While I have sincere doubts that this discussion will not deteriorate into a fanboy pissing match orchestrated by the anti-Nintendo establishment here, I will nevertheless make an honest attempt to incite a serious and intelligent discussion.
With the recent announcement by both Capcom and Sega to possibly suspend game development of the hardcore variety for the Nintendo Wii, I have been studying the history behind the gradual decline of third-party support for Nintendo’s latest home console. Now, while some gamers might cite the turbulent and lopsided relationship between Nintendo and third parties, harking back to the days of the NES, as its explanation, I am more inclined to believe that the corporate world suffers from short memory and that history is just that…history.
I believe the reason why, in each of the last three generations, Nintendo cannot maintain steady third party support is because the Big N fails to set the proper tone for its console at launch.With regard to Nintendo consoles, third parties generally follow Nintendo’s lead in terms of the makeup of their gaming software, specifically those at launch and it continues from there until the end of the console’s lifecycle. Wii Sports is Nintendo’s most successful title this generation, released at launch, and, as a result, third parties have opted to emulate its success by emulating the game itself.
The Nintendo 64 launched with the revolutionary Super Mario 64. Third parties in general prefer not to compete with Nintendo’s heavyweights on their own turf, and, considering Nintendo’s stubborn reluctance to evolve its software media at the time, it really did not give third parties many options: again, Nintendo setting the wrong tone for third parties at launch.
The Nintendo Gamecube was probably the Big N’s best attempt to set everything right for third parties at launch. They did not release a blockbuster legacy title at launch and the two games they did publish/develop (Luigi’s Mansion and Wave Race: Blue Storm) did not stray from traditional gaming roots. This granted third parties a great opportunity to set up shop on a system that was in need of an AAA title. Unfortunately, the Gamecube was going up against what-would-soon-be the best selling console of all time, and so third parties didn’t take advantage of this opportunity with much enthusiasm or passion.
For Nintendo’s next console (Wii 2?), Mother Brain needs to do the following things in order to give other developers a shot at making some serious money off Nintendo’s home console. Nintendo needs to do exactly what they with the Gamecube launch, and let third parties establish the identity of the console themselves, meaning no Mario title at launch or any official pack-in. Having established market dominance and mindshare this generation affords Nintendo the luxury of not having to do everything themselves the next go around.
I am interested in hearing what your ideas for Nintendo's next launch strategy should be.
