8 replies to this topic

[Goodtwin]

Its seems like third parties have had a cookie cutter offering for all three consoles, and 90% of the time they are dissapointed with how their titles perform on Nintendo's consoles.  You would think that after 10+ years of dissapointment trying to offer the same product on Nintendo consoles that you offer on Sony and Microsoft consoles you would try something different.  A game like Zombi U proves that you can offer an exclusive for a console and make a profit as long as the budget is kept under control. 

 

At the very least publishers need to real in their expectations of ports on Nintendo consoles.  Ports on Nintendo consoles typically sell in similar numbers to that of the PC versions.  The Wii Call of Duty games all sold between 500k and 2 million units, thats very competative with the sales of the PC version.  Why is it these same publishers are perfectly ok with the PC sales but someone their isnt a market for their game on Nintendo consoles? 

 

I would think that its obvious that the road to success on Wii U is going to be different than that of competing hardware.  If Nintendo gamers only buy "Nintendo games and exclusives", as many publishers have suggested, then what are you doing offering a bunch of ports?  Especially full price ports of games many months old.  EA, did you really expect a year old release of Mass Effect 3 to sell well on the Wii U?  Even though I am super happy that Need For Speed Most Wanted has come to the Wii U, I really dont expect exceptional sales.  Its another late port.  Anything over 100k would be respectable for a full priced port that came out months later. 

 

If exclusives sell better on Nintendo's platform, then why arent you creating more of them.  Obviously they cant use the 50-200 million dollar budget that they can for the AAA multi platform titles, but a solid exclusive with a 10-15 million dollar budget for Wii U is likely to find far more success than a port. 

 

Im not saying that third parties should stop porting games, but be realistic with your expectations and understand the platform you are supporting.  Actvision doesnt expect the PC version of Call of Duty to sell 10 million copies like the 360 version will, but at the same time PC will get games like Starcraft and Warcraft exclusivesly that have good success on the platform.  Its time for these publishers to wake up and realize that the Wii U is its own market, and not just a third console to play the same games that Sony and Micrsoft gamers play. 

[routerbad]

Its seems like third parties have had a cookie cutter offering for all three consoles, and 90% of the time they are dissapointed with how their titles perform on Nintendo's consoles.  You would think that after 10+ years of dissapointment trying to offer the same product on Nintendo consoles that you offer on Sony and Microsoft consoles you would try something different.  A game like Zombi U proves that you can offer an exclusive for a console and make a profit as long as the budget is kept under control. 

 

At the very least publishers need to real in their expectations of ports on Nintendo consoles.  Ports on Nintendo consoles typically sell in similar numbers to that of the PC versions.  The Wii Call of Duty games all sold between 500k and 2 million units, thats very competative with the sales of the PC version.  Why is it these same publishers are perfectly ok with the PC sales but someone their isnt a market for their game on Nintendo consoles? 

 

I would think that its obvious that the road to success on Wii U is going to be different than that of competing hardware.  If Nintendo gamers only buy "Nintendo games and exclusives", as many publishers have suggested, then what are you doing offering a bunch of ports?  Especially full price ports of games many months old.  EA, did you really expect a year old release of Mass Effect 3 to sell well on the Wii U?  Even though I am super happy that Need For Speed Most Wanted has come to the Wii U, I really dont expect exceptional sales.  Its another late port.  Anything over 100k would be respectable for a full priced port that came out months later. 

 

If exclusives sell better on Nintendo's platform, then why arent you creating more of them.  Obviously they cant use the 50-200 million dollar budget that they can for the AAA multi platform titles, but a solid exclusive with a 10-15 million dollar budget for Wii U is likely to find far more success than a port. 

 

Im not saying that third parties should stop porting games, but be realistic with your expectations and understand the platform you are supporting.  Actvision doesnt expect the PC version of Call of Duty to sell 10 million copies like the 360 version will, but at the same time PC will get games like Starcraft and Warcraft exclusivesly that have good success on the platform.  Its time for these publishers to wake up and realize that the Wii U is its own market, and not just a third console to play the same games that Sony and Micrsoft gamers play. 

To be fair, the ports they were doing on Wii were typically terrible, and not at all representative of the game they released on the other platforms.

[Goodtwin]

To be fair, the ports they were doing on Wii were typically terrible, and not at all representative of the game they released on the other platforms.

 

True, but history on Nintendo consoles going back to the Gamecube era points towards limited support from Nintendo gamers when it comes to third party ports.  The thing Wii U has going for it right now is the low cost of ports.  Ubisoft threw out the 1 million dollar number for ports to Wii U, and if a publisher gets just $15 per copy sold, that would only take 66k sold to break even, and most reports I have seen show the publisher/developer getting $25-30 in profit per $60 game sold.  

 

My point is that their is a minimal chance for a  breakout success on Wii U with ports, but a well positioned exclusive could do very well.   

Edited by Goodtwin, 26 March 2013 - 10:15 AM.

[Fidu21]

The gamecube had some pretty awesome ports, like the Twin Snakes. And Ubisoft seems to  be liking the Wii U system, with the success of ZombiU

[Goodtwin]

The gamecube had some pretty awesome ports, like the Twin Snakes. And Ubisoft seems to  be liking the Wii U system, with the success of ZombiU

You just pointed out two exclusives.  Twin Snakes was a remastered version of an Original playstation game, and it was  first party game.  Silicon Knights developed that game and Nintendo published it.  Konomi did the cut scenes. 

[routerbad]

True, but history on Nintendo consoles going back to the Gamecube era points towards limited support from Nintendo gamers when it comes to third party ports.  The thing Wii U has going for it right now is the low cost of ports.  Ubisoft threw out the 1 million dollar number for ports to Wii U, and if a publisher gets just $15 per copy sold, that would only take 66k sold to break even, and most reports I have seen show the publisher/developer getting $25-30 in profit per $60 game sold.  

 

My point is that their is a minimal chance for a  breakout success on Wii U with ports, but a well positioned exclusive could do very well.   

Agreed.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

Bayonnetta 2 is a Wii U exclusive, that should do very well, especially if the butthurt fans of the original buy a Wii U just to play it, which you know they will! Internet trash talk makes me laugh because you know they are only complaining to stir up an argument, I bet you, you watch most of the original fans who were p!ssing on the Wii U will have a Wii U at max a month after the game releases lol.

[BanjoKazooie]

I think Nintendo needs to change their business models for 3rd parties. They are pretty bossy when it comes to their systems, they need to be a little less uptight and just let things flow.

[routerbad]

I think Nintendo needs to change their business models for 3rd parties. They are pretty bossy when it comes to their systems, they need to be a little less uptight and just let things flow.

It seems like that's exactly what they are trying to do, judging by the relaxed requirements to receive a dev kit and self publish on the eShop and the extra support they have been providing since launch to help developers with their titles.