It’s a sign of the times: a big name publisher/developer moves an incredibly successful game from a failing environment to one with both proven promise and latent potential, all because of spiraling out of control production costs.
Today, it’s CAPCOM and a signature franchise in Monster Hunter (4.5 million sold to date). The game will be a Wii exclusive when it launches sometime next year, according to early reports out of the now Internet famous Nintendo press conference of 2007 and an article at Forbes.com. On the other side of the spectrum, the PS3 version has reportedly been canceled, and I will say no more on that point.
This might not be as big of a coup as Dragon Quest going to the DS, but it’s close. Will every game ever made from here on out be switched to the Wii? Never, that’s not what I’m hinting at in the slightest. There are some games that work, and some that don’t. In this case, one of the most popular games of the moment is one of the games that works.
pwnt.
Hellz Yeah!
“…spiraling out of control production costs.”
One of the interesting things about the Wii is it’s reputation as a “easy” platform to develop for. Because development is both quicker and easier, most Wii games require smaller budgets than the blockbuster PS3/360 titles… which is both a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because the Wii becomes an attractive platform to develop for. Low development costs + big install base = lots of room for profit. No wonder so many third-party companies are suddenly interested in creating exclusive games for Nintendo! The risk-reward ratio works in their favor… not to mention the shorter average time that it takes to complete a project.
It’s a curse because there are already far too many B-grade (and lower) games on the Wii. Small development budgets mean that it’s common to see poorly conceived or designed games, put together by second-string development teams and then rushed out to meet market demands. No wonder there are so many poor selling games out there, especially when those titles have to compete for our time and money against the high quality of Nintendo’s own games.
I truly hope that, as the console moves further into it’s lifecycle, we see companies dedicate more resources into Wii development. Rather than using low development costs as justification for keeping the top-tier development teams on other projects, they will recognize that well-designed games are the ones that earn the most profit… while sending out half-baked PSP/PS2 ports with tacked on motion controls is much less effective use of their time and resources.
ejamer you are correct when you talk about the lazy third party efforts on Wii thus far. Capcom however appears to be an exception, for a remake RE4 was great, UC looks like it has a lot of effort behind it, I am super primed for Zack and Wiki. None of their Wii games seem to be below grade couple that with the fact that Monster Hunter is not a franchise to be taken lightly in Japan I would not fret over this announcement I would say you should rather rest assured that this will set a higher bar for third parties.
MWAHAHAHA
Hunter is right – Capcom has done well with it’s Wii games so far, and there is no reason to doubt that they will continue along that path. He’s also right that Zack and Wiki looks sweet. Kudos to Capcom, because they deserve it!
My original comment wasn’t supposed to be aimed at Capcom; it was more a general reaction to hearing that Monster Hunters on the PS3 had been cancelled because of budget concerns…
I always want to tell developers that they’re crazy for not pouring their best efforts into a high profile Wii game. Because of the ease and cost efficiency related to developing a Wii game your profits stand to be greater when you make your next big game on this system. Also, judging by how an ultra-pretty hi-def game like Lair turned out, the gameplay sacrifices you make to do a blockbuster next gen game sometimes just aren’t worth it.
Have I mentioned Rare should come back home to Nintendo?
Well, this sets it for me, Nintendo wins Japan, the generation, the internets, everything!! After this conference, i feel just like a bomb was droped on my head.
ejamer has it right, easy product + large install base=large profits for 3rd parties. The game producer that my wife works for (my wife programs games, how cool is that) ditched it’s ps3 projects in favor of the wii also. Now they are now a big name (mostly making cellphone and ds games) but the fact that they jumped says something.
I see many more production houses doing the same in the near future. It would be in Square and Konami’s best interest if they wiggled out of their exclusive contracts and started porting their “big name” games to the wii.
Konami will do it at least, there will be a “substance” edition on the wii 6 months or so after mgs4 is released for the dismal ps3. To do other wise would be to doom their game to only being advailable for a very small audiance.
“This might not be as big of a coup as Dragon Quest going to the DS, but it’s close.”
Do you really think so? I mean I know it’s a fairly popular series, but comparing it to Dragon Quest is insane.