Developers in the dark for Wii Ware, VC launches
Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 10:42am by Jack
I have to admit, I do enjoy the element of surprise that greets me every Monday morning. What will David post for the VC update? What WiiWare games are going to drain my bank account this week? These are the fun questions that betray my lack of a social life and my obvious love of Nintendo-related surprises.
But what if I were a developer, whose livelihood depended on the games being digitally distributed via Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel? I’d be a nervous wreck and slightly pissed off, as a matter of fact. Trouble is, this is exactly what’s happening.
The folks over at WiiWare World covered this issue this week, and their secret source had nothing but bad press about Nintendo’s seemingly new generation, developer-friendly download service.
Those airy, warm and anti-Xbox Love Arcade impressions we received from Nintendo when they marketed the service last year? Not so much, apparently.
We’ve spoken to one WiiWare developer (who understandably wishes to remain anonymous) and they have a slightly less positive tale to tell about the way Nintendo handles WiiWare titles. It seems that getting solid release dates is near impossible, and in some cases Nintendo is not even informing the developer until the game is actually available for download. Our contact currently has a highly anticipated game awaiting release, but he commented that he was “completely in the dark” about when it would actually make an appearance on the digital shop shelf that is the Wii Shop channel.
And, heavens to Murgatroyd, should a developer actually know when their title is scheduled for release? Nien. You are forbidden from telling anyone, says the source. Trying to market your product? This system makes that traditional approach impossible. And, whereas similar un-traditional marketing, a la Wii and Wii Fit, are working like gangbusters, this approach simply seems like it’s spiting developers for coming on board Nintendo’s new strategy.
As a counter point, it is understandable that Nintendo would keep anything related to its game-changing Wii, download service and other innovations, close to the vest this time around. But there needs to be some concessions. Does Nintendo think its service (and its pay structure) is that much better than XBLA? Sure, developers are making more money per game with WiiWare, but there’s always that point where being in the dark and feeling out of control takes over for profits.
As a final aside, we must remember this is an anonymous source, and all the sides are not known–notably Nintendo’s. This could be some selfish developer who feels put down because Nintendo delayed their game. It would be only natural to lash out a little if that happened.
As with any argument, I’m going to assume for now that the real issue is a combination of what this disgruntled developer says, what Nintendo might eventually say, and the truth.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hopefully if this IS true, more developers will come out and bash Nintendo. What for? To see if all the bad press will get them to react and snap out of their close-mindedness that’s going to hurt their system.
I sadly don’t think that being left in the dark is far from the truth because it goes with Nintendo not telling us what games are released until they’re out there. Sure, now the Nintendo channel can help push new releases, but some developers need to know the dates of their game launches like the case of World of Goo that will most likely want to launch its PC game alongside the WiiWare version (imagine having to scramble to launch early one Monday morning because Nintendo decided it was time to release your game).
May 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Out of curiousity, how does this compare with other services? Do XBLA or PSN publishers get firm release dates, or are they in a similar situation?
The answer doesn’t really matter - I think that it’s entirely reasonable for a developer to demand that knowledge, and it sucks that Nintendo isn’t being as forthright as they could (should?) be. Hopefully this is a “growing pains” things that will be fixed before long…
May 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I don’t understand what Nintendo gains by keeping everyone (including the consumer) in the dark. I understand that they don’t want people to say “well, I won’t buy that game, because this game is coming out in a week”, but I just don’t think that would be a very big issue. I will admit that, at first, I bought some VC games that I wouldn’t have bought otherwise, just because there weren’t many to choose from. But, honestly, just tell us when you’re going to release the stupid games.
I also don’t understand why it seems to be so freaking hard to release VC games. They haven’t given us 3/week all year, like they used to. I understand that there are licensing issues, but pas that, it’s not like they’re changing the game at all. Come on Nintendo.
Oh yeah, and give us a freaking hard drive.
Okay, my ranting is over.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
i believe wiiware makes more sense right now..since its innovation.. but for their both work. you can have vc for novelty.. so its up to wiiware developers to make sure that their wiiware titles are unique
May 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am
Well this is weird. Why not go to IGN and get them to hype your game? Non of the games released so far have had release dates yet people are buying them. I understand money is better than praise any day. Another thing is why can they not port some thing over to the PC or some thing?
May 31st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
i’m tired of these developers complaining about XBLA and now Wii Ware. If you don’t like it release your title on the PC or something.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:20 pm
DRock67: That’s bad business. I can understand maintaining an element of surprise to customers when it comes to Wii Ware (heck; Nintendo does this with VC anyway in Europe and Americas. It is only Japan when we know what’s coming out in a one month span; although they still surprise us on actual release dates. They do surprise us with Japanese WiiWare titles though.); but when you keep developers in the dark like that, that’s not good for business. NOA should know better than this; but then again, this is the same company that restricted third party software engines on Nintendo DS, so this doesn’t surprise me in the least. And I bet Nintendo lives through this and wins again..as usual.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 am
Forget the lack of release dates. If i was a developer i’d be angry over the lack of storage for the wii. I cant buy any more wii ware titles because i’m full. Whats the use of releasing them if people cant store them on their machines?