller worked great to fill in the gaps, but the fact you have to plug in a dangly special controller attachment just to play games was kind of a turn off and it required additional purchases (extra nunchucks for multiplayer).

The beauty of the U Tab controller is everything you could possibly need is right there in one single controller. Not every game is going to make 100% use of its features, but if you have a U Tab you should be ready for anything and not have to sort through a tangled mass of wired plastic to find what you need.

[Ian Sane]

Having EXTRA doodads is totally the way to go.  The DS did this perfectly.  It allowed for flexibility.

The Wii's approach was "this is the new feature, take it or leave it."  No significant hardware increase and the normal controller is an optional accessory you cannot assume all Wii owners will have.  Hell, you couldn't even assume for multiplayer that everyone would have a nunchuk.  If you didn't want to make a Gamecube game with motion control there was no reason to even bother.  The Wii U has no such restrictions (yet) which is the correct way to go.