In this case I mean the mantra from the perspective of Nintendo fans instead of Nintendo themselves. When Nintendo was pushing the "quality over quantity" line (which was all PR spin anyway) many Nintendo fans emphasized this when the comparison of the amount of games between a Nintendo console and a competitor came up. So for a Nintendo fan to just dump a big list of games, quality be damned, as a defense against criticism of poor Wii third party support it's a major contridiction of the attitude that so many Nintendo fans had for so many years. If quality over quantity was important to us then why is not so important now?
Could you please check your calender? It's not 1997 anymore. Even if it was the mantra of Nintendo fans back then it doesn't mean it is true now nor does it mean it's BlacknMild's. And are you the Nintendo fan police now?
But it doesn't come across that they really care as long as Wii's fly off shelves.
I'm sure they do care that third parties make garbage. It's just every time they've tried to corral third party quality it backfired. NES restrictions, SNES restrictions, N64 being late and West-focused, GC not having enough userbase and moneyed third party support blowing up in their face. The best way really is to make good games that sell well in competition to these third parties and so far it's worked like a charm (Like on the DS). Their games sell well, the Wiis fly off shelves, and the terrible third party games don't. Something in the top 12 games for the Wii are all published by Nintendo, with the exception of Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, which is actually Sega's (Their highest selling game ever). And most of the high sellers are dominated by Nintendo software. It's pretty clear most Wii owners buy Nintendo's games, which is to be expected because they make the best games for the system, and no third party has even come close to challenging that.
Heck half the people in this thread say that Mario is the only "sure buy." Why is that? Because Nintendo has a reputation of making excellent games, a reputation built over 25 years. A few of the ones that show promise might do well, but most of these games aren't going to do well, ironically and particularly ones targeting the "Wii demographic." Why isn't this an issue for third parties? Why don't they try to compete with Nintendo with their best stuff? And if they don't care, why should Nintendo care FOR them?
Well Nintendo decided to change their target market. They're the market leader of the casual games market, a market they win by default by being the only competitor. The market leader of the old console market is Microsoft and they are getting the bulk of the third party support for the old videogame market. The Wii gets the bulk of the casual game market third party support.
There are too many anomalies with this to be effectively true. The #1 best-selling fighting of
all time is SSBB, and it's on Wii. Why are they consciously avoiding the Wii for fighters? The #1 racing game of
all time is Mario Kart Wii. Why aren't there more racing games of different types? And, this one for Japan, the #1 selling third party "core" game of any type is Monster Hunter 3, a Wii exclusive (for now *grrCapcomgrr*). And furthermore, most of the "casual games" that DS and Wii owners apparently want nothing but, flop HARD and LONG. so then why this myth of "casual Nintendo?" And if it's so clear cut, how come most of Nintendo's core series have sold more under Wii and DS than under GC and GBA?
I just have to disagree with the "segmented" market theory. There's just not enough evidence to support it beyond bitter developer's sour grapes, slanted editorials, and forum rantings.
This is the only logical explaination I can think of as to why third parties appear to treat the Wii so poorly.
I have an alternate theory. Third parties are Kanye West and Wii is Taylor Swift. They're angry that their choice didn't win.
I think the Wii and the other consoles are close enough in what they provide that the Wii should still be the de facto choice. I disagree with most third parties but I can understand why they would use this logic. They may not see that big amount of Wii users as potential buyers for the type of product they make for the old market.
But then again, core games have sold really great on Wii. Particularly Nintendo's, but that goes with being a legendary and talented developer. If they can't see this, then they are either stupid or hate the Wii, both of which have more evidence than "Wii gamers are a bunch of casuals.
Topic: Where is all the 3rd Party support for Nintendo consoles? (Read 15356 times)
