What can Nintendo do to get Third Party Support?

Well while technically in case of western, it was never really there outside a small boost on N64 and Gamecube, heck, even some big Japanese companies aren't putting games on the Wii U.

I'm just wondering what they can actually do though to fix this problem, the Gamecube was a small first step, and then the Wii and Wii U brushed them off like they were not important and useless damaging perception even more.

As I'm looking at my recently purchased Wii U, I see no tp games in sight outside a few early ones and only a portion f those are good.

Realistically, and seriously, what can Nintendo actually do? I think at this point the only option is to start slowly from scratch with whatever NX will be, trying REALLY hard, and THEN, by the next console, if consoles still exist then, they can finally get rid of the stigma associated to them by Third Parties.

Make a system with hardware and online that accommodates third parties rather than alienating them.

This doesn't tell me anything without elaboration.

That isn't even good enough to them (third parties).

What needs to be elaborated? They don't want to work with old hardware having to essentially create two versions of the same game just to accommodate Nintendo, so they ignore them.

Seems pretty damn clear...

x86 architecture, and easy scalability of games between handheld and console. If they do this, then their game ends up on 2 systems with little effort. Means more game sales.

Make bundles that have both a third party game and a first party game at a discount.. Sure Nintendo would take a loss on these bundles but it would open up the fan base into thinking there is more to a Nintendo console than just Nintendo games.

Having the world's most powerful console hardware, and state of the art online service. Now that I think about it.....looking at the twins. That ain't gonna be very difficult to surpass the 360 online services were much better than xbone and ps4 hardware can't get 1080p 60 fps on the new games like pc hmm.

@charizard1605: Charizard hit the nail in the head with his first comment. Nintendo needs to make sure they help third martes be successful in their platforms. Nintendo needs to go out of their old ways and help promote third party games at all fronts. Third parties need to also have a big presence in Nintendo ' s online store. When Nintendo conducts public events they need to invite third party partner and give the appropriate air time, instead of circle jerking talking of how amazing they are.

If nintendo can manage to reintroduce proper third party support and on top of that release competing hardware with powerhouse Nintendo exclusives they would dominate the market. But nintendo seems to care more about pride and legacy than money.

Unfortunately Please EA as it seems like everything went bat crap when EA left them and I'm referring back to the Wii when they actually had some decent 3rd party. Once EA shafted them with NBA Jam, the downward spiral started back.

Yep. Can't even begin to win 3rd parties back over without at least doing this.

They did this before twice and it did not work. Old hardware is not an explanation.

Twice before? They had plenty of third party support on the GameCube, what was the other time?

I hope you don't forget, Nintendo fucked with third parties, with their N64. The lack of third party support on Nintendo systems began on the N64, with their horrible/archaic decisions on how to handle the system. It's not something that began with the Wii, definitely not. Nintendo has been alienating third parties for 2 decades now. Of course, they wouldn't want to deal with them anymore.

More powerful hardware would be a good start.

License their games out for others developers to make games for, and go third party themselves.

They're so done on the hardware market, for consoles anyways. Sony and MS are willing to take a loss on this stuff and they can't compete with that. Nintendo can't run a digital marketplace, they can't e-publish for shit, they can't manage cross platform purchases, they don't have strong DRM or consumer rights retention. They can't even do party chat, let a lone normal game chat. They should just save themselves the embarrassment, and their fans the money of having to buy another console, just make games for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and get fucking rich when 30 million people buy the next Zelda game across multiple platforms, when 30 million people buy the next Mario Kart or Smash Bros across multiple platforms.

Look, we all know Nintendo will never catch up to Sony and MS in terms of power, third party support, console features. They'll always be behind, doing just that, trying to play catch up. They make great games for sure, but on every other end they're lacking. About the one other thing they do right is handhelds, they can still do that, but on the console end they should really look to making games for others like Sega did years back. And if they're not willing to make games, license the games out to those that will.

They need to build the system around what third parties want, talk to them, work with them, listen to them, if they have a problem with the dev kit, make sure that problem is fixed, before they release a new system they need to make sure that every third party company is happy and excited to make games for Nintendo's next system. Hearing "the controller is too restrictive", " not enough ram", "gpu could be stronger", anything, is not a good sign that Nintendo listens to thrid parties.

If third parties want more gpu power, ram, better controller, no motion, anything, give it to them.

But this is Nintendo, they recently said that people will change there mind on the new Metroid for 3ds, that consumers will understand when they play it, this is another sign that they dont give a crap about what you want, but only what they want. Not a good sign for the future.

er actually market them?

/thread

That's what Sony did with the PS4.

See what the devs want and build it the best you can. Then the games come for it.

Sound points. We can still hope no? They also have Billions to spend and no other sector to spend it on. So they can definitely compete and catch up if they actually wanted to.

Exactly, it shouldn't be hard, but Nintendo lives in the feudal period of thinking, honor and pride before asking for help.

At this point, I don't know if they can win 3rd parties back. These companies have built relationships with Sony and MS while Nintendo keeps making consoles where porting a game takes more time than it is worth. Nintendo also rarely supports 3rd parties on their machine like MS and Sony have been known to do over the last decade.

Yes Nintendo has funded a game or 2, but compare that to what MS and Sony are doing with their relations with 3rd parties and there is a big difference.

I'd love Nintendo to get 3rd parties back on board with their consoles, but N64, GC, Wii U were all lacking 3rd party support and the Wii was mostly shovelware from 3rd parties with only a few noteworthy 3rd party games worth mentioning. 3rd party support for Nintendo isn't a new issue, and they always talk about getting them back on board before their new console releases, and with every new console, 3rd party support is the same with the Nintendo console missing most big 3rd party games or getting a lesser port due to financial and time restraints.

they need to do the opposite of this

N64, and also GC, because no, no they didn't, relatively they had a decent amount of TP, but they lost a lot of rights to those and it still vastly paled in comparison to the competition.

Fund the localization of the next iteration of the Extreme Gundam VS series.

@TigerSuperman:

1) First and most important ... to meet this era standards hardware wise

2) Pay for time exclusives

3) Pay more for exclusives

4) They need to drop that kiddish image for their consoles and make them more like PS4/X1 so they have a chance to lure in some hardcore gamers that willing to buy "hardcore" 3rd party games for the NX aside Nintendo 1st party titles.. If once again Nintendo promote NX as another traditional , colorful and playful console ... hardcore gamers wont even bother or will have it as a secondary console once again just for the few exclusives it offers. Therefore 3rd parties wont even bother ...

Is eye surgery an option?

wat :p

i dont think they should.
well i dont think they should chase after the multiplats.
they just dont sell. there simply isnt any point in 3rd parties putting effort into a version for a nintendo platform because its not going to sell. even if it reaches feature parity and looks as good as the other versions it wont matter a single jot. doesnt matter how good the game is...it aint selling on nintendo platforms. okami, bayonetta 2, red steel 2 and so on...all tanked.
thats time better spent making a linux or mac build of their game to be honest.

as far as nintendo and 3rd parties go i think it should be on exclsuive deals (like MH and bayonetta) and it should focus on areas where nintendo themselves are weak (so getting a 3rd party 2d or 3d platformer is pointless). this seems to work out better for all involved. its not competing for sales with other versions of the game, its unique to the platform and nintendo are sharing the risk.

nintendo consoles should aim to be the go to complimentary console for everyone by differentiating itself from the competition. it shouldnt be like a PS4, X1 or PC. at the end of the day if more X1, PS4 and PC owners get the nintendo console then thats a good day at the office.

the best way to achieve this is to expand internal development and partner with 3rd parties for exclsuive games. hunt down developers like CDPR and make deals to share the risk with new IPs and new games in return for making it exclsuive to the nintendo platforms.

nintendo trying to make the nintendo playbox 4 is going to end in tears. they are a tiny company, relatively speaking, and dont have strengths in the areas where sony and MS have strengths. small companies dont go into contested markets and offer the same thing as the established players...and win. it just doesnt happen.

If that guarantees a successful console for nintendo why haven't they done that yet?

Maybe they don't think doing that will help them that much according to some of the things Iwata has said recently. I think they should just fix their online and make it easier for developers to make games on their consoles and handhelds if they want to instead of trying to do what you said above.What osan0 said is the best route for nintendo to take.They should not try to go the PS4/Xbox one route.

They could actually start listening to them and working with them for starts.

Make a console that is easy to develop for and has the hardware and online capabilities that are comparable to their direct competitors.

Everything that happened with the n64/Cube era/Wii or whatever lame excuse people will use to say "that wouldn't work" has no bearing on what would happen today in today's market. During the PS2 era all those Japanese devs could afford to do exclusives on just the PS2 and make buckets. In todays market those games are way too expensive for anyone to not want to make another sku of their game that will sell.

As long as the platform is easy to develop for, has the hardware necessary, and has the online infrastructure necessary, it would get third party support. At the least it be more in line with the Cube in that department, than the N64, Wii, or WiiU, which are completely pathetic when measured up against the Cube in terms of third party support.

Do what MS did when started in this industry with the Xbox Original.

TBH, Nintendo needs to stop trying to think for themselves and actually start listening to the audience. Nintendo hasn't been taking any feedback from neither gamers nor third-party support.

Whatever Iwata said was just Nintendo being stubborn and prideful like I stated. Bottom line PS4/Xbone are a success with third party and culture for games/gamers. Nintendo WIIU has been a failure with no momentum, no third party support, it's all about insularity with them. Nintendo hasn't tried to be like the competition because they don't want to, it's not that they can't finance it or figure out how it all works out. So I take Mr. Iwata's statements with a grain of salt. Nintendo could have a strong home console that directly competes with Sony/MS as far as technology. They could have good relationship with third parties, while also releasing all the strong Nintendo exclusives. We know it can be done because MS/Sony have already achieved those goals. Nintendo is afraid of failure plus also they don't give a shit about third parties. To Nintendo it's all about them and everyone else has to work around them. Is that not stubbornness?

QFT, my exact sentiments.

1. Japanese insularity, reluctance to work with third parties (this began in N64 era)

2. Hardware inferiority.

3. Casual public image and not accommodating for violent and grim games (most AAA multiplats).

... is why they keep failing with third party support.

Though, why should they have third party support? Nintendo is what remains of the old era of gaming. Everything else is corporate bullshit. Why turn Nintendo games library in to more regurgitated PC games?

Basically this. Nintendo hates what Western games represent now, and has for a while. Coupled that with the fact that Nintendo and Japan in general don't try to look for inspiration or guidance from other cultures because of the Japanese culture xenophobia, close minded pride/honor, and patriotism bull. Whatever though, hope they wake up before they bleed any more money. MS/Sony always try to adjust their approach/vision depending of market perception and reception.

Nintendo should just declare the Gamecube or SNES as their Console of all time and keep making games for that.

Or go 3rd party

Make hardware that is not so constricting to outside developers, and market them better. These two things aren't entirely mutually exclusive though.

I've noticed that every single hw since the snes had fundamental issues that would be annoying for any developer. The things just don't sell due to said issues or just no awareness based on bad marketing. I'm starting to think its more the former that is tethering their sales though, which is leading to the latter a bit.

The Wii was anomalous but fits my hw limitation argument like a glove.

You HAVE to be kidding.

If Nintendo doesn't listen to gamers, then, I must ask again, WHY THE HELL DO YOU (and any other pro-"Nintendo should be third party" user) STILL WANT THEM? Most especially in a major sell-out state like going third party (pretty much equal to giving in to a rival dictatorial government, like the Thalmor from Skyrim, who both the Redguards and Stormcloak supporting Nords refused to bend down to after what the Empire did)? You think going third party would make them listen? Man, Activision, Ubi and EA must be listening REAL well to their aud... oh WAIT!

Again, wouldn't it make more sense to ask Nintendo to, and quoting Mark Mues to Eminem after hearing FACK: "Go away! Get Lost! Don't write! Don't call! LEAVE! And NEVER come back!"

Kidding. :P

In all seriousness though, they need a platform that's on par with rival systems in terms of power. That's it.

I support third party because it would allow Nintendo to sell their games to more people, to keep the franchises healthy and alive, and most importantly the company itself. I made no comment about "listening to gamers", I pointed out that some of the most basic standard features of modern consoles Nintendo is struggling to even grasp. And if people truly believe Nintendo is above the shenanigans of Activision, Ubisoft, EA, people should be instilled with more confidence of Nintendo's ability to succeed as a third party. Going third party is not a recipe for inherent disaster, Sega's problems post Dreamcast weren't just that they went third party, it was years and years of horrible decision making in development and publishing. Nintendo has great value in their licenses and IPs and abilities to create new ones, what they lack is an ability to sell their system, which by extent limits their ability to sell their games to the larger market.

Now, a question maybe worth asking is will the goodwill of Nintendo's licenses and IPs hold more value going third party in near future? Or, if say, the NX is Nintendo's Dreamcast and they end up going down in flames, will waiting to go third party when the company is in shambles devalue their licenses and IPs?

Man its hard to say at this point. The Wii was a huge success in terms of hardware sales but still had terrible third party support outside of carnival and mini games. I guess:

- A system with no gimmicks: The wii remote and the Wii U gamepad ask too much of third party developers to innovate. The remote was the result of a million terrible mini games.

- A system with similar power range to X1/PS4 for ease of porting. This would at least allow games to come out to the system (Example being project cars this gen)

- More online support: Proper mic support, friends list, etc. The ability to build an online community helps keeps a system alive. I grabbed an X1 after the PS4 because most of my friends grabbed the X1. No one went from the 360 to a Wii U. I haven't booted up my Wii U in a while but I'm pretty sure there "community support" consists of that miiverse crap.

Because more sales is surely given with audiences that just don't give a crap about Nintendo, especially in the modern era, right? Kind of hard to mention "value" when their relevancy has been in question.

"And if people truly believe Nintendo is above the shenanigans of Activision, Ubisoft, EA, people should be instilled with more confidence of Nintendo's ability to succeed as a third party" And just how many people believe that Nintendo was above ActiEAUbi's nonsense exactly?

You may not have brought up the "not listening to gamers", but those who are generally pro-"Nintendo should be third party" however do, so I had to mention it.

Some online support would help, but they could make their systems slightly more powerful. The most important thing, though, are the games. Yes, they have some pretty great games, but over an entire generation, I'd get pretty tired of some of them. They need variety. They need things that scream "Get this only at Nintendo." Xenoblade looks to be one of those games. If they can have 3 such games a year, they're in good shape.

Then again, if they were to ever make their first party available to everyone...well, they wouldn't need to worry about going bankrupt.

first of all, the consumers who buy nintendo consoles don't care about 3rd parties..

I'm a consumer of Nintendo and I care about third parties... Also, if you're going to say "first of all" it needs to have a followup, you know "secondly", "second" etc...