How lasting is third-party support on Wii?
Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 1:04pm by Blake
Wii was largely written off after it was announced in 2005. As a result, game makers (with exception to Ubisoft) decided to put all their eggs in the PS3 and 360 basket. I’ll spare you the details, but after surpassing head start 360 sales in less than a year and putting the thump on the costly PS3, publishers are finally on board. But will they stay on board?
I ask because third-party sales have suffered more than they’ve succeeded over the last year. Either said efforts are sloppy (as we’ve seen), Wii owners aren’t that interested in non-Nintendo games, or a mix of both. Additionally, Wii’s low attach rate (purchased games/console) may have developers doubting their recent commitment as 360 owners buy more games on average.
If publishers continually get outsold by Nintendo-made substitutes (read: don’t make any money), you can bet the most widely purchased console may still end up with a lack of games.
That said, I believe compelling software will be rewarded, regardless of who makes it. Still this is one area Nintendo should be mindful of moving forward. You can never court too many third-party game makers.
Do you think there’s problem?
November 16th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
It is all about making the right game with the right marketing. Guitar Hero III despite some issues on Wii is selling fantastically. This shows that third parties can indeed succeed. Likewise Resident Evil 4 has done well. Zack and Wiki hasn’t, but retailers were scared of it due to its a-typical game type (it could not simply be described as the next Zelda or Halo).
It may be that third party support is in danger, but I don’t think its because Wii owners supposedly only care about Nintendo made titles.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I do see a problem, and I’ve mentioned it in previous comments: most of the people purchasing the Wii are not buying it with the mentality of buying a gaming console, but with the mentality of buying a Wii Sports machine. That is why they haven’t bought more than one game after almost a year of having bought the console!
Hopefully Super Mario Galaxy will change that. It may force Wii owners (not us, but the kind who just use the console for Wii Sports parties) to purchase this single-player platformer, and wonder what else is there…
November 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Well they are retooling their release schedule. Like Smash in Feb. instead of the holidays. With N spreading their big titles out, perhaps that’s an opening for 3rd parties Wii dev’s/pub’s to get their game groove on . . . provided they release quality games.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I just bough 8 Wii games yesterday and only Super Mario Galaxy was 1st party (Marble Maddness, Mercury Meltdown, GH III, RE: UC, Zack & Wiki, Dragon Blade and Dewys Adventure). Only 1st games I own are Zelda, Wario, Super Paper Mario, MP3, Exite Truck and Super Mario Galaxy (6 games total). 3rd Party games I own: Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids, RE4: Wii Edition, COD3, Elebits, Trauma Center, Cooking Mama, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Chicken Little and the 7 I just bought (for a total of 16 3rd party games).
The problem is many complain about their games not selling… but that’s because they release crap ports and uninteresting games (Elebits and Red Steel got slammed by the “gaming press” but I actually enjoyed both games very much, which goes to show that companies that provide ORIGINAL content for Wii fare better than those that only release games for the sake of having SOMETHING on store shelves).
November 16th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I think we’ll see something more along the lines of “4th Party” games. This could be via WiiWare most likely, but also new small indie devs latching on to new and interesting ideas for cheap. Ignition Entertainment’s sleeper hit of Mercury Meltdown is an example. $20 for a brand new game from a small company and it was selling out for quite a while.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
It’d be great if more companies priced their games accordingly. $40 isn’t budget, it’s just below premium. $35 and below is budget. I was very angry to see Dragonblade get a $10 price cut only a week later.
November 16th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
@ Invisible Man
I would argue that likely the same person who bought the machine to play Wii Sports is the same one who gets to the store and buys Guitar Hero III before me, thus leaving me GHless. The problem is that none of the Mini-Game collections have held the same magic that Sports did and that attempts to sell another bowling game to someone who is quite satisfied with the one they have is silly. They may never be interested in single-player/Online games. They bought the machine to use with their friends and loved ones. I agree that third party support is in danger, and would argue that they are spending too much time trying to make pale knock-offs of Wii Sports i.e. carnival games.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I”m with InvisibleMan, and I’ve seen the exact same thing. I’m one of about 10 people I know that own a Wii. Of the 10, about 4 of us of what I consider “gamers”, the others at best “casual” gamers. I’ve owned 6 Wii games so far, the other 3 have owned around 4, but the remaining six have not even bought another game. They still play Wii Sports somewhat regularly, but that’s it. And in talking with them, seemingly have no interest in getting any new Wii games. I think that was the risk that was taken when Nintendo changed their marketing strategy, and although it’s worked great, I’m not so sure how it will work long term.
Because of Wii Sports, as much of a success as it has been, many 3rd parties have viewed the Wii as the “minigame” machine and as Hunter said, have released some cheap, crappy knock-offs. That and because of the difference in power between the Wii and 360/PS3, they are content with giving the Wii the tacked on PS2 ports. And on top of all that, many of the original ones like Red Steel, have sucked.
Plus to me it’s still fighting the kiddie label. People (on here mostly) complain about how the 360 is nothing but FPS, well I’m pretty sick of seemingly almost every game put on the Wii looking like a freakin’ cartoon. Games like Mario,sure I expect it, but can’t Konami give us older gamers something much less diabetic than Elebits and Dewey? EA’s version of the Sims, same thing….it’s getting old. That’s probably why I eat up games like RE: Umbrella Chronicles so much, finally a game that isn’t sickly sweet.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
“Plus to me it’s still fighting the kiddie label. People (on here mostly) complain about how the 360 is nothing but FPS, well I’m pretty sick of seemingly almost every game put on the Wii looking like a freakin’ cartoon. Games like Mario,sure I expect it, but can’t Konami give us older gamers something much less diabetic than Elebits and Dewey? EA’s version of the Sims, same thing….it’s getting old. That’s probably why I eat up games like RE: Umbrella Chronicles so much, finally a game that isn’t sickly sweet.”
Couldn’t agree more, RE.
November 16th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
If they wanna make money they better will. unless they wanna end up making cellphone games, it’s just not smart to stick to one console, even the Halo guys wanna make something for the Wii…
November 16th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
“That said, I believe compelling software will be rewarded, regardless of who makes it.”
You pretty much answer your own question right there.
Although, on a personal note, I will agree with RE and Andrew-MG (faints).
While I absolutely LOVE games like BWii and their whimsical art style, I would like to have the alternative as well. I would never want the glut of shooters the 360 has, but jeebus, a couple of good sci-fi shooters from 3rd parties would be nice. The Wiis lineup would benefit greatly from a couple of games like Bioshock or Half-Life 2. Hell even the game GUN would good fun. I get very disappointed when games like RE5 or Silent Hill or other major adult franchises disregard the Wii.
Sure, I’ll end up playing them on the other platforms eventually, but a non-HD version for $50 with the MP3 control scheme would sure be nice to add to my collection.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
1. “Additionally, Wii’s low attach rate (purchased games/console) may have developers doubting their recent commitment as 360 owners buy more games on average.” -
Wii’s attach rate isn’t low. Xbox 360’s is abnormally high. While publishers think this is good, analysts see this as a bad sign, as a high ratio early in a console’s life cycle rightly indicates a hardcore userbase with a slow rate of install base growth. I.E. nothing in 360 sales so far indicate it will yet hit any markets the first Xbox didn’t. I’d also ask you what exactly publishers have committed to Wii? I bet the industry average is less than their PSP budgets, and about 1/5th to 0 of their 360 budgets.
2. “Either said efforts are sloppy (as we’ve seen), Wii owners aren’t that interested in non-Nintendo games, or a mix of both.” -
So far as I know, no game falls into this second category. There is not one 3rd party Wii game that wasn’t sloppy that didn’t sell well. Even several questionable games managed to sell (Redsteel?). Don’t quote Zak + Wiki at me - sloppy marketing (no marketing) is just as self-defeating as sloppy game making.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I know none of us here is typical, but only five out of my 12 Wii games are from Nintendo (Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, a Zelda, Wii Sports, Wii Play.) Once Wiiware gets here I have to think I’m going to be all over its third-party offerings as well.
As for the types of games available on the Wii, I’d love to see a Wii version of Orange Box…. but only so I can play Portal. I’m a 38 year old professional and I’ve spent plenty of time playing first person shooters over the years, but at least as much time playing Animal Crossing. I don’t buy games whose names end in “Z”, but if I never play another game whose dominant color is gray or brown, it’ll be too soon.
Finally, I really think the reason for the Wii’s poor attach ratio was the same reason I only had 3 or 4 DS games until Nintendogs came out: the first-year drought. No one believed in the Wii, so no one made games for it except for some rushed-out stuff (and the brilliant Elebits). As a result, there was nothing to buy.
If the attach ratio is still 3.5 after another six months go by, I could easily imagine publishers starting to rethink their Wii commitments and the 360 becoming this generation’s PS2. On the other hand, if all the developers who have jumped from the PS3 to the Wii in the last few months rush out poorly ported PS2 games, Wii owners are going to stick with the one and only publisher who hasn’t produced a bad Wii game yet: Nintendo.
November 16th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
@raindog,
“If the attach ratio is still 3.5 after another six months go by”
The Wiis attach ratio was 5 as of Sept 30 2007.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/cheesemeister05/ntdoy20071025.gif
Thats not that bad.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:07 am
As I said, Wii’s attach ratio isn’t bad. In fact it’s healthy, indicating that games are selling fairly well and the install base is growing quickly.
This Wii drought after the DS success is atrocious and insulting. Assume Nintendo’s failure once, shame on Nintendo. Assume Nintendo’s failure twice, shame on the industry.
Again, I don’t really see how 3rd parties can drop their Wii ‘commitments’ seen as even now, they’re committing practically nothing. In many ways they’re committing LESS than to Gamecube. At least that got some serious first tier development budgets and talent from Capcom and Namco. Pathetic to have only two in a generation, but Wii support is shaping up even poorer.
It doesn’t matter if the industry tries to make 360 the new PS2, because the Wii is making PS2 scale sales and 360 isn’t. In the past the market followed the 3rd parties. Nintendo has broken that trend (twice) and 3 years in 3rd parties still haven’t figured it out.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:55 am
@elmer,
First, you’re right that the question in the article is moot at this point, seeing as third parties have committed little on the Wii till now.
BUT! If you read a lot of gaming sites, you should know that there are a LOT of 3rd party projects in the early stages on the Wii. We have not yet seen the committment, but it has begun. Namco just announced they have a new RPG coming to the system. It will be revealed in Famitsu next week. Monster Hunter 3? I think you’ll be seeing a lot more announcements like this going forward. A year into the consoles life, with record sales, they won’t continue to ignore those trends. Particularly when you realize there are a lot of PS3 budgets that are not going to be used in a hurry because that systems is moving slower than anticipated. Take one cancelled PS3 game budget and you can make 4 or 5 Wii games. Think about that.
The major third parties are slow to change. They have been sitting back watching the Wii up to this point, perhaps tossing a port or two to diversify their portfolio and make a claim of “support”, but I promise you they are looking at Wii sales and comparing it to the dross on the system so far from third parties and their mouths are watering at the massive opportunity to fill the void of quality 3rd party titles. The games have started and they will be here in less than a year. You think there are alot of games coming out at the end of this year? Just wait until 2008.
November 18th, 2007 at 5:03 am
3rd Parties have no one to blame but themselves. Why? you ask well because the majority of their games are rehashed ports of the same games we bought last gen, and also they spend zero time with creativity. In the computer/games industry their are a lot of talented and intelligent people. Atleast Nintendo uses their people (mainly shigy) to develop games that are first fun, and second either original or expanding on the gameplay that works. This really pisses me off that these 3rd parties want a free ride, and that consumers will buy whatever crap they want to sell us. There is a reason why nintendo invests so much time and commitment on their projects. And thats why their end results are high profits and revenue. To all 3rd Parties that dont try to make beautiful games on WII ala SMG/MP3, and try to sell us crap ports ala M&M racing, Take a page from the Blue Ocean strategy of Nintendo. Diversify your projects and use the time to make A+ games.
November 18th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
@used Cisco
I actually see the reverse happening. Call of Duty 4? where the hell did it go. I’m almost certain a lot of Western developers who entertained the idea of making a Wii game in January are changing their minds, now that they’re discontinuing their PS2 development schedules and their dross which they illogically expected to sell, didn’t. It’s things like Soul Caliber Legends which convinces me that developers don’t understand the connect between quality and sales and that basing further spending on these decisions. As far as I can see, MH3 is the ONLY big 3rd party project coming for Wii coming after Spring 2008 that wasn’t announced before the system was launched. To me that sounds like minimal additional investment.
What happened to all that PS3 money you say? I say half has gone directly into 360 development (because 3rd parties think they can salvage the completed work), and the other half has disappeared; 3rd parties don’t see it as money they could be spending somewhere else. Right now 3rd parties see it as money they can stop hemorrhaging.
There’s this ‘always on the horizon’ argument we’ve all been putting forwards as Nintendo fans but it’s a joke.
3rd parties didn’t announce stuff at TGS 2005 when Wii was announced.
3rd parties didn’t announce stuff at E3 2006 when Wii looked impressive.
3rd parties didn’t announce stuff at TGS 2006 when it looked like Nintendo might just succeed
3rd parties didn’t announce stuff over winter 2006/7 when Wii looked like a winner
3rd parties didn’t announce stuff at E3 2007 when Wii was dominating every market
3rd parties haven’t announced stuff in the last 6 months (barring MH3 - and really, what alternative did they have?) when Wii has dominated every market off the back of a tiny catalog.
I’m considering the timeline of things carefully. When they announce something it usually hits 18 months later. When we see the first shots, it usually hits a year later. When the press gets the first playtests, it usually hits about 6 months later. The fact that there’s hardly been anything of serious investment ANNOUNCED in the last year, I’m not even hopeful on new 3rd party titles ’till 2009. Only Nintendo keeps secrets. Investors hardly need to worry and Nintendo has to have a surprise every once in a while to sustain momentum in the quiet months. The 3rd parties however, can hardly keep their traps shut.
It seems to me it doesn’t matter how successful Nintendo becomes; 3rd parties, particularly Western ones will ignore the opportunity. As they have done on DS. My favorite example? Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land remains the highest rated Western 3rd party game on DS in at no.24 with 84%. It’s been 3 years of record breaking low cost sales. It will never change.
November 18th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
“I’m considering the timeline of things carefully.”
No you’re not at all. Do you really think 3rd parties would simply abandon the PS3 and 360 so soon? That makes no sense. They were/are HEAVILY invested in both platforms. They would be fools not to give them at LEAST a year to gain traction.
You’re INCREDIBLY melodramatic timeline of “no announcements” is hilarious in its irrelevance. There’s no way 3rd parties would be announcing projects at the times you mention for a platform that the vast majority of gaming hierarchy is claiming is likely a fad. And I can’t blame them. It would be too risky too, given Nintendos history. No, they are sitting back, waiting, watching, throwing some ports and remakes in our direction to test the waters. And IF the Wii continues to sell, and IF the PS3 continues to stuggle, you can bet your ass, we’ll be seeing an increase in Wii projects. Maybe not the hardcore focused games you’ll see on the 360 seeing as the demographics are different, but you’ll see them. Anything less wouldn’t make sense. They’ve got to make money somewhere and you can be sure SOMEONE will be making money on the Wii besides nintendo, especially if it can keep up these sales into next year.
Just remember, the system has only been out a year. Devs have to be certain about something like the Wii before they can commit to it. That time has not come until just now, when it has passed the 360 and is still going strong. I’ll bet a lot of new Wii projects are getting funded this very minute. I think next holiday season will show us a lot. Same goes for PS3, it could have a very different 08 than 07. The 360s path is set, but the PS3 and Wii are not.
November 18th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Third-party commitment? Where? They’ve given the other systems far more years and “better,” ground breaking concepts and projects and Wii owners are suppose to jump for joy when their latest quickie they scrounge up together in their last minute (I don’t care if they were caught with their pants off because it only shows they never had any plans to begin with for the Wii).