[QUOTE="JordanElek"][QUOTE="Jaysonguy"][QUOTE="RyanWare"]Epic is right. If you think you know more about their business than they do, you are sadly mistaken. Jaysonguy
No, actually anyone willing to look up all the data knows just as much.
I don't know about that. Someone who is actually in the field knows a whole lot more than most of us, regardless of the amount of research we do. And each developer has different goals, different areas of interest, and they know about them more than we do. How can any of us say that the Wii is in Epic's best interest when someone from Epic itself says that it isn't?
Granted we can't know the insides of it but he's cooking the books.
We don't know the direction they want to go, that's a given, but what he's saying is false. We've seen how much it costs to make top tier games for the Wii and we've seen what kind of return people get for their trouble. We've also seen how much certain companies have spent to start Wii studios and we've seen in some situations a pairing with Nintendo for the studios to help deflect the initial cost of making games (Nintendo-Bandai) We've seen how some companies (like EA) have cut support for other consoles to focus on the Wii because it gives them a quick profit if they reuse an engine no matter where it comes from.
I'm sure this guy is going to get a pat on the back from the other two companies after reading this and that helps his business but I'm still not thrilled with him telling lies. He's bringing up one situation and trying to make it the rule. It's the usual corporate doublespeak that you see so often.
Yes he wont get much return on his first game but no one in their right mind is just going to make one game for a platform and then stop. Look at Grand Theft Auto and how often that engine was used. It's the same thing with Epic, if they built something for the Wii and made a few installments there comes the return.
Here's a good analogy. When you build a manufacturing plant to make something it doesn't start to make a return until you make a certain number of things in that plant. What Epic is saying is that if they build the plant and run off one set of items it's not worth their time which is true. What he's not telling the people is that if he keeps the plant open to run a few sets he'll make a return on his investment.
But Rein wasn't talking about developing games. He was talking about supporting the Wii with the Unreal Engine. As Joystiq says: "Also, some people seem to be confused by Rein's profit comment. The profits for Epic wouldn't come from game sales but from licensing out the engine. Since most developers don't focus on the graphical prowess of their Wii titles, Epic would not be able to charge much for their engine -- hence why Rein doesn't feel the Wii would be a profitable venture for them." That, and the fact that dedicating staff to work on the engine for Wii would take them away from PS3 and 360 projects - hence more money lost in those departments. Plus as he said before, third-party games don't sell very well on the Wii anyway and Nintendo sure won't license Epic's Unreal engine.
I'm sure Rein has seriously considered supporting the Wii with their engine, since it is selling so well. He isn't stupid enough to pass up on a money-making opportunity. All companies are in the business of making money, after all. He has his reasons for not supporting the Wii, and I think they are very sound reasons. It's just a risk he doesn't see paying off. You can act like you have a crystal ball and can see into the future, but the fact of the matter is he is much more qualified to make a call on the issue than you.
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