Wii Has Developers Reprioritizing

true, but like i mentioned earlier. Developing a game for the wii is relatively cheap and there is a greater profit margin there so i think developers will be looking at the bottom line...or at least should be. Relatively low risk and high reward.

i think SSB and Mario strikers hit at the end of the summer..and maybe Metroid 3. ALthough i think i heard they delayed it to improve some aspects.
Galaxy will definitely be a x-mas release.

 

If that was the case, GTAIV, MGS4, FF13, etc, would be on the PS2 and not the 360/PS3. The bottom line doesn't always mean everything (especially for a developer rather than a publisher).

Besides, I've already mentioned how there is a risk for 3rd parties in releasing titles on the Wii. I don't know if the Wii is actually that much cheaper to develop for, at least when it comes to a major title. Red Steel cost like $10M-$15M to make IIRC, and I don't think Ubisoft will be making that back (unless the game has longer legs than I recall...especially in Europe). Wouldn't surprise me if something like No More Heroes cost the same. The $2M-$3M figure might just be from PS2/PSP/GC ports (being done by 3rd and 4th string developers) as opposed to original games by the major teams that spend 2-3 years on a game.

It would still be cheaper than PS3/360 games, but if Wii owners continue to just buy Nintendo software, then there would be little point in investing that much into the system. They might rather develop for the two other consoles, as well the PC in some cases, resulting in (at the moment) a userbase more than twice the size of the Wii (probably more than that depending on how you want to count the PC userbase). You can also add in the extra revenue publishers can get from things like horse armor and cheat codes that cost money, which I don't believe the Wii supports at the moment.

Keep in mind that a lot of publishers also spent millions on "next-gen" tools such as UE3.0 (practically every publishers has licensed this engine, which costs like $1M at least), Havok Physics, Endorphin animation (or whatever it is called now), networking solutions, etc., and none of those would really be beneficial when it comes to Wii titles thanks to hardware limitations (or lack of online multiplayer, at least at the moment). And usually, it is the major developers at these publishers that are creating games with those tools since they know how to take advantage of them the most.

Like I said, a complicated issue.

 

true, but those games can also be used to lure new ps3 users.

as for redsteel...i cant remember where i saw it, but i think redsteel has sold over 300k units and i saw that (i think) a couple of months ago. but maybe thats wrong.

 

Rockstar is putting the sequel to Manhunt on the Wii. Manhunt is pretty violent a game (I think putting a plastic bag over someone's head and strangling them was a move in the first game) so yeah, you can be chokin' a b**ch on the Wii eventually.

 

they have a clip of manhunt that was just released on gamespot

http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/...ml?sid=6168984&id=6168984&tag=topslot;title;1

 

I can't recall exactly where Red Steel was when I last saw it, but I think it was under 500K, which goes with your figure. It probably needed around 500K at the very least just to break even given their budget.

 

It's true that Wii owners buy Nintendo software more, but that line of thought is why developers were too slow to adopt the system. The Wii is moving beyond the hardcore niche.

I think that 10-15m mark for red steel covers learning how to take advantage of the wii controls. If that's so, they can reuse that for future games.

As for 3rd parties making money off the Wii, they can also port their games to the PS2. There are plenty of gamers who are waiting for a cheaper PS3 or Xbox, or just can't afford an expensive system.

 

True, but so far, those new gamers are still sticking to Nintendo software (or so it seems).

I admit it is a bit of a chicken and the egg problem. Most people who own a Nintendo system buy Nintendo games because those are the only good games for it, and publishers avoid putting their (good) games on the system because people who own the system usually only buy Nintendo games. Obviously, if publishers put out better quality software and had their major developers working on titles for the system, things would probably be different (kind of like how the DS has changed things...I guess the GBA too, if that counts). That's why I'd like to see more of games like No More Heroes rather than ports from other systems (or Wii games that will be ported to others systems).

True, but that's the case for pretty much any game. The next-gen games that cost $20+M will probably see sequels that cost less since the technology and all that stuff can be reused (maybe more so than Wii controls). The relative difference in costs may still be about the same. And in some cases, costs for next-gen games may be pretty low anyway (Gears of War cost ~$10M IIRC...not that this is fair since they get the UE3.0 tech for free).

In Ubisoft's case, they may have to spend another $10M-$15M to figure out how to make a good game.

That's pretty much what I was alluding to earlier, and something I'd rather not see happen with the Wii. I'm assuming that if a publisher could port a Wii game to the PS2 (and probably PSP too...might as well), the controls (and probably any other Wii-esque features) probably aren't that important. Unless the PS2 version is really gimped, but then it probably wouldn't sell.

 

Like Dada mentioned, I think the Wii has passed that Catch-22. If the Wii can maintain popularity, 3rd parties won't be a problem for Nintendo this time.

I'm willing to give Ubisoft a pass if they make a sequel or refit. Ubisoft hasn't made a lot of junk lately, and it was a launch title.

I don't have sources or anything, but I still think they underwrote Wii research into the game so the PR reps could hype up how much money they dumped into it.

I guess costs for game design are the same for all systems (the differences cancel out for simplicity), but needing better artists and dealing with HD definitely raises the ceiling in the 360 and PS3.

If companies could make their games work on mobile phones, it wouldn't matter if it played like the next coming of Superman 64. It'd still be on sale for $9.95.

 

I agree that the Wii shouldn't have any problem getting 3rd party support. In fact, I think it would be foolish for any major publisher to not at least consider putting out a Wii game.

I'm questioning whether or not Nintendo can get these publishers to get their ace development teams working on Wii titles. I'm guessing that most of the 1st and 2nd teams at the major publishers are working on PS3/360/PC titles, while the other teams are working on titles for the Wii, PS2, and handhelds.

Miyamoto actually commented on this somewhat recently. Even though several publishers were pledging support for the Wii, he sounded pretty angry that they were sticking their 3rd and 4th string teams on Wii titles rather than their main teams. That's basically the same concern I have.

Not quite sure I agree. They seem to be getting more and more like EA, especially in regards to their ports and their annual titles that seem to disappoint (PoP and Splinter Cell for example). They're better than EA still, but I don't like the direction they seem to be heading.

I wouldn't doubt it if the figure was correct, especially since they seemed to rework the gameplay and controls a lot. That probably took a lot of time and effort.

Besides, I think people sometimes underestimate the budget for a game with at least decent production costs. I'm sure the average PS2 game didn't cost more than a few million tops, but I'm sure there were many, many games that costs $10+M to make. So I wouldn't be surprised if Red Steel was as well, especially given the circumstances for its development.

The difference is that while those things do increase the costs for the 360 and PS3, publishers can release their games on both platforms as well as the PC. As I mentioned earlier, that userbase is substantially bigger than the Wii, and the tie-ratios for those systems might be bigger too (particularly on the 360).



Speaking of 3rd party Wii titles, the embargo on the events that took place at Capcom's Gamers Day just ended, and there are some new impressions/screens/video/info/etc. on new games including RE:UC for the Wii,which you can check out at the usual sites.

 

Thanks to you THIS is my usual site for gaming news and screenshots.

 

im would guess a little less than 500, but yeah. thats still pretty good especially for a console who only has a few million consoles out. I think it just shows that a good action game (whether redsteel actually qualifies as that, i dont know..havent played it) has a lot of potential

 

Can you actually find these anywhere in stores now?

You guys have really perked my interest.

 

Not really. Given the 6M-7M systems out there and the hype Red Steel received, the ~400K copies it sold are not really that great. It is barely above the sales of some niche titles for the Wii and even the PS3 (which has less than half the systems out there).

 

lol, what hype? Red Steel got some hype a long time ago, but months before the game was to be released people were already souring on it. Everything from graphics to controls to level design was put into a negative light. I think 400k is decent considering it's supposed to be a bad game. Hell, God of War sold like what? 2million so far on that huge PS2 user base?


The original article is rather bleh. Not because 3rd parties aren't going to necessarily jump onto the Wii bandwagon, but because the 3 mentioned(EA, Ubisoft, Acclaim) by and large pretty much suck.

What I'd be excited about as far as 3rd parties go is Capcom and SquareEnix. Umbrella Chronicles looks like it's going to be great. I'm pretty sure the Dragon Quest game will be quality. If those two game makers alone start pumping in significant resources into the Wii then they should end up with a ton of quality games. Capcom is the company that did get the most out of the GC.

I believe Nippon Ichi is jumping ship onto the Wii eventually, but that's a little meh for me as well as I think most of their games have been fairly mediocre.

Metroid imo is still the game that is going to set the bar big time and we'll finally see what the Wii is capable of.

Personally, the only game out there that really interests me for the wii right now is super paper mario(which was sposed to be a GC game), and that wouldn't be a game I'd shell out 50 bucks for most likely.

 

There was a decent amount of hype for the game. It was basically set up to be the 3rd party game to get for the Wii, and maybe even the 2nd game to buy after Zelda (I'm sure it was in the majority of forced bundles for the system). If I'm not mistaken, it was the only 3rd party launch title to get a TV commercial (and it got commercials world wide too). You are right that once the reviews started coming out (as well as poor word of mouth), sales started to drop though.

Rayman has probably sold about the same, and Super Monkey Ball is probably within 50K-100K or so. Both games are somewhat niche (considerably more niche than Red Steel anyway), low-budget, received little marketing (though Rayman did get some), etc., but they sold about the same. It would be like Ridge Racer 7 selling nearly the same as Resistance (FWIW, Resistance has probably sold ~800K more copies than the 200K-300K copies for RR7).

I would probably say that sales around 500K would be decent (at least they'd be somewhat close to breaking even), and something like 600K-700K would be pretty good for the game. I guess if you consider the quality of the game, it might have sold 400K too many, but that would apply to many games (Killzone PS2 sold millions of copies IIRC).

And GOW isn't really a good comparison. You'd be better off comparing launch titles for the 360 or PS3, or something like that. Looking back, the 360 launch was really great for publishers (lots of games, even bad ones, had good/great sales even with the supply issues for the 360).

 

Nintendo lost 3rd party developers with the N64 and the expensive cartridge vs.the CD of Sony Playstation.
It was terrible to see Square jump ship to Sony and snuff Nintendo, me being an RPG fan. So, I had to buy a playstation for only a handful of games.

I miss the days where Nintendo, Capcom, Square and Konami (and others) were bringing good titles to the ONE system I owned.

Now, they spread out certain titles to certain systems, port some to others, and the general feel seems to be watered down games, imo.
Resident Evil XXXX ports have been handled well, but many other games fall short.

Nintendo doesn't develop "ports", and it's games aren't watered, so they sell the best overall compared to the overall products of the 3rd party.
If the 3rd parties spend the time to make a GOOD game that takes advantage of the Wii, (or any other system), it will sell well.

For me, I'm waiting on Metroid. In the meantime, I spend most of my time playing PC games.

 

i wouldnt say red steel got that much hype. like mentioned early on it was talked about but once it came out reviews were mixed..which prevented me(and many others i'm sure) from buying it. plus im fps-out for now, until metroid comes out.

 

FWIW, I've played Red Steel briefly, and it looks pretty fun. The reviews kept me from buying it, but when I can get it out of a bargain bin, I will.