WiiU and Why the Power Game Should Have Mattered to Nintendo

Nintendo has struggled with third party developers for many years. Unfortunately what the Big N doesn’t realize that in order to obtain third party support, they need to create a comfortable environment for developers to work with. This includes hardware as much as it includes developers relations. The most recent successful development environment seems to have been achieved by Sony with the PS4.

[_QQ_]

If games were much stronger on pc last gen, porting games to a weaker system(obviously downgraded), shouldn't be a problem,considering how close consoles are to pc architecture now,Most third party games will have a lowishmid setting available for the PC version which would be equal to a wiiu version,while the highish mid setting equal to the ps4/Xone versions. The problem isn't the specs.

Devs don't want to bring games to wiiu because they think it won't sell well on wiiu because a low install base and they know they would be competeing with mario,zelda,smash, DK,and other nintendo ip's for sales.

[sephx22]

I see most of the 3rd party developers use realistic graphics as a hook to draw consumers to their product (and it works). Since nintendo doesn't care about console specs 3rd party developers don't have this lure to use when making a game for nintendo consoles. And on top of that they have to compete with nintendo IPs. yeah the sales wouldn't be to good. The Wii U isn't made to compliment 3rd party developers way of makings games.

[Parapraxis]

"And on top of that they have to compete with nintendo IPs."
At the moment, there aren't even Nintendo IPs to compete with.
It's pretty simple why 3rd parties aren't interested in spending money on porting to WiiU, the install base is too small, and they are more focused on Xbox One/PS4 development.

It's just, at the moment, not financially wise to develop for WiiU.

[_QQ_]

If the Money was there, Porting downscaled "nextgen"games to the wiiu wouldn't be a problem,especially considering how all consoles share a very PC architecture.But the money simply isn't there, not yet.

[Dunban67]

I sure wish Nintendo had told us that the Wii u would not be complimentary to 3rd party games before launch- In fact, they said just the opposite- they made a big sales push that they would make the effort and be successful n attracting many 3rd party games and greatly improve on their 3rd part track record-

The reality is, they needed 3rd party games more than ever to launch the wii U because they had almost no games for launch of their own- Despite their great need for 3rd party software they did a miserable job of attracting it and defending the console-

IMO if Nintendo is not willing to do what t takes to attract and keep quality 3rd party software as badly as they needed it over the last 8 months, then I can t imagine what it would take for them to do so in the future-

For those who say the Wii u is not conducive to 3rd party software you are correct- but "please understand" many of us that are making issue of it are doing so based on what Nintendo promised/committed to before and during the Wii u launch-

[iamnsuperman]

"Devs don't want to bring games to wiiu because they think it won't sell well on wiiu because a low install base"

That is the reason. It isn't worth the cost of the port in third party developer's eyes.

[starfox79]

All this immature power talk,look Iwata's words wiiu is powerful and very much nextgen.

WiiU went with a dx11 gpgpu and a low system RAM but huge chip eDRAM ie cpu/gpu,the smaller system RAM is purposely done,like Sony said if we went with edram we could hit 1TB of bandwidth RAM which would make it more powerful but less accessible ??? wiiu has gone with that exact design..?? work it out...

[Theyellowflash30]

Power has nothing to do with the Wii U issues right now with 3rd parties. A lot of current gen games that could easily come to Wii U are not.

[LOL_WUT]

Oh no but it is that's why no games developed with the Frostbite 3 engine aren't coming to the Wii U.

[Theyellowflash30]

LOL WUT - Frostbite runs on the PS3 and Xbox 360. And EA even said Frostbite 3 could be on Wii U if they wanted to.

EA just doesn't want to port Frostbite 3 to the Wii U.

[Murad]

@YellowFlash
Personally, I think it's because Nintendo isn't paying EA enough for them to port it over or something, or that the tablet for the Wii U must be hard to program simultaneously, or something along those lines.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

@Murad "Helpful" Bubble-up vote.

---I agree with your 1st statement-
Nintendo does not pay 3rd Parties- and that is a trend lately.

---The 2ND statement I disagree with because "Vigil Games", former developers of Darksiders 1&2, said that it only took 1 line of code to get the tablet working.

I am sure he was not talking about deep Tablet specific functions but at least the off (TV) screen play.

No one is demanding that 3rd Parties have to do something revolutionary with the WiiU Gamepad.

[deadeyes]

Frostbite could work on Wii U if EA wanted it too...

[AzureskyZ]

I wouldnt say thats entirely correct-- 3rd party could invest to make games for wii u but with ps4 and xbox far ahead, would it be prudent to continue to invest in legacy tech? Ubisoft and activision both invested into wii u and didnt get a return on their investment-- its a shame really cause the wii u certainly have potential, i wonder if they put too much funds into a tablet controller rather than upping their specs alittle. But its nintendos way of doing business, but it might not be favorable to them this gen.

[starfox79]

It's a little strange how EA ect will support 2 consoles fully with zero sales yet the wiiu has 4 million headstart and gets no support makes no sense and just says Peter Moore is a Nintendo hater period....

[AzureskyZ]

@starfox79 its not they didnt support it out of the gate-- mass effect did come out for launch --- supposedly their was some major disagreement between EA and nintendo-- i guess we will never know. As far as Ps4 and xbox one-- they have a strong community for their games --- it make sense for them to pursue-- games like bf and madden will sell on the consoles much better than wii. That doesnt mean they shouldnt make game for wii u, but finding the right kind of games and market is gonna be tricky-- I think it might be up to fans to vocal their opinion on what titles they want from each vender-- Give them a little push-- cause 3rd party sales has been abysmal.

[Parapraxis]

They are having more than just 3rd party issues.
Nintendo was totally un-prepared for the development time demands of going HD and don't even have their OWN software sorted out.

Their management is being pig-headed, and there is poor advertising and a lot of brand confusion.

There are other factors as well such as much more powerful consoles releasing and the price being too high for the tech it contains.

[PigPen]

What I find amusing is must developers aren't cash strapped for the next generation. The PS3/Xbox360 are still getting games that should of moved over to the next gen consoles. EA is laying off left and right, but is supporting the next gen. To make it in todays economy, developers will have to go multi platform. Developers want to be supportive of the new consoles, but next gen AAA games will slow after the novelty is done warn down. Aside from first party games, most games will look the same across platforms. So instead of developers taken full advantage of the PS4 hardware, it'll keep pace with the Xbox One and maybe even the Wii U. The Xbox360/PS3 is still the sweet spot with developers that is budgeting with its massive install base. When I look at it like that, the Wii U will be fine.

[Kevlar009]

Nintendo will make some of the best games this generation despite having a Console several years behind the others, why can't other Devs do the same (several of those titles will sell millions)

This is what I love about the Indie movement, they can take technology from any generation and make wonderful, sometimes vastly innovative titles. I'm certain if you stretch the technology far enough and truly put in the effort to make a signature title you would care less about the WiiU's power.

A lackluster game with amazing visuals is still a lackluster game.

[iamnsuperman]

"A lackluster game with amazing visuals is still a lackluster game"

You do realise that better pecs doesn't always mean better graphics. Things like better AI, physics...... all come from better specs. It isn't just visuals

I also think the instal base isn't big enough for indie developers. Indie is a very niche taste. There are so many vastly different games when it comes to indie that a lot do not have broad market appeal. Combine that with the instal base size I really do not think indies will flock to the Wii U. After all it is their job and so they need it to make money. This is why you see a lot of indie games go PC first. Big instal base with easy to develop for tech. Nintendo need to self publish indies to make them come over

[dcj0524]

Nintendo fucked them selves over with the wii. Instead of moving into hd gaming like other developers they stayed with Standart definition textures and resoloution.they could push games out left and right non-stop because they were so used to developing ps2-level games. Now that they're forced to move up to hd they cant make games as fast as they used to. They even complain" boy these hd games takes longer than I thought" pushing it past the launch window. Lets say their next-next gen system is on par with ps5. Sony's developers are used to to what ever graphical capabilities we'll have in 2023. Nintendo on the other hand have been making 2009 ( in terms of graphics) games. They are two generations behind in the way they develop games making game development even longer for them. Its like making games for the nes and then ok make a ps2 game in 2 years. You see how the wii being under power has and potentially will continue, to fuck up nintendo's chance of dominating?

[Kryptix]

I believe Nintendo thought that once the Wii U launched, third party developers would find an interest to port a lot of games they already made into it with better gameplay controls. What they fail to realize is that porting games costs time, money, and valuable resources like the developers that are porting PS4 games to the Xbox One and optimizing them. The Wii U is stuck this gen, no sales will boost once the PS4 and Xbox One releases. Unless they cut the price and release a Legend of Zelda on it. All this due to the low power of it and developers love seeing new technology being used. It's like giving an artist a giant canvas to paint on but you cut corners and make it too small to paint anything impressive on it.

[Crillvirus81]

Power doesn't mean shit the wii u will still be the best selling console this holiday and the next and no next gen game this year will sell better then Mario,Zelda, or donkey kong TF ..so whats new :-)

[maniac76]

If wii u had better launch or better visuals of its multi platform games peeps would have bought it or gotten more enticed on buying it sooner than late

Ud think a launch console would have all types of games to suit everyone,and to make sure its multi plats look abit better since it has so called more powerful hardware

[YoungPlex]

I swear some people are so dumb! I'm a huge, I mean HUGE Nintendo fan, but am more so a gamer first and for-most and think that most Nintendo fans are as well. I don't know any and I mean ANY Nintendo fan that own either just a Wii or a Wii U, without owning a second or even a third console as well. Sure we usually buy a Nintendo console, but it's more so for Nintendo games and those few "EXCLUSIVE", third-party titles! I don't think that any Nintendo fan goes in blind a just buys a Nintendo console thinking that this will be the only console to have. When in comes to power, well we all know what console will be bought for that... As far as excellent first party titles go, Nintendo and Playstation should be at the top of the list for any console gamer as of now, but things could be different a little later in an ever changing market.

[yabhero]

You are absolutely right. I always go Sony Nintendo because i love both sets of IPs (Uncharted Last of us beyond two souls and zelda mario kid icarus) but I don't WANT to have to be forced to spend 700 on consoles this generation. Why can't I have one system with first and third parties and then get the vita for all the great sony exclusives???

[YoungPlex]

I'm not sure why? All I know is that I own a 3DS XL and just recently got a Vita; I'll be doing the same thing and getting a PS4 day one to go with my Wii U. I don't think I'll be getting an XB1 at launch but if Microsoft decides to pour tons of money on exclusives and first party development then I may reconsider. It's too early to gauge at the moment so I think I'll reassess the XB1 a few months after its launch and see what direction Microsoft heads.