This holiday season will make or break the Wii
by Candace Savino 
{ Nov 9th 2007 at 1:30PM }
At least, that's what Eidos's Julien Merceron believes. The company's chief technology officer said recently in an interview, "Either third party developers and publishers will make money on the Wii platform [this Christmas], or they won't - and if most of them don't I think we'll see a big drop in support for the Wii next year, which could have some consequences for Nintendo, and very positive ones for Microsoft and Sony." The way Merceron sees it, it's obvious that some Nintendo titles will make money this season, but third party games are another story. Of course, if third parties produce unimpressive stuff, we think that they shouldn't expect to be rewarded. Yet, it's a shame if quality games like Zack & Wiki don't succeed. But, what do you think? Will third party games sell well on the Wii this holiday season, and, more importantly, is the Wii's success depending on it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DonWii @ Nov 9th 2007 1:44PM
Considering there are only a few quality third party titles this holiday season, it is safe to assume that most third party games won't be selling.
Do I think the Wii's success depends on it? Not sure. I look at the DS, and the third party support is only just getting good, and it has managed to sell 53M units world wide with little support beforehand.
Alan Friesen @ Nov 9th 2007 1:53PM
@DonWii: but look at the price difference between the Wii and the DS, and the fact that the DS was widely available during its first year. Amazingly, supplies of Wiis are starting to show up here in Canada in substantial numbers: there are 40 currently available on Bestbuy.ca's site, and they're actually in-store in a few Future Shop locations.
Regardless, I think this guy is jumping the gun a bit. The Wii is doing just fine, both here and in Japan, and the lineup for the Wii in early 2008 is looking very promising. Third party support will come, whether sooner or later.
iconmaster @ Nov 9th 2007 1:56PM
I don't think anything can "break" the Wii at this point. The holiday season might make or break the third-party Wii ecosystem, but the Wii itself is beyond dependence on it.
Jumbo @ Nov 9th 2007 2:14PM
Obviously, the success of current third party games will influence the number of later third party games.
However, this is far from a measure of success.
worm @ Nov 9th 2007 2:14PM
I actually don't care much about third party games. Here are my favorite franchises:
1. Super Smash Bros
2. Super Mario
3. Zelda
4. Metroid
5. Mario Kart
6. Mario Soccer
Those are my favorites, so if Nintendo keeps putting them out, I'll keep buying them. (Sounds like major fanboy)
taintedzodiac @ Nov 9th 2007 2:25PM
Since when has the Nintendo depended on third party titles to "make or break" their platforms? They've always been profitable without them, they can only make things better for the Wii.
BrandonIT @ Nov 9th 2007 2:41PM
Well, I'm hoping for continued third-party support. I've not been impressed myself with the last Zelda or Mario games. The game play has changed so much from the NES titles that I'm just not interested in the style of play they offer. So third-party support for me is critical to my enjoyment of the Wii.
I'm looking forward to Ghost Squad and MoH:Heroes 2 as great third-party offerings because I haven't had any good light-gun action since Duck Hunt. I'm also looking forward to SW:The Force Unleashed. So for me I'm very anxious for the third-party developers to get on and stay on the bandwagon making good games for the Wii.
Here's hoping we see the Wii 3rd party games break some sales records this Christmas season.
hvnlysoldr @ Nov 9th 2007 2:43PM
It's not that third-party stuff don't sell well on Nintendo platforms, it's that they don't top seller charts for Nintendo platforms. They want that nice shiny trophy, although they really just care about profit.
Mike @ Nov 9th 2007 2:56PM
This guy is a loon.
The fact of the matter is that the Wii is a huge market with huge potential.
The reason Nintendo games are massively ahead of 3rd party games is two-fold.
1. Nintendo is the top game developer in terms of consistent quality and longevity. (Yes there are a lot of one-of games that, in their own right, are better than any one Nintendo game, but no other company has the consistency of Nintendo.)
2. Nintendo had a huge head start in developing for the new Wiimote. It will take developers some time to not just use the controller properly but also explore its full potential. The same can be said for the Balance-board and light-gun.
The Wii will handsomely reward those developers that invest the time and care into their products.
Roman @ Nov 9th 2007 3:34PM
I basically agree with him and I really want the Wii to have a lot of third party titles.
There are some types of games that Nintendo just won't ever make. It doesn't seem likely that we'll see a multi-player FPS from Nintendo any time soon.
So buy thirdy party titles! Medal of Honor Heroes looks very nice...
outforprophets @ Nov 9th 2007 3:25PM
He's right. He even makes the point I was going to make (and this is straight from the article): "Yes, and so far what you can see with the figures is that it's not too profitable for anybody but Nintendo."
Third parties don't have a good history with Nintendo consoles. The Gamecube was pretty lacking in its third party support and the Wii is looking to go the same route. Nintendo owners tend to be past Nintendo fans, and tend to buy mostly Nintendo published games. What's the ratio of Nintendo pubilshed games : third party published games in your own Wii library? Then think about the ratio of Nintendo games even published and the total number of third party games published.
If it were simply an issue of good games versus bad games Beyond Good and Evil in the last generation would have been a best seller. I feel like the issue now is good _games_ versus big _names_, with Nintendo being the biggest on its own console of course.
Now whether or not the Wii's success depends on third party support is a different issue. In the short term, probably not with all the big titles coming out. But once all of Nintendo's big guns have been put on the table and third parties long since departed, what's left for the Wii?
G-Man @ Nov 9th 2007 3:33PM
Sigh. Most of the 3rd party games have been shovelware! Guitar Hero 3 is selling. Resident Evil as well. Raving Rabbids did well, surprisingly. When 3rd parties stop making craptacular movie tie-ins, YAPA (Yet Another Partygame Anthology), and dirty PS2 ports, the sales ratio will improve.
Is this guy trying to say that Nintendo is doomed because Wii owners aren't buying the cheapest, high-margin schlock that his studio can shovel out? I take that as a compliment. If all he wants to put out is this sort of crap, please DO stop developing for the Wii. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
nitemare @ Nov 9th 2007 3:35PM
i fail to disagree, the only thing that would break third parties from selling well is one of two things... either they have lost the trust of the consumer because they were shoveling crap onto the system, which would then keep consumers from trusting the games they start putting out that are good, or they just aren't producing good games. I mean come on RE:4 has sold 1 million units itself, the games are selling if they are worth it, Rayman sold large units, Red Steel sold large units before the public caught on to its lower quality. A great game will sell on any system that has people that can buy it. thats just a fact. And this article was kinda backwards as well, because interviews with third party publishers have stated that they are moving over development teams to the Wii because they see the profitability in it. Don't forget that the development costs for the Wii are lower, and therefore the profit margin is hit at a lower sales number.
Jennifer @ Nov 9th 2007 3:59PM
I think that Nintendo Wii will make it! How can it not, some of the graphics on the more basic but interactive games are not graphically superior but they make your fat/skinny butt move! My favorite game for my Wii is the sport pack that came with my system. I have actually lost weight playing these games and I also do the Dance Dance Revolution and get a fun (oh, okay funny as well) workout. When they finally come out with the Wii Fitness Pack is what I am waiting for. But don’t get me wrong, I love my other games too but I just like the fact that there is a gaming system out there that makes you move instead of sit on you bum all day or night! I can get some of my games cheaper by looking for tem on http://auctionoops.com where they research misspelled auction items and link them to their site. Since the items are not spelled correctly not many folks are bidding on these items and you can usually get them for a great bargain. There are hundreds of name brand items but the Nintendo Wii stuff is in abundance from the gaming systems themselves to games and accessories. I have got a few games for dirt cheap since little or on one else was bidding on these eBay typo items.
Mr Khan @ Nov 9th 2007 5:01PM
Wii does have 3 3rd party million sellers at this juncture, whereas 360 (with its famous attach rate) had 4 or 5 3rd party million sellers (the or is because they are million sellers now, but i'm not sure if they were at this point last year)
NiGHTS has the possibility, just because its underground hype is as high as Zack and Wiki, but its a legacy, which will put it over the top, and GHIII is guaranteed to do well, although maybe not 1 million on this platform alone
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 has got the potential to go places, as does Umbrella Chronicles, and on the casual front, Raving Rabbids 2 will probably do well, and Carnival Games is doing well, Mario and Sonic (Sega published) is going to do some damage too
Russell Carroll @ Nov 9th 2007 5:14PM
Hasn't made any difference so far.
3rd parties will sell when they make good games and put marketing muscle behind them. I haven't seen more than a couple of good 3rd party games on the Wii, and none of them were well marketed. Oh, and to go back to my first point, having poorly selling 3rd party games hasn't made any difference to the Wii so far.
Having good 3rd party games not sell well might make a difference, but bad 3rd party games not selling is nothing a statistic worth talking about.
Joop @ Nov 9th 2007 6:31PM
He's absolutely right, there is no more fragile or tenuous position to be in than first place by a landslide.
Hell, the Wii might outsell the 360 and PS3 by only 2-to-1, they might as well give up now. It's clearly hopeless.
SouthGamer @ Nov 10th 2007 7:37AM
Well, Wii don't just changed the way people play, it changed the way game industry makes the game. We're still to see some 3rd party really explore Wii possibilities in a creative, fun way. Guess their developers are too used with the "press butons" mindset, and not so keen to learn the way people use - and enjoy - Wii.
While they keep treating Wii like other consoles, they won't sell much. Something similar happened with DS - Nintendogs and Brain Academy, the most successfull (or at least, most talked about) titles, were build thinking in use the DS possibilities in ways it's not able in other consoles.
Developers need to stop thinking in "a game for XBox, PS and Wii", and start thinking in "game for wii" and "game for Xbox and PS".
Then it'll sell