Nintendo getting 3rd party support won't be easy

Nintendo's relations with 3rd party developers and publishers has always been hit and miss. While the company has fostered and even repaired relations with certain companies, it's acted completely indifferent towards arguably more important ones. A common criticism is that Nintendo's hardware is just too different to port to, whether that be not having the same storage format, having a unique controller, or not having a good architecture, many 3rd party companies typically avoid Nintendo for major releases.

Conformity and standardization have become the name of the game for 3rd party development in recent years, but Nintendo continues to play a different game. The Nintendo Switch at first, appears to be business as usual. An unconventional and underpowered system with an equally weird controller sounds like kryptonite to risk-averse 3rd party publishers, who often want big fat profit, as fast as possible. Now the common answer to Nintendo's 3rd party woes is to just make a "normal" console. Ya know, super powerful, traditional controller, and robust online. That'll get 3rd parties, plus Nintendo games. That sound like a good fantasy, but reality check. I don't think just having a watered down PC will be enough for Nintendo to get 3rd party support.

The problem with Nintendo's third party relations lies within the roots of the company's overall philosophy. Nintendo typically designs their hardware for their software. Its game developers and producers are typically very hands-on with the development of their platforms. Nintendo then pitches the final product to third parties, and it's up to them whether they want to support it or not. This is a very different approach to Sony and Microsoft, who go to all the major companies as early in the development process as possible, and design the whole thing based on the wishes of said companies. Nintendo makes consoles they think will be fun, Sony and Microsoft make consoles to order. Both methods have their pros and cons, but for Nintendo to get the likes of EA and Rockstar on board, they'd need to put aside their own interests and ideas and basically let the 3rd parties call the shots. Granted, Nintendo has apparently been taking their feedback more seriously during the Switch's development, but it's clear the Switch is still designed for Nintendo games first, 3rd parties second.

Another problem has to do with branding and marketing. Whether you feel it's deserved or not, Nintendo still has a bit of a kiddie stigma attached to it. 3rd parties typically target the 18-35 year old male gamer demographic, which is the safest and most reliable audience in consumer goods. Sony and Microsoft cater almost exclusively to this audience, and they make sure nearly every major release panders to this audience in some way shape or form, thus making their platforms more attractive to companies looking to pursue this audience. Nintendo as usual, takes the path less traveled. They aim to make gaming inclusive to everyone, including those who never really played games before. They typically have never curated an audience for games like GTA or The Witcher III, and thus, those companies don't see much benefit in releasing their games on Nintendo platforms. How do you try and pimp a massive franchise like Grand Theft Auto on the Nintendo DS platform, for example, when the platform holder pours tons of marketing $$$ and R&D into stuff like Style Savvy or Mario Kart? Like or not, Nintendo just isn't very good at targeting the AAA 3rd party audience, and probably, never will be.

Do I think Nintendo can do a better job courting 3rd parties? Of course, Everyone wants Nintendo to have as many developers on board as possible. But we have to face facts, Nintendo is never going to be the main choice for gamers simply due to how different their philosophies and goals are as a company. Philosophies, that are largely incompatible with what most major 3rd party look for. Gaming has changed, and gamers today are very different from how they were in the 80s and 90s. The only way Nintendo could be #1 is if they toss out their entire ideological and creative ethos, and homogenize themselves to meet what is considered hot, or the norm, which at that point they may as well not even be Nintendo. The best Nintendo can do, is be the best companion piece to an Xbox, PlayStation, or PC they can.

Agreed, but if the Switch sells - ifit sells - it will not sell for its western AAA third party support.

It wont get the third party. At least, not the AAA third party. I've covered it extensively.

To be short: underpowered, historically not helpful to the 3rd party, their games haven't sold when they tried.

Not worth the effort at all for third party.

A great system to complement a PS4 or Xbox. For me it's the Nintendo games that sold me. I know that might not be enough for some people. I hope it does well down the line. If they kill it quickly like the Wii U, I will probably never buy another device from Nintendo for a long time. I recall SEGA kept killing consoles before their console business went under. Success or not, they better support it for a long time. Basic economics says that customers don't like uncertainty when it comes to buying stuff.

@Ghost120x: they could have supported the wii u but chose not to. Keep that in mind.

With the Wii U, I am willing to cut them slack, because the thing is a massive money sink, but I agree with Ghost, if Nintendo continues not supporting its systems, if support for the Switch is dropped early, then meh.

@charizard1605: they had a duty to service the fans who bought it.

And I felt they did their duty. As someone who spent money on the system, while I am horridly dissatisfied with it, in terms of actual game support, Nintendo gave it a big push.

It's not like Vita, which was publicly buried like a year into its life. Until early 2016, Wii U was getting persistent game support from Nintendo.

with it's weak *** specs it can't even run 95% of 3rd party games(excluding low budget indie trash and outdated japanese games)

You mean for home consoles? For handhelds, it is a different story.

I can see it getting some third party support if:

The Switch meets or outsells Nintendo's new sales projections. (16 million in the new fiscal year)

and

other 3rd party games sell. Most big-name 3rd parties are putting atleast one game on the thing. Bethesda, Ubisoft, EA, Capcom, 2K, Warner Bros, Sega. No reason why Switch won't get more ports and new games if the games sell.

Hearing how simple it is to port games over and seeing the proof of it I'm not sure I'd agree with this part: 'but it's clear the Switch is still designed for Nintendo games first, 3rd parties second.'

There isn't much they could have done to make it easier for third party hardware wise. Support wise I don't know, haven't heard anything about it. But seeing the 'Nindy' support is good. If they can attract full support from the indie scene that would be a great move.

At $299.99 without game its definitely not a great secondary console choice. If Nintendo wants to aim the Switch as true secondary device then the price needs to come down pronto.

I keep saying this. People that purchased a Switch for similar third party support that Sony and MS currently have.....bought the Switch for the wrong reason. I mainly bought a Switch for Zelda and the ability to download VC content(eventually). My interest in it otherwise is very limited - browser, netflix, etc., are not things I care about on it for example.

They probably will, scaling games down is a thing, any one that really believes something can't be done on a console likely doesn't realize that most 3rd parties are supporting the vast majority of PC gamers which run heaping piles of crap. If their momentum keeps up there really is no reason not to. There are a lot of people that care about portability and will likely see this as an opportunity to get a dedicated console that they can really play any where.

It will likely do well with Japanese devs who are used to making games for 3DS or for a japanese audience (likely shared with PS4) and indie devs. It has no chance of getting the attention of major AAA western devs.

Rumor is Dark Souls III (Or even better dark souls trilogy) will make its way to the switch. I swear if that happens I'll buy a second copy of DSIII. Because the idea of playing that game on a nintendo system...too surreal to pass up.

for the multiplat AAA western titles it will basically be impossible. those games dont sell on nintendo platforms and porting them would not be worth the hassle. they would get more of a return porting the game to linux and OSX first frankly.

for smaller developers and developers from japan though it could be tempting (except for big games like FF15) or at least adding the switch to the multiplat roster could be fairly straight forward.

the switch is quite a developer friendly device. its using off the shelf hardware and its a well documented known quantity overall. its not like its using some custom CPU and GPU developed completely in house at nintendo and it all runs on a completely custom API that requires the developer to write large chunks of their code in assembly and haikus. its an underclocked tegra X1 with 3GB of ram for games (which is plenty given the SOC).

so certainly developers in japan are going to be thinking "Vita, Switch, PC (getting more popular with japanese devs) and PS4 multiplat". basically anyone who supported the 3DS and vita should certainly be looking at the switch.

smaller western devs may also take an interest. again its something that can be added to the multiplat roster so it shouldnt take a huge amount of work to get going. if they are using something like the unity engine a switch build shouldnt be a huge hassle. itll be interesting to see any developer feedback leaking out over the next while but the switch is far more standard issue than the wiiu.

but yeah the AAA multiplats: not a hope. there is just no way the likes of creed and COD and battlefield will see the light of day on the switch. at best maybe some sort of exclusive spin off if nintendo are footing the bill but the major publishers wont do it on their own.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nintendo won't have any trouble courting Japanese Third Party developers. Many of the big hitters have already signed on and will likely have major releases out some time in 2018.

Western Third Party developers have historically been anti-Nintendo, and like the OP stated wouldn't bother with Switch development because they can't be arsed to adapt their games to fit the specs of the machine. It's ultimately their prerogative, but people (especially those on this board) love to sing doom & gloom for Nintendo because it lacks games that are deemed "important" for the Western market, all the while ignoring the million-plus sellers that originate in Japan.

@mmmwksil: What was Umemiya originally saying in your sig?

@charizard1605:

Part of a very long, very thought out essay on Nintendo learning their lesson after the failure of Skyward Sword and staying true to the original essence of what made Zelda unique back in the 80s. Unfortunately I don't have that essay anymore, and it didn't really matter since it was just build up to a punchline about Horizon getting rekt by Zelda's 10/10 here on GS.

Edit: basically way too much build up to be put in a single word bubble capable of holding a few dozen words at best.

Ha, alright. I've been trying to read the text for the last few weeks, it's been driving me crazy :p

"Everyone wants Nintendo to have as many developers on board as possible."

Snickering pretty hard at that statement.

odd that people still fail to understand that this is the new DS it will get tons of games.

meh, don't really care about having 3rd party devs on switch. Nintendo just needs to make nintendo games, and court support from some of the japanese devs who make those jrpg's, and they'll be fine. Oh and having sports titles on the switch would be awesome as well. Playing nba 2k on handheld, or with friends on the go is pretty sweet.

It's doing well with Japanese devs, but is struggling with Western devs. While this may have been a disaster a few years back, the recent comeback of Japanese devs means that the Switch can sustain itself with Japanese support.

well it will definitely have more support than the WiiU.... kinda impossible not to have more support than the WiiU

A machine that plays Nintendo games and also gets of a ton of Japanese developers on board is going to be a machine worth owning, just like all the previous Nintendo handhelds.