What can Nintendo do to gain support from 3rd parties next gen.?

I'm interested in hearing is what you think that Nintendo can and should do to court 3rd Party devs with their next console.

Nintendo have never had good 3rd party relations at any point in their history. I'm not interested in hearing what Nintendo should've done back then, but rather what they can do given their history and current situation.

I'm particularily interested in what they can do in the future in regards to relations with Western 3rd parties because they have never really had their support at any point in their history and the situation really does seem hopeless at this point.

3rd party support came by itself in the NES and SNES times. But with the N64, the cartridge format turned many 3rd party devs off (because it was tight and expensive). To make matters worse, N64 was hard to program for. The GC, however, was easy to program for and pretty powerful too, but 3rd party support still wasn't very good (some big multiplats like the GTA series didn't come on the Cube) with many 3rd parties jumping ship. I think this has to do with the general misconception with the Cube because core Nintendo fans were a small lot in those times and couldn't hold the console's sales afloat. So it was deemed the "kiddy" console and shuned by the core PS2 and xbox audience (which were the majority in those times). The Wii, however, is a different matter. It's not really comparable to the more powerful consoles like PS3 and Xbox 360 in terms of power, but has motion controls by default (now available on competing consoles via add-ons like Kinect and Move). In adition to the lower price, this proved to be a winning combination in terms of sales, but some 3rd parties may be turned off by the motion controls and low graphics performance. Consequently, the Wii's 3rd party support isn't shining and it's no secret that the Wii simply couldn't run some multiplatform games (without them being severely watered down that is). But there is hope that the motion controls will get more attention by 3rd party devs now that competing consoles have them too. I do believe motion controls (and "3D") are the future of gaming and will eventually be adopted by the majority of game developers. Infact Nintendo may face even bigger competition in the future. So what I think they should do is make the Wii's successor more powerful (obviously) and introduce a new motion controller, but also give the option of more conventional (classic if you want) controls and join forces with some 3rd parties. Maybe the next console's controller could be a hybrid of a motion controller and a conventional gamepad, this way broadening functionality and gaining support. But regarding 3rd parties, I do think Nintendo should hire big Japanese gaming houses (like Capcom, Konami, Namco, Tecmo, Sega, ect.) to make some big 3rd party exclusives or bring over some of their franchises and of course also bring the big Western devs like EA, Activision and UbiSoft to the party. They could also keep experimenting with colaborations with some 3rd party devs who would be deemed "fit" to make new versions of big Nintendo franchises (like they did with F-Zero GX and Sega and Metroid: Other M and Tecmo).

Edit: yeah, and they should focuse on online gaming more next gen

1. Motion control as a secondary option with normal controllers being the primary method of play instead of the opposite.

2. More capable hardware. There are a ton of games that would have been done on the Wii if it was even possible on a technical level to do so. This along with traditional control being the main focus would open up the gate for pretty much any Multi Plat to see a hassle free side by side release with the other consoles.

3. An installed base of online players and a functional online community. Ability to play cross platform with other versions of the client would be a plus.

4. They also need a slight but determined marketing change. Even if they could do (insert latest greatest FPS here ) on the Wii, any given developer might be reluctant to do so with such a large portion of the current catalogue being so much unlike that product and the user base having been tailored to buy said "other products".

The publisher might look at it like, "If i put this gritty FPS on the Wii and someone who has been playing current Wii games sees it, are they going to buy my product or are they going to buy that other game that is so much like what they are use to playing on the Wii?"

With a slight shift towards marketing the next N system as a defined piece of hardware rather than a cool toy they would get more systems into the hands of people who are otherwise going to buy the Sony or Microsoft version of the game.

This in turn gets more of those Multi Plats on the Nintendo system which eventually leads to more 3rd party exclusives as the system's installed base grows to an amount that can support a Nintendo only release of a certain game.

In the end though, even if the next nintendo system is exactly the same as this one functionality wise i will still love it for the several excellent first party games you are guaranteed to get when you buy into the system.

I'm not so sure if I wanted to play Battlefield, Call of Duty and GTA on Nintendo, though. Those are more PC games if you ask me.

Help advertise. Better hardware.OreoMilkshake

Nothing. They already did everything they were "supposed" to do with the Gamecube and third parties ignored the console. That's why the Wii exists. What Nintendo should do is keep trying to revive the time when third parties did NOT call the shots and were in NO position to tell hardware companies what to do and what not to do. That's how it was during the 8 bit and 16 bit generations and that's how it should had always been.

The next console needs hardware comparable to the competition. The Wii has some great third-party exclusives, but nearly every multiplat either doesn't exist on the Wii or is vastly inferior because the dev can't just do a simple port from another console. Major changes in ports need to be made due to the weaker hardware, and that rarely ends well.

The Gamecube and N64 had similar hardware problems, primarily with the data medium (N64's carts and GC's minidiscs), and those consoles also struggled to get major third-party support. Just going by memory, it seems like the Wii has gotten a lot more third-party exclusives than either the N64 or the GC, but I'm not sure. If that's true, then it's easily thanks to the unique controller and huge userbase.

So if Nintendo can build a giant userbase again AND offer a unique experience of some sort on the next console AND have hardware conducive to multiplat ports, then they should do very well with third parties. I have a hard time seeing all three of those things happening, though.

There are two things

1. A console that makes multiplats easy
2. This ones the kicker. Stop making games like Mario, Zelda etc. No matter what third parties will always be second on a Nintendo system which makes it a hostile market for the thrid parties

1.make harware equal to the competition orslightly better..

2. make a controller similar to the competition

however... i dont care what they do.. i always enjoy their consoles :)

1. Continue to make the competition irrelevant and watch them run themselves into the ground.

2. Rise from its ashes and reshape the industry.

They already have it. It's just the big publishers who are playing difficult. Dude bro game media and questionable analysts falsly predicting Nintendo's demise doesn't help things. It's only delaying the inevitable. In the future we may see either a booming PC industry, an even stronger Nintendo, or both.

Don't let the enthusiam from developers for Nintendo's upcoming platform fool you. Most 3rd parties companies are starting to realize they will need Nintendo to remain afloat. We will see great things if developers actually try to compete with Nintendo games of comparable quality much like in the days of NES and SNES.

Like their upcoming portable, Nintendo's next console will be the culmination of what really took place this generation.

The only way Nintendo is going to gain more 3rd party support next gen is to have the same, if not at least similar, hardware as Microsoft's and Sony's systems.

I guarantee you that if the Wii had the same hardware as the 360 or PS3, all those multiplatform titles like Bayanetta and Brutal Legend that appeared only on 360 and PS3 would also be on Wii, and look/run just as good.

The only way Nintendo is going to gain more 3rd party support next gen is to have the same, if not at least similar, hardware as Microsoft's and Sony's systems.

I guarantee you that if the Wii had the same hardware as the 360 or PS3, all those multiplatform titles like Bayanetta and Brutal Legend that appeared only on 360 and PS3 would also be on Wii, and look/run just as good.

snover2009

I think they would be okay ports. Games like RDR are huge on the other systems but would be second tier on a Nintendo console

The 3 main things Nintendo should do to gain third party interests is:

1. Make a system as powerful as Mirosoft and Sony's Console

2. Have a really good online

3. Nintendo should do what Sony and Microsoft probably does. If a game does not come to their console, they should pay that company or convince that company to bring their games to their console.

well its got good third party support right now , the problem is , people just dont buy their games as much as they really should

its got tons and tons of over looked games,

such as

no more heroes

no more heroes 2

mad world

mesmerusa

cursed mountain

monster hunter tri

conduit

red steel 2

driver paralel lines

bully se

manhunt 2

etc

Better hardware obviously, not a good thing when developers claim the iPhone is more powerful than the Wii...it really limits what a developer can do.

Better Hardware and Better Development Kits.

Also I hope Nintendo At Least Attempts to get Epic on their side because without Unreal, They'll see almost jack crap from 3rd Party.

Oh yeah, and Nintendo needs to make a decent Online Service.

Better Hardware and Better Development Kits.

Also I hope Nintendo At Least Attempts to get Epic on their side because without Unreal, They'll see almost jack crap from 3rd Party.

Oh yeah, and Nintendo needs to make a decent Online Service.

LegatoSkyheart

Good call on the online service, I'd personally pay $50 per year if it meant the online system would be as good as the 360's...

This ones the kicker. Stop making games like Mario, Zelda etc. No matter what third parties will always be second on a Nintendo system which makes it a hostile market for the thrid parties

LaytonsCat

Nintendo has a number of franchises that can match big and moderate 3rd party success and then a number of franchise that can crush them i.e. Mario Kart, Wii Sports. At the end of the day, Nintendo could have the most powerful hardware, the best online system and a huge user base and while that would bring back the multiplat market, because that really isn't a risk. It still wouldn't do much to help their relationship, the only thing Nintendo could do improve that, is decrease the quality of their software. There is nothing that was stopping THQ from instead of making Deadly Creatures and 15 crap games that together sold 9 copies from putting all those resources to AAA title, but they see Mario and they run for the hills.

Or rather, what can they do in order to get the "hardcore" audience back? Obviously not much. Nintendo's philosophy of gaming is something that apparently doesn't appeal to bro-gamers so whatever they do software wise won't bring them back. They have to rely on third party support and only that, in order to get a larger piece of that audience.

How to get more 3rd party support i.e. what to do in order for 3rd party games to sell into the millions without abandoning the Nintendo factor is hard to tell.

I think that a large part of this is also in the hands of Sony and Microsoft. If these companies release stellar consoles that are perfectly executed it will be impossible for Nintendo to top as they are miles behind in the areas which appeal to bro-gamers.

The thing is that the ball is in Nintendo's court and MS/Sony are trying to capitalize on the casual market so it's the perfect time to strike back and they have already secured the handheld department since 3DS really is the main hub system of true gamers. 3DS will help break the mentality that Nintendo is a kids company and all that other crap you see in youtube comments, the Wii hate is extreme.

If Sony and MS doesn't have a good enough counter for Wii 2 then I think Nintendo will have a stronger 3rd party support next gen.

Nothing 3rd Parties should get of their lazy asses and market their own damm games and actually make sure their worth playing instead of whining about crappy sales of crappy games. Nintendo isn't going to come and make your beta NBA Jam release any better EA so do it your ****ing self, Nintendo isn't going to come and make your short repetitive Mad World game any better Sega so do it your ****ing self, Nintendo isn't going to come and fix your on rails cop out Dead Space Extraction EA so do it your ****ing self, Nintendo isn't going to come and teach you all how to advertise games EA, Sega and Ubisoft so get of your asses and do it your ****ing self.

The thing is that the ball is in Nintendo's court and [Nintendo's competitors] are trying to capitalize on the casual market so it's the perfect time to strike back and they have already secured the handheld department since 3DS really is the main hub system of true gamers. 3DS will help break the mentality that Nintendo is a kids company and all that other **** you see in youtube comments, the Wii hate is extreme.

TheKI04

And here is the meat the issue, people can go on about competitive hardware etc etc. yes that would help the multiplat market, which Nintendo didn't have much of a problem with on the gamecube. But the reality is, publishers make a bunch of exclusives for the Wii, its just none are big efforts, simply because the fear Nintendo products. Look on the other consoles and look the best sellers, their 3rd party games, the only 1st party franchises that can match 3rd party games on the HD consoles is Gran Turismo and Halo.

Sepewrath

Absolutely nothing it seems. The Wii is the biggest selling console, cheapest to develop for, and is about on par with Xbox 1 in terms of power, certainly enough to make pretty graphics, big worlds and online modes. Yet no one has bothered seriously developing for it. There's not a single top quality 3rd party game on the system imo. There are fun ones sure, but nothing on par with the other consoles 3rd party or Nintendo games. There's no 3rd partry Wii game I could put next to Mario Galaxy, or Half Life 2, and say yep just as good. IMO of course. Why not? I have no idea.locopatho

(not saying it's on par with half life, but goddamn I must've gotten almost 200 hours out of that game)

[QUOTE="locopatho"]Absolutely nothing it seems. The Wii is the biggest selling console, cheapest to develop for, and is about on par with Xbox 1 in terms of power, certainly enough to make pretty graphics, big worlds and online modes. Yet no one has bothered seriously developing for it. There's not a single top quality 3rd party game on the system imo. There are fun ones sure, but nothing on par with the other consoles 3rd party or Nintendo games. There's no 3rd partry Wii game I could put next to Mario Galaxy, or Half Life 2, and say yep just as good. IMO of course. Why not? I have no idea.Shinobishyguy

(not saying it's on par with half life, but goddamn I must've gotten almost 200 hours out of that game)

i think the controller, the graphics, and advertising.

say them nice things

On PS3, the majority of top selling games are actually first party. According to Wiki anyway, dunno how reliable. But PS3 still gets all the 3rd party support. Its strange.

locopatho

[QUOTE="locopatho"]

On PS3, the majority of top selling games are actually first party. According to Wiki anyway, dunno how reliable. But PS3 still gets all the 3rd party support. Its strange.

Sepewrath

Help advertise. Better hardware.OreoMilkshake

I honestly believe you pretty much summed it up dude. In particular the second part. I believe the inferior hardware is what shied away most devs from releasing their games on the system or developing exclusive content. Though there were still plenty of great exclusives we could have maybe had more spport overall if the system were competent enough. Bioware isn't going to make a game for the Wii when the PS3 and 360 are right there giving them all the options they could want for their expansive games. Just a fact.

I'll tell you one thing they shouldn't do: make the graphical capabilities comparable to the competition. Seriously, people, they made the Gamecube that way and there still were plenty of games on the other two consoles but not the Gamecube. Nintendo's problem with third party support did not begin with the Wii. If anything their third-party support has been better on the Wii than on the Gamecube, as they've gotten many more exclusives instead of just "me-too" three-console multiplats that do nothing to actually differentiate or sell the console.

Really? They're organised in order of best selling... What are the 5 best so, that did more then the 5 mil of Gran Turismo 5? Not starting anything, just curious :)locopatho

And I don't get why people talk about advertising, Sony didn't advertise Red Dead for Rockstar, Microsoft doesn't advertise Call of Duty for Activision, come next holiday season, Sony isn't going to be saying "Buy MW3" their going to be saying "Buy Uncharted 3" Publishers have to advertise their own games, not rely on Nintendo to do it, but more importantly, they have to give people a reason to pass on Mario or Zelda. Until they do that, the situation will not change for them.

If Nintendo cannot gain third party support by selling by far the most consoles this generation as well as by selling the most consoles they have ever sold, then this is a matter that requires some strenuous thinking and I am not up for that at this hour, especially since Nintendo employs some brilliant people that likely outdo me in intellect and yet even they cannot manage to attract as much third party support as the others.

If Nintendo cannot gain third party support by selling by far the most consoles this generation as well as by selling the most consoles they have ever sold, then this is a matter that requires some strenuous thinking and I am not up for that at this hour, especially since Nintendo employs some brilliant people that likely outdo me in intellect and yet even they cannot manage to attract as much third party support as the others.

Hexagon_777

When the 360 and PS3 sales combined surpass the total sales of the Wii, 3rd party multiplat developers dont really have a reason to develop for the wii with such a vast hardware difference and volatile marketbase

Here are the reasons why Wii hasn't the best 3rd party support (i.e. why it's missing on some big multiplats):

- hardware limitations (the Wii simply couldn't run some multiplat games or they would look too poor)

- controller limitations (while the Wiimote is great for some genres, it may not be suitable for some others)

- online limitations (in a time when there are massive multiplayer games, the Wii falls short)

- different audience (games like GTA IV and RDR probably wouldn't sell good enough on the Wii)

Now I think the online aspect could clearly be fixed in the next-gen, the controller could be a hybrid of a motion controller and a conventional controller and the hardware atleast on par with the PS3 and Xbox 360, if not better. They could also change their image a little and target core gamers too. Of course, the last thing I'd like to see is that the next Wii becomes a console filled with cheap Call of Duty and GTA clones, but they could cleary make an effort to make the next console more appealing not just to Nintendo fans and families. But like I stated before, I think the key to success it to colaborate with 3rd parties more so they will make some exclusive games or port some of their franchises over to the next Wii.

I do believe the next Wii will be a "Super Wii", i.e. what SNES was to NES.

But I won't bet anything. You never know with Nintendo :D

I'll tell you one thing they shouldn't do: make the graphical capabilities comparable to the competition. Seriously, people, they made the Gamecube that way and there still were plenty of games on the other two consoles but not the Gamecube. Nintendo's problem with third party support did not begin with the Wii. If anything their third-party support has been better on the Wii than on the Gamecube, as they've gotten many more exclusives instead of just "me-too" three-console multiplats that do nothing to actually differentiate or sell the console.

GabuEx

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

I'll tell you one thing they shouldn't do: make the graphical capabilities comparable to the competition. Seriously, people, they made the Gamecube that way and there still were plenty of games on the other two consoles but not the Gamecube. Nintendo's problem with third party support did not begin with the Wii. If anything their third-party support has been better on the Wii than on the Gamecube, as they've gotten many more exclusives instead of just "me-too" three-console multiplats that do nothing to actually differentiate or sell the console.

JordanElek

Good question, especially considering that I would actually consider that a possibility, considering that HDTVs are quickly becoming more and more standard (I've long said that Nintendo is likely to go HD when HDTVs have replaced SDTVs in most people's homes). Not really sure if I can answer it, considering that that hasn't happened since, like, the NES.

While N should have better hardware next time, I just don't see any major publishers funding wii projects over big budget sony or Ms projects. The market just isn't there.

While N should have better hardware next time, I just don't see any major publishers funding wii projects over big budget sony or Ms projects. The market just isn't there.

goblaa

I assume this applies to Nintendo's console successor, and not to the 3DS? If so, why the title, "What can Nintendo do to gain support from 3rd parties next gen?" if Nintendo already has good 3rd party support for the DS and the upcoming 3DS?

produce multiplat capable hardware

A big reason why some games (like RE5 for example) did not get a release on Wii was because of its hardware. Better graphics will make more devs want to make games for it. This is the only reason why I hope Nintendo's next console will have hardware equal to the other next gen consoles.

Edit: You're probably right, Gabu, but I bought way more multi-platform games for the GC than I did for the Wii. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure if I even bought a single multi-platform game for the Wii. So making better hardware for the next console would probably still be a plus for me personally. Not sure how making comparable hardware would make things worse anyway..