Losing Rayman & Ninja Gaiden exclusives is bad news for Nintendo

Stevo writes: "I hate to be the pessimist in the room (and judging by our views, the only one in the room), but with the announcements last week that Ubisoft's Rayman Legends and Team Ninja/Tecmo Koei's Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge will both be making their ways to the PS3 and Xbox 360 later in the year, it's not a good sign for the Wii U."

[Godmars290]

No. Losing two "next gen" games which could have been done on current consoles is not bad news for Nintendo.

Not being able to play titles on the Next Box and PS4 will be if such happens.

[BullyMangler]

oh yea very bad news for nintendo. Its all down hill for nintendo from now on . Nintendo is doomed

[miyamoto]

I remember the days when Ubisoft, with ZombiU, was the ace in Nintendo's sleeve before Wii U launch. The star developer in Wii U's arsenal that made the Gamepad looked hot.

But look at Ubisoft now in a full 180 degrees turn the recipient of intense hate from all the subjects of Nintendo land.

WoW. Unbelievable.

And I remember in the starting days of the NES

" Nintendo's intention, however, was to reserve a large part of NES game revenue for itself. Nintendo required that they be the sole manufacturer of all cartridges, and that the publisher had to pay in full before the cartridges for that game be produced. Cartridges could not be returned to Nintendo, so publishers assumed all the risk. As a result, some publishers lost more money due to distress sales of remaining inventory at the end of the NES era than they ever earned in profits from sales of the games. Because Nintendo controlled the production of all cartridges, it was able to enforce strict rules on its third-party developers, which were required to sign a contract by Nintendo that would obligate these parties to develop exclusively for the system, order at least 10,000 cartridges, and only make five games per year. GameSpy noted that these "iron-clad terms" made Nintendo many enemies during the 1980s. Some developers tried to get around the five game limit by creating additional company brands like Konami's Ultra Games label, others tried going around the 10NES chip.

These strict licensing measures backfired somewhat after Nintendo was accused of antitrust behavior. The United States Department of Justice and several states began probing Nintendo's questionable business practices, leading to the involvement of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC conducted an extensive investigation which included interviewing hundreds of retailers. As the FTC probe concluded, Nintendo quietly changed the terms of its publisher licensing agreements to eliminate the two-year rule and other particularly draconian terms. Nintendo and the FTC settled the case in April 1991, with Nintendo required to send vouchers giving a $5 discount off to a new game, to every person that had purchased a NES title between June 1988 and December 1990. GameSpy remarked that Nintendo's punishment was particularly weak giving the case's findings, although it has been speculated that the FTC did not want to damage the video game industry in the United States.

Capcom had to license Strider and Ghouls 'n Ghosts to Sega(which was great) just for it to be made on the Genesis.

And look at Nintendo now...

Karma in the end?

[MikeMyers]

It's not karma, it's the cost of doing business in todays times. Remember when Sony had Sqaure-Enix, Rockstar, Namco and many other 3rd party publishers knocking on their door?

The days of 3rd party exclusivity have deteriorated over the years and there are two main reasons for that. One is the cost. If you limit your userbase the chances of recouping those costs lessen. The second reason is competition. The days of a system like the PS2 dominating the field have also gone away. This is why 3rd party publishers take less risks and scatter their ip's around to various platforms.

The same issue is happening now on Vita. 3rd party publishers don't want to commit to the Vita just yet.

That is why Nintendo teaming up with outside parties makes a lot of sense. It removes pressure from their own internal studios while still working side by side with those developers.

What Microsoft learned with the original Xbox and what Sony has now learned with the PS3 is selling hardware at a loss comes with greater risks. So when you spend 10's of millions of dollars into making games exclusive and losing money on hardware it takes much longer now to break even. The situation with the PS2 was way more ideal. That system sold a hell of a lot more software and it made much more sense back then to warrant 3rd party exclusive games.

[Chupa-Chupa]

you're not being a pessimist. The truth of the matter is that this is a business. If you were running a company and you received the news that your competitors are making big moves and even plan an unexpected conference to show off what could possibly be the next big thing, you too would be sweating. Nintendo made that recent online direct conference out of desperation. You can't fool these game companies. After all why release a game on the Wii U when they can go multiplatform and bring in more cash. Plus at this point in the game, Sony and Microsoft are playing mind games with Nintendo and the rest of us with out even showing anything. That's how next-gen works and Nintendo appears to be last gen's/current gen Sony. Right now, Nintendo needs to focus on what has worked for them in the past... a price drop, a big apology to its fans, and first party games. True Nintendo fans will keep the Wii U alive, but allowing a greater part of 2013 to go by without something major for the Wii U is pathetic all around.

[BullyMangler]

Whoa! Watch out man !. I read just half of your comment here and i stopped reading you. For you smell of confusion and fanboyizm . . but neah, maybe yur just forgetting that nintendo does not compete, they TEACH

[KnightRobby]

I'm sorry, but with 2 new consoles on their way that are boasting games like The Witcher 3 (larger than Skyrim, no load times), Watch Dogs, MGS: Ground Zeroes, Dark Souls 2, and each has their very own exclusives to boot, its really not looking great for the Wii U. In addition, I am beginning to notice a lot of gamers are growing up...

I never, ever imagined SEGA to be just a software publisher, but look at them now. I hope that Nintendo keeps going tough and perhaps their first party titles will assist them (Mario, Zelda). I think they will, but will it be enough...? I seriously doubt it...Because the Nintendo Wii U is now very similar to the Wii in the regard it is already outdated.

[Starfox17]

Nintendo will show a slew of NEXTGEN games at E3 end of mostly built on Retro/Nintendo's new GameEngine.

Beyonetta and X are obviously using it.

[wiium64]

this is no big deal, though these are great titles, but not make or break titles for nintendo, if it were zelda and metroid, then i would be real worried. but nintendo owns the rights to bayonetta two, and the wonderful 101, and those two are staying with nintendo, just like platnuim games stated. with these two games, zelda wind waker, mario, mario kart, the monolith game, nintendo has nothing to worry about, just another sony and microsoft doom and gloom story. i am getting so tired of these.

[just-joe]

Not sure how Ninja Gaiden going over to other platforms hurts Nintendo seeing as it's already on there. As for Rayman, seeing as it's being released in September with other triple-A titles, the only one who might be hurting is Ubisoft.

[cleverusername]

Why? Neither are system sellers like GTA/COD etc

[SilentNegotiator]

On a system with very few exclusives, ANY exclusives push hardware.

[AsheXII]

Those games were bound to port over in any case, i don't think it represents any major issue. The console needs games though, and fast. And i mean proper exclusives made with that hardware in mind.

[Ninja_G_Aidan]

I really regret buying my Wii U. The only games im playing are normal Wii titles. Theres nothing on Wii U. Fucking unreal of Nintendo not to bring anything out yet!

[PS4isKing_82]

I'm starting to actually myself. I don't think one new game has came out since the wiiU launched back in November.

And now once Sony shows the ps4 in 2 weeks, wiiU will probably be pretty much finished in the eyes of 3rd parties.

I hope this isn't the case tho as I love my wiiU, Nintendo just needs to hurry up and get some games out or they're gunna lose this fight before it begins.

[Lucreto]

It was the same when the PS3 launched. PS3 launched in Europe in March and had a few games and then there was nothing good until September.

[Lucreto]

I never considered Rayman as an true exclusive. I always thought it was timed and we would get it in September. They shouldn't have delayed it for Wii U.

[DivineAssault]

its going to be the same $hit but a different pile.. Nintendo just wont have as large of a crowd this time cuz casuals arent going berserk for it like they did the wii.. There will be some good games on wii u.. My guess is 3-6 must have 3rd party & about 5-10 from 1st.. Looking at things optimistically of corse..

[Tzuno]

Maybe developers smell failure on Nintendo who knows.

[Gamer39]

Very bad news, no.
Why?

Ninja Gaiden 3 system seller? Absolutely NO.
Rayman system seller? Absolutely NO.

End.

[corrus]

Ubisoft finally realised what mistake they doing when make games for Nintendo console that's why they will release Rayman Legends on PS3360 and about the other devs they see that Wii U is a rubbish the CPU is much worse even than 7 years old consoles the RAM is too 43% slow than PS3/360 RAM Nintendo loves to suck money instead to make one good console like Sony and Microsoft they make junks and sell them expensive that's why i hate Nintendo cos they are selfish Sony are much better than Nintendo

[dani25pr]

if as you say explain to me because black ups 2 looks much better than xbox 360 and ps3. unless you have a do not talk

[zdkapl]

I don't think this delay will ruin the Wii U, but I do think it was an a-hole move by Ubisoft.

[gamer7804]

Not a fan of exclusives on any platform, i hope bayonetta is next, but i doubt it.

[dani25pr]

at least nintendo does not burn or has red and yellow lights ps3 and xbox 360

[lovegames718]

According to blind faithfulls like "Metroid", "Kingofwiiu" and other thirsty Nin. fans every game is a killer app on Wiiu wether multiplat or exclusive lol but their hearts always get broken or the game can be found on other systems.

Few montgs ago "Man zombi u is awesome. Did you see those nxt gen graphics bettter thn anythng on current gen. Result are in. Mediocre game with visuals frm five years ago lol

Few montgs ago "Man did you see Rayman visuals ? Only possible on WIIu dude, i told you it was nxt gen. Result are in lol! Game coming to current gen systems . Mind you ive never seen a bad looking Rayman game on any system its 2d platformer for christ sake lol

Few months ago "Man Alien Colonial Marines going to show how powerful Wiiu and put ps3 to shame.". Result are in lol Street date has been broken and just like i said (read comment history ) Colonial Marines sets no graphical benchmarks on any system and is over hyped generic mediocrity like Duke Nukem was.

You guys need to wait before you get so hype pheening to find a game tht proves wiiu is powerful and nxt gen hardware wise. You keep setting yourself up for failure .
Next in line "Bayonetta 2" a game tht barely broke a mil. between two consoles and i plyed but didnt buy. Over hyped to death lol

[Munnkyman]

I thought the ninja gaiden game was just a retool of ps3 Xbox 360 game