Support NeoGAF

[plagiarize]

Now, every significant 3 rd party game demands support. It's a losing battle for Nintendo without another source of income to prop up a terrible business model (lose billions to break into a market). And given the results (multiple Dev closures), we are in an era of a bad business model (everything AAA or bust).

Either help with marketing, exclusive dlc content or whatever, it's why Nintendo is doomed. They don't help themselves with Dev relations but money talks. It's why they can't even get a few good 3rd party games in a year.

the more 3rd party support a console has, the less that platform owner needs to court it. that's nothing new or damaging, and gamers generally win out as a result of it, so I see no complaint.

Nintendo badly needed 3rd party support, but acted like they didn't. We all know what happened. If they'd been listening to 3rd party developers, the system wouldn't have launched with an underpowered CPU.

Sony listened to devs after the PS3, and look what happened from that.

 

[StreetsAhead]

It seems more than likely to me that this was an unfortunate result of the relationship breakdown between EA and Nintendo, but we don't know the timing of that exactly, so who knows. I am sure Nintendo could have done more, but EA was the publisher.

His initial responses were very dismissive though. He'd probably not get yelled at by random Twitter member if he'd explained the situation instead of saying yawn.

 

[charlequin]

Distribution and marketing the game was EA's job, not Nintendo's.

See, you can claim this, but this isn't true for basically any major AAA game on any platform that isn't owned by Nintendo. When any major publisher can get almost guaranteed marketing support from Microsoft and Sony, the incentive to work with Nintendo is drastically reduced.

The implication that every significant third party game should be supported by hardware manufacturers is scary.

Why, exactly? This is a pretty much perfect example of a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Why would Nintendo provide marketing support for an EA game? EA already pulled the plug on Wii U prior to this.

Well, look at where things are at now. Alex has a new company that isn't with EA and he doesn't want to release a game on the Wii U. So, Nintendo has already burned a bridge with a new developer.

I doubt Alex was expecting them to give it a major marketing push. He and his team probably just wanted to have something that would make it clear to people that the game even existed on the Wii U. And neither Nintendo nor EA were willing to give them any help on that end. Given how poor Nintendo's relationship seems to be with major third party developers, you'd think that they might actually give a helping hand. It's just amazing when you hear about third party devs reaching out to Nintendo and they give no response or help. It reminds me of how last year Avalanche (Just Cause dev) said that they had difficulties getting into contact with Nintendo until they hooked up with a publisher (likely WB since they're publishing Mad Max).

 

[mclem]

NEED FOR SPEED is not a Nintendo IP they can't even borrow it like they are doing with SEGA for Bayonetta so I am truly puzzled to find a reason why Nintendo was at fault here

I think on the surface there isn't a reason that Nintendo's at fault - everything he complains about seems to boil down to things that are EA's responsibility - but that doesn't mean there weren't earlier agreements where Nintendo would give assistance in return for some sort of favourable treatment from EA; a lighter form of moneyhatting. There clearly seemed to be an expectation of aid in some form, which makes me wonder if someone reneged on a deal.

My hunch - and I need to stress that's all it is - is that the relationship between Nintendo and EA had broken down earlier than that, despite making overtures to the contrary. Nintendo would be reluctant to extend benefits to an EA game when EA would not be producing on their system in the future, and in turn possible end up effectively advertising other systems (which would have future games in EA series). Similarly, EA would want to quietly discourage the audience they want to sell to from buying a Wii U, so they'd still release the game but not do so in any way that could in turn be seen to promote the system itself.

 

[thewhitehawk]

That guy yelling at him doesn't strike me as a Nintendo fanboy, judging the majority of his tweets are directed at NoA with negative comments.

Why not? If this was the in the context of a soccer team and it wasn't performing well, typically only the fans get upset at their clubs.

Being a fan of a company doesn't imply blind devotion.

 

[Kinvara]

it's been highly rumoured that the Wii U version was basically ready to go at launch without the specific enhancements, and that it was EA who made the call to delay it and Criterion decided to take the time to make the enhancements.

we've never had that confirmed, but the tweets certainly support those rumours, and if I remember right, they came from respected insiders.

Sounds like Criterion really got treated like garbage by EA. Such a shame.

 

[Kouriozan]

So Nintendo/3rd party relationship is still very bad.
No surprising everyone run to Sony then.

 

[mclem]

They've acknowledged this more than once, but they continue making the wrong moves to make it happen. Sony and Microsoft can count on third party support, because the developers badly want to be on their systems. Nintendo can't.

Actually, I think this might be an indication of a reason why Nintendo *does* get reasonable indie support (not brilliant, but not terrible either): there's a certain romanticism with having a game on a Nintendo system for people who've been gaming for a long time. On the indie side, where things aren't as directly driven by business concerns, that's a plus for Nintendo

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Now, every significant 3 rd party game demands support. It's a losing battle for Nintendo without another source of income to prop up a terrible business model (lose billions to break into a market). And given the results (multiple Dev closures), we are in an era of a bad business model (everything AAA or bust).

Either help with marketing, exclusive dlc content or whatever, it's why Nintendo is doomed. They don't help themselves with Dev relations but money talks. It's why they can't even get a few good 3rd party games in a year.

from the Wii U point of view Nintendo putting a lot of marketing dollars behind NFSMWU would have been a smarter move than to ignore it

When I launch NFSMWU I get a big fat EA logo and it uses EA's servers so think about it EA hates Nintendo and NINTENDO goes all out to support Alex Ward's Team effort on the port after millions of marketing dollars spent making NFSMWU shine EA has all the power to pull the plug on servers and whatever to burn the game

It was a lose lose situation for Nintendo, They spent money marketing Ninja Gaiden Razor's Edge so why not a much better game like NFS I think the answer is still EA

Nintendo and EA are just never going to be friends after what happened with the Wii U between them

They should have supported that port but they would still lose regardless, just like people are placing blame on them right now for NFS

 

[L Thammy]

The implication that every significant third party game should be supported by hardware manufacturers is scary. It just encourages terrible decisions.

I'm not saying that they need to pay out the nose for every single game, but look at it this way.

Nintendo is currently in a much weaker position than Sony or Microsoft in terms of third party support (on consoles). That will have a significant impact on the success of Nintendo's home consoles. How did they end up in this position? By being worse at supporting their partners.

Hardware design and bad history play into it, but poor focus on improving relationship with third parties is involved in both of those. Making decisions with that goal in mind would result in more third party support, a larger audience due to the larger third party support, probably more exposure for those third parties due to a larger audience. All good for Nintendo. It would be costly, but that's what you call an investment.

 

[kinggroin]

Maaaan. Wtf??



Nintendo trying for that third party support huh? This just makes them that much more transparent as to what they want from their platform.

Fuck Nintendo and EA both. My heart goes out to the developer.

 

[Quadraphonic]

EA to Nintendo is the new Squaresoft to Nintendo.

Sure, they'll come back, but it'll be token terrible bucket-carrying games that are not at all what people want.

 

[plagiarize]

Actually, I think this might be an indication of a reason why Nintendo *does* get reasonable indie support (not brilliant, but not terrible either): there's a certain romanticism with having a game on a Nintendo system for people who've been gaming for a long time. On the indie side, where things aren't as directly driven by business concerns, that's a plus for Nintendo

well, also, I think Nintendo have done a good job on shining a light onto that indie support in directs and what have you. I'm not sure they've done as good a job as Sony have at courting indies, but they've demonstrably done a better job than Microsoft, and I think it shows in how indies are supporting the Wii U compared to how they're supporting the Xbox One.

even if the Xbox One has slightly better Indie support in the end, given what Nintendo's console has sold... that's massive for the gap to be so small. Currently obviously, the Wii U has better indie support by far than the Xbox.

 

[EDarkness]

This is exactly how companies get into bad market situations: making judgments based on pride rather than concrete outcomes.

Yes, EA tossed Nintendo to the wind, for a mixture of good and bad reasons. Individual human beings at Nintendo were probably offended by that. But in business, that happened because EA had all the leverage in this relationship. Nintendo needed EA's support for their systems to perform well; EA didn't need Nintendo for anything. When someone has that much leverage over you, it doesn't matter if they were kind of a dick once; you're not gonna get what you want from them unless you make concessions.

Also, what I think is particularly relevant in this case is that by taking this kind of hardball approach with EA, Nintendo didn't just alienate people who were working at EA; they alienated people who left to form new developers (like Alex Ward) and all the people who talk to people at EA (and since EA's a huge company with tons of influential devs, that's almost everyone.)

Maybe I'm a bad businessman, but I wouldn't give EA jack. Sure they had the leverage, but that doesn't give them the right to be jackasses about it. I don't know too many people who would put up with that kind of behavior. Still, it's EA's job to sell their own game, just as it's my job to sell mine. Blaming someone else for it selling bad is ridiculous. No idea why people feel like they deserve some sort of handout.

What's funny is that Nintendo promotes Most Wanted on the Wii U eShop constantly. It's on the front page still as of yesterday.

 

[Chindogg]

Sony listened to devs after the PS3, and look what happened from that.

Slightly better but still pretty shitty software sales? People keep bringing this up but the software sales just aren't matching the theory.

The industry is changing. People are more conditioned for cheaper software with very few blockbuster games. Maybe this is a bit to early but right now the sales for software even for the hardware sales sensation for PS4 is really fucking disturbing.

Wait ps4 software sales are shitty ?

Compared to the hardware attachment and previous generations yes. Then again that could also be that there's nothing exclusive on the console worth purchasing yet. Maybe Second Son will change that.

 

[StoopKid]

Slightly better but still pretty shitty software sales? People keep bringing this up but the software sales just aren't matching the theory.

The industry is changing. People are more conditioned for cheaper software with very few blockbuster games. Maybe this is a bit to early but right now the sales for software even for the hardware sales sensation for PS4 is really fucking disturbing.

Wait ps4 software sales are shitty ?

 

[Smiles and Cries]

See, you can claim this, but this isn't true for basically any major AAA game on any platform that isn't owned by Nintendo. When any major publisher can get almost guaranteed marketing support from Microsoft and Sony, the incentive to work with Nintendo is drastically reduced.



Why, exactly? This is a pretty much perfect example of a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

this does not work for Nintendo you are talking about two giant companies who has or had other ways to make a profit outside of the video games business the only reason MS and SONY made this effort was because they could take those loses and bury Nintendo

Everyone seems to expect Nintendo to afford the same loses that Microsoft of Sony can eat but Nintendo does not really have other huge businesses outside of games.

Sony can hardly afford keeping up with what MS is willing to payout these days TITANFALL is going to be interesting to watch with EA smack right in the middle.

EA is a king maker in the console wars they have been for generations this was an EA title man Nintendo could not win this no matter how much they paid up for it the next NFS and even DLC was not coming to Wii U it was over

 

[SolidSnakex]

Compared to the hardware attachment and previous generations yes. Then again that could also be that there's nothing exclusive on the console worth purchasing yet. Maybe Second Son will change that.

Are there any attach rate numbers for other consoles after three months on the market?

 

[Chindogg]

Are there any attach rate numbers for other consoles after three months on the market?

I know someone released a chart in one of the NPD or Media Create threads. Hang on I'll edit this post when I can find it.

 

[Tripon]

Yeah, I agree with that notion. I can't imagine that Sony or Microsoft would be very eager to help marketing a late port, either. There's just nothing in it for them. Even if it was technically a little superior to the other versions, it was still a game everyone interested in likely has already played.

Did the XB1/PS4 version of Tomb Raider, or Rayman Legends get big marketing campaigns? I honestly don't remember.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

So EA refused to market their own game? lol

 

[DrWong]

Nintendo markets third party games. See, Rayman Legends...

 

[Mechazawa]

NEED FOR SPEED is not a Nintendo IP they can't even borrow it like they are doing with SEGA for Bayonetta so I am truly puzzled to find a reason why Nintendo was at fault here

Because Nintendo and EA had some sort of deal initially, and when that eroded, Alex Ward found himself between two companies that couldn't have given less of a shit about his game and the work his team put into it.

Despite the fact that, what, Most Wanted was actually one of the best 3rd party ports for the system?

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Maybe I'm a bad businessman, but I wouldn't give EA jack. Sure they had the leverage, but that doesn't give them the right to be jackasses about it. I don't know too many people who would put up with that kind of behavior. Still, it's EA's job to sell their own game, just as it's my job to sell mine. Blaming someone else for it selling bad is ridiculous. No idea why people feel like they deserve some sort of handout.

What's funny is that Nintendo promotes Most Wanted on the Wii U eShop constantly. It's on the front page still as of yesterday.

people forget what EA was able to do to the Dreamcast and how that ended well for SEGA

EA can bury you and not even look back. They still have the power to do this to any hardware manufacture. If EA decides to bury the PS4 tomorrow they can by give XBOX ONE the best exclusives and most of the core that drives the industry will follow

My issue with EA is that they got on stage with Nintendo promising support for Wii U which turned into a meme in every EA title thread that was not coming to Wii U

also good point I have never seen NFSMW removed from the front page of the eshop even after they merged with 3DS on Wii U

 

[Dictator93]

Nintendo has about 1996 levels of third party support. Amazing.

 

[Chindogg]

people forget what EA was able to do to the Dreamcast and how that ended well for SEGA

EA can bury you and not even look back. They still have the power to do this to any hardware manufacture. If EA decides to bury the PS4 tomorrow they can by give XBOX ONE the best exclusives and most of the core that drives the industry will follow

My issue with EA is that they got on stage with Nintendo promising support for Wii U which turned into a meme in every EA title thread that was not coming to Wii U

also good point I have never seen NFSMW removed from the front page of the eshop even after they merged with 3DS on Wii U

EA was a lot stronger then than it is now. Activision really stepped up in the last decade and EA's basically the Battlefield/Madden factory now.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Did the XB1/PS4 version of Tomb Raider, or Rayman Legends get big marketing campaigns? I honestly don't remember.

I don't think that either MS or Sony gave any spacial attention to those games, but at least SE made sure to take care of TR. I feel that RL was just suddenly out on the market.

Despite the fact that, what, Most Wanted was actually one of the best 3rd party ports for the system?

Yeah, it's the best port on the system.

EA was a lot stronger then than it is now. Activision really stepped up in the last decade and EA's basically the Battlefield/Madden factory now.

Activision might be stronger now but you can't deny how important it is to have EA's support. It, Activision and Ubisoft are the three 3rd party devs that every console needs.

 

[Paz]

That sounds like a shitty situation for Criterion to have been in for sure :/ But at the same time you can imagine why maybe Nintendo didn't want to provide marketing support (Which is a nebulous term that covers everything from being in a Nintendo Direct through to million dollar TV adverts) for a late port of a good but not insanely popular racing game made by a third party (Who would normally handle their own marketing?). Sucks when big publishers play hard ball with each other and the developers get squeezed.

I hope he finds success with whatever the new project and company is all about, certainly has a pretty good track record for producing fun games so I'll be keeping an eye on it.

 

[-MB-]

EA was a lot stronger then than it is now. Activision really stepped up in the last decade and EA's basically the Battlefield/Madden factory now.

You mean FIFA.

 

[Phatosaurus]

EA was a lot stronger then than it is now. Activision really stepped up in the last decade and EA's basically the Battlefield/Madden factory now.

And FIFA.

Just think if Madden, FIFA and Battlefield completely skipped release for the PS4 last year and only only released on the Xbone how buried the PS4 would have been in sales.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Because Nintendo and EA had some sort of deal initially, and when that eroded, Alex Ward found himself between two companies that couldn't have given less of a shit about his game and the work his team put into it.

Despite the fact that, what, Most Wanted was actually one of the best 3rd party ports for the system?

Nintendo was in a lose lose situation EA held all the cards they own that IP not the developer so even if I can agree it would have been wise to put money behind this beautiful game - It is one of my most played games on Wii U

It was still a loss for Nintendo the next NFS was not coming to Wii U

NFS Rivals has been out for a long while now and no one cares that Wii U owners got boned so Nintendo marketing the hell out of Need For Speed would just make it even worst when they heard about Rivals not being on the platform

at least without the huge marketing I did not put my hopes on ever seeing NFS on Wii U ever again

 

[Chindogg]

You mean FIFA.

Ah yes, I forget the euros buy the biggest cash grab franchise every year.

It's amazing that EA has a franchise lazier than Madden.

 

[jcm]

Now, every significant 3 rd party game demands support. It's a losing battle for Nintendo without another source of income to prop up a terrible business model (lose billions to break into a market). And given the results (multiple Dev closures), we are in an era of a bad business model (everything AAA or bust).

Either help with marketing, exclusive dlc content or whatever, it's why Nintendo is doomed. They don't help themselves with Dev relations but money talks. It's why they can't even get a few good 3rd party games in a year.

It's worth noting that nintendo is the least profitable platform holder. So maybe sony and ms have a terrible business model but it's more profitable than what nintendo's doing.

 

[mclem]

It's worth noting that nintendo is the least profitable platform holder. So maybe sony and ms have a terrible business model but it's more profitable than what nintendo's doing.

Over what span of time are you talking, there?

 

[-MB-]

Ah yes, I forget the euros buy the biggest cash grab franchise every year.

It's amazing that EA has a franchise lazier than Madden.

With europe u mean rest of the world right?
And it even sells decently in the USA nowadays, 1 million im guessing.

 

[goomba]

so he says he will release on platforms that he can self publish on but wont self publish on WiiU because his game published by EA failed ...

 

[Smiles and Cries]

EA was a lot stronger then than it is now. Activision really stepped up in the last decade and EA's basically the Battlefield/Madden factory now.

you are correct if not for Ubisoft and Activision still throwing Wii U a bone with AAA ports EA would have buried the Wii U when they pulled support but EA is not as powerful because those guys are much bigger these days to match what EA takes away

Still I think EA is powerful enough to crush you it just takes them longer with Activision and Ubisoft around

 

[Cipherr]

Surprise surprise.

Wow, that's brutally honest and pretty messed up.

Pretty much. I think it was assumed that Nintendo was bad at this, but everytime we get confirmation like this it sometimes fails to sink in.

Can someone break it down for me? I don't quite get it.

Don't worry, Nintendo doesn't get it either.

so he wont self publish on WiiU because his game published by EA failed ?

You cannot be serious. Nintendo should have been all over these guys for giving a shit when noone else did. EA and Nintendo may not have the best relationship, but thats no excuse for not trying. And Nintendo is clearly not trying hard enough. The unflinching, never changing arrogance of that company is completely surreal. They deserve every dollar they lose and every percentage of market share they lose.

 

[Chindogg]

With europe u mean rest of the world right?
And it even sells decently in the USA nowadays, 1 million im guessing.

I was making a bit of a backhanded comment about people eating up FIFA and Madden but yeah FIFA sells amazingly well everywhere now. I still have no idea why since there's hardly ever any real revisions every year, only an even more sinister DLC based card system mode.

Don't worry, Nintendo doesn't get it either.

While Nintendo fucked up for not marketing it, this was mostly EA's fault.

 

[Agent X]

How was the wii u version supposed to sell when it came out months after all the other versions were released?

If the wii u version came out at the same time as the others, then you might have an argument but even with the enhancements this game didn't have a chance.

Without derailing the thread too much, what you said kind of shines a spotlight on the entire third-party situation on Wii U, going all of the way back to the system's launch. Almost every third-party game was a "late port", even launch titles like Batman: Arkham City and Mass Effect 3. By and large, people generally don't line up to purchase a new system to play the same games that they could get for other systems that they already own. The reality is that most publishers were handing Nintendo table scraps. There's a lot more that Nintendo could have done to improve that situation.

Now that we got the "table scraps" argument out of the way, Nintendo had to play the hand they were given. The game was in development already, it's an old port, but (especially from Nintendo's perspective) there wasn't much else on the horizon that held promise. What other great games would Nintendo want to co-promote at that point in time? This could have been the game that mended the rocky relationship between Nintendo and EA.

I understand the problem runs much deeper than something that a snap decision in early 2013 would have quickly solved, but Nintendo evidently doesn't take any steps to try to improve. They seem content to just let the whole thing go downhill. I expect that Nintendo would have to get into a "rebuilding" mode if they want to pull up the Wii U and have a major presence in the home video game console market again, and doing anything would be better than doing nothing. By being complacent, I'm starting to think that they really don't care. Perhaps they're already focusing on their next system, like Sega in 1997 when they the Saturn slide away.

 

[J.W.Crazy]

Absolutely right. I think it has a lot to do with the ignorant notion held by some at Nintendo that they don't need others. Crytek was willing to bring Crysis 3(regardless of how people view it) but EA had no interest in funding it and when Crytek asked Nintendo they refused.

Not that Crysis 3 or a better advertised NFS would save the Wii U but sure as hell would be better than the deafening silence and large gaps of nothing released periods.

Do you have a source on this? I remember reading that EA didn't want to put it out but at the time Cevat Yerli just said that they weren't able to publish it on their own. Could they have even put it out with a different publisher?

 

[Tripon]

people forget what EA was able to do to the Dreamcast and how that ended well for SEGA

EA can bury you and not even look back. They still have the power to do this to any hardware manufacture. If EA decides to bury the PS4 tomorrow they can by give XBOX ONE the best exclusives and most of the core that drives the industry will follow

My issue with EA is that they got on stage with Nintendo promising support for Wii U which turned into a meme in every EA title thread that was not coming to Wii U

also good point I have never seen NFSMW removed from the front page of the eshop even after they merged with 3DS on Wii U

EA gave the Xbox One tons of exclusive, and that decision is going to hurt them financially. You don't think (hindsight being 20/20) that they would have put Titanfall on PS4 if they could? Or put Ultimate Team on the PS4 version of FIFA 14 instead of just XB1?

Back on topic, this is a story of Nintendo always refusing by and large to not do 3rd party marketing except for specific campaigns. Its one of the major differences between Sony and MS, and speaks to why 3rd parties prefer MS/Sony. Those platform holders will more likely subsidize your game in some fashion.

I'm not going to say that Nintendo's policy of letting 3rd parties fend for themselves historically may or may not be a correct decision, (especially if the game in question is a late port that isn't going to sell), but fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, Nintendo's policy on this needs to change if they're going to operate in the sphere of platform holders. Its all about creating awareness of the games on your platforms, which Nintendo needs to work on, badly.

And my last thought on this, if W101, a game Nintendo fully owned and funded couldn't get a national marketing campaign, no way in hell was N4S was going to get it. No offense to Alex, and Criterion, but if they wanted a chance of anything like that, it would have to be some special exclusive game, DLC, or something that Nintendo could really market. And despite all the nifty little features the Wii U had, the Wii U version of Most Wanted wasn't that.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

I really appreciate the guts and sincerity from Mr. Alex Ward on this matter. EA's decision to phase out Nintendo's systems was prior to WiiU's release. He gave his heart for a project doomed from the beginning and yet there are people who actually believe EA did an effort to make this thing sell and use it as example for why third-party games on WiiU, even the ones with solid effort, didn't managed to sell.

EA's "fuck you" for NFSMW U is no different from most of third-parties as well, they simply don't give a damn for WiiU's (or Nintendo systems) versions. If they sell nicely, good, but they honestly don't botter at all if it bombs and honestly don't make any effort to sell at all. Even if manages to sell nicely, there's no guarantee they'll manage to keep the momentum. Remember COD3, Madden 07 and RE4 initial performances on Wii? Third-parties didn't cared about them at all, given the next games of the series didn't came out (or very later) or were completely changed aesthetically which took away the appeal from it (EA Sports All-Play bullshit).

Sure, Nintendo isn't blameless here, they also don't give a fuck and they should completely review their approach and relationships with them, but both third-parties and Nintendo holds the blame here, trying to solely place it on Nintendo's hands isn't really accurate.

 

[jcm]

Over what span of time are you talking, there?

Just recently. The last three years nintendo has lost money, while sony and ms probably haven't. Obviously, nintendo made a ton more than sony and ms for the years before this span. Their business model is now high risk/high reward. Which is weird, because it comes from them being super conservative, but they've backed into this weird place where they'll make billions or lose their asses.

 

[Chindogg]

Just recently. The last three years nintendo has lost money, while sony and ms probably haven't. Obviously, nintendo made a ton more than sony and ms for the years before this span. Their business model is now high risk/high reward. Which is weird, because it comes from them being super conservative, but they've backed into this weird place where they'll make billions or lose their asses.

Sony and Microsoft's games divisions haven't been profitable ever.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

And FIFA.

Just think if Madden, FIFA and Battlefield completely skipped release for the PS4 last year and only only released on the Xbone how buried the PS4 would have been in sales.

let us hope that EA never wants to do this, I am not sure they have balls enough to do it right now but if PS4 was the weaker console I could see Microsoft putting more cash behind EA exclusives to make this happen

we already saw that with the millions MS paid for NFL exclusives

in the US at least Microsoft will have the edge I hope Sony can see this coming

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Do we know enough about the profitability of indie devs on Nintendo platform at large to make that a sweeping statement? Or is it 'some indie devs have been profitable on Nintendo systems', in which case couldn't that same statement be true of pretty much all platforms? Do we have information that would point to a higher rate of profitability for indie devs on Nintendo platforms versus other platforms?

We can only compare released software, which has either performed in-line with other consoles (Giana Sisters) was sales leader (Mutant Mudds, Trine, Runner 2, etc). Additionally, we know Two Tribes saw profit on their releases and Unepic reached profitability in three days.

No, we can't make sweeping statements about profit viability but we really can't do that anywhere. Aside from some snippets we get from devs/publishers we really don't know.

 

[Haines]

Always saw nfsmw wiiu as a great port but not into NFS anymore so passed

 

[NEO0MJ]

No offense to Alex, and Criterion, but if they wanted a chance of anything like that, it would have to be some special exclusive game, DLC, or something that Nintendo could really market. And despite all the nifty little features the Wii U had, the Wii U version of Most Wanted wasn't that.

Yeah, what exactly where they supposed to sell this game on? Slightly better graphics and off-screen play? Not really exciting.

We can only compare released software, which has either performed in-line with other consoles (Giana Sisters) was sales leader (Mutant Mudds, Trine, Runner 2, etc). Additionally, we know Two Tribes saw profit on their releases and Unepic reached profitability in three days.

Didn't Giana do better on the Wii U? I think I read that here somewhere.