It's about time developers focus on the Wii
In an interesting interview last week with the San Jose Mercury News, EA's CEO, John Riccitiello said although his company is doing quite well in the video game space, it committed a major blunder earlier on in this generation and now it's trying to play catch-up.
"One thing that's different [this generation] is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform," Riccitiello told the Mercury News. "We made the wrong call there (by betting on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be. But now we're catching up, and I think we're fine."
Regardless of whether or not EA actually is fine, don't you think the company should have admitted this long ago? And let's also not forget that EA isn't alone in this. Countless other developers have denigrated the value of the Wii and even today, most of them don't want anything to do with it even though it's selling like gangbusters.
It needs to stop. Instead of clinging to the faulty belief that only Sony and Microsoft matter in the software space, developers need to start focusing more on the Wii and develop games that are not only innovative, but more in the vein of those titles they're creating for the competing consoles. And in the end, I think we'll all win.
As Riccitiello pointed out, most developers severely downplayed the significance of the Wii before it was made available. I can hear it now: "A console from Nintendo that doesn't use a traditional controller and lets people throw their hands around to control the on-screen action? No way."
How wrong they were. Unlike Nintendo, which chose innovation over all else, developers never believed that people would actually want to play a video game that didn't include some sort of killing, stealing, or action that was controlled by their own movement. Instead, they hitched themselves to two companies that tried to stay true to tradition and pretend that Nintendo wasn't a competitor or even a major force in the space.
And although some like to make the argument that developers don't really want to get into the Wii game because of its poor attach rate, I'm not so quick to agree. On average, the Wii has a 5.3 attach rate according to NPD, which is just 2 games behind the Xbox 360. Granted, many of those games are Nintendo titles, but I'm not willing to concede that Nintendo is leading in the Wii software space because it's a first-party. Instead, I think it's leading because developers have been so slow to make games for the console.
But all that needs to change. The reality of the situation is that Nintendo is the leader and it doesn't look like it will slow down anytime soon. And if developers want to turn a profit in this era of expensive games and multi-platform titles, they're going to be forced to embrace the Wii and either develop unique titles for the platform or go through the process of porting it to the console, no matter the cost.
For a while, it made sense to not port titles to the Wii. More often than not, games developers like EA were creating were simply too advanced for Nintendo's console and moving a button control scheme to hand-waving isn't exactly simple. But now that the Wii has solidified its place in the industry, the number of options available to EA and the rest are small and they're forced to innovate.
Isn't it unfortunate that only after the Wii forces these companies to innovate that we will see some unique titles? Granted, not all Wii games from third parties will be innovative and some will be ports, but I don't see any other option. If nothing else, Wii owners have shown that the games like Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Wii Play are coveted above all else and ported titles from EA and the rest aren't usually the best-selling.
It's easy for developers to ignore the Wii when it's not available in stores, but they can't do it anymore. As development costs continue to rise and Wii sales easily outstrip its competitors, developers need that third source of revenue and it's in their best interests to support the consoles that consumers covet the most.
It's time we demand more from developers and make them realize that although they're perfectly fine developing games for Sony and Microsoft, it's time they focus more on the Wii and bring about some change in an industry that's lacking the kind of innovation we've come to miss.
I don't think that's asking for too much.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Nintendo was the least friendly manufacturer when it came to 3rd party developers for the previous two console generations. They kept the N64 as a cartridge based system, while the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation moved to more cost effective CD based games. Nintendo also required developers to buy official cartidges from them, while also having them arrange and pay for cartridge shipping. With the GameCube, Nintendo finally moved to a disc based system, but stubbornly chose a proprietary mini disc that only had 1.5 GB of storage capacity. Those discs offered far less than the over 7 GBs of storage available on DVDs used by PS2 and XBox, and that presented a big challenge to multi-console 3rd party games.
The Wii has sold well, which surpassed everybody's predictions prior to the consoles launching. If Nintendo learned to support 3rd party developers as well as Sony and Microsoft does, the Wii might actually get a few decent 3rd party games. Otherwise, all the decent games will be the 20th iteration of Mario & Co. games.
(Yawn.)
look at software sales for ncaa 09 for total sales figures, it goes
xbox360 1st, ps3 2nd, ps2 3rd, and then the wii way way at the bottom almost non eoxistant.
then you take madden 08 ea's bread and butter
xbox 360 1st, ps3 2nd, ps2 3rd and way way at the bottom is wiii..
madden 07 is a bit different in respects to the ps2 beat the ps3 however the wiis way at the bottom still....
sure the wii sold lots of consoles and it sold a ton of its wii play because people wanted the extra controller. but why waste development time on a console that proves that its for casual gamers who arent looking to beefup there library any... if you look at the stats the avg wii owner only owns 3.4 games.. you can thank all those grandmas that are happy only owning the game it comes with.. there so far on the bottom floor its so wonder anyone other then nintendo even bothers making games.. since nintendo's games are the only one in the charts other then the guitar hero rockbands... why waste time and energy and money on a group that avgs contention with the 3.4 they have....
well the only good that can come out of this is that funds go to madden wii instead of xbox or ps3's and sales for ea go way down, then they cant afford that stupid nfl license, which means 2k can come from the grave and rule again :)
On top of that, the Japan market eats Nintendo and i believe that's where the innovation is going to come out. I do agree with Don here, they need to refocus on the Wii, it is a creative platform and it has open the door to the "granma's" that everyone fears. Why not exploit that market? What's wrong with serving both the Hardcore and the Casual?
Of course we are talking about the US market. NCAA is an American Football Game. Europeans don?t play American Football or buy American Football games in any quantities to speak of.
America just happens to be the biggest video game console market by far on the planet, with over 5 times as many consoles selling per month in the US as in Japan, and the 360 totally dominates software sales in America, with at least 25 360 games having sold over a million so far. COD 4 on the 360 alone, has sold more than 4 million units in America, giving it sales of over 4 times the sales of any 3rd party game on the Wii.
Wii 3rd party games in America are pathetic. Last year, Madden 08 (Wii) sold a measly one tenth the units on the Wii as they sold on the 360. Same with NCAA 08. All those geriatric old women and little kiddies that keep buying the Wii, simply don?t buy as many games as the true gamers that buy the 360.
Meanwhile, PS3 sales in Japan are not so hot, They only sold 10,000 PS3?s last week, to a still respectable 4,000 360?s in Japan last week.
Take your rabid anti-American crap elsewhere
Activision posted a Net income of 344 Mill with over 2.8 Billion in Revenue over the same period. 2.1 Billion was from consoles (790 Mill for X360, 310 Mill for PS3, 720 Mill from PS2, and 310 Mill from Wii).
So I don?t think the problem is the consoles which EA supports. The problem is EA's games and corporate infrastructure IMO.
Case in point. How awesome would it be to have a Nascar version that works with the Wii wheel? I really think it's a case of companies like EA treating the Wii like an afterthought in their game design. If they go that route, that can't be that surprised when Wii owners treat buying their ports as afterthoughts as well.
The 350/PS3 can do everything the Wii can do. Tthe Wii on the other hand, can simply not be able to play games like Gears of War or Killzone 2 or Unreal Tournament 3. Its too weak to do any of that.
With the proliferation of HD and cheap, large flat screens, the upscaled blurry Donkey Kong games will hold kids attention about as long as the V-Smile consoles or Razor scooters do now.
The bottom line is: They ***** out Mario so much I need to get a test.
Nearly 11 million Americans own a Nintendo Wii. There is a LOT of money to be made making games for the system. Game manufacturers and Sony/Microsoft owners are100% right that the Wii is owned by many non-traditional game players. Single-player games that sell well on the PS3 and XBox360 will NOT sell that well on the Wii. The Wii is meant to be played in a group, not one person sitting alone. It is a social game, not solitary. Parties and social gatherings are perfect for the Wii, it's not a game of solitaire.
Offline multiplayer games that are fun are what sells. Look at the numbers, it's not rocket science. If the game can be played together with others it will sell on the Wii. Even if its crap (which a lot of the 3rd Party games have been), there is a high demand for such titles. People want to play on it, they want to have fun but few developers have stepped up to the plate. They have to view it as having a very different dynamic than the other systems.
If developers make games for groups (Ubisoft's Raymond series is using the perfect strategy) that are high-quality, built from the ground up, and are fun, they will have a huge hit on their hands. If they simply port over what works for Sony and Microsoft, they are really heading in the wrong direction. Their games will only appeal to the standard 12-35 year old male demographic. The Wii demographic is much, much wider than this and developers would be wise to understand this.
Either way, yeah, developers need to get their **** together and put some good games on the Wii. Serious games, not ****** games. Hopefully people start listening to EA, here.
And a huge LOL at the people saying it's a fad. It's not, and the Wii isn't going anywhere.
Like someone already pointed out, if Activision is raking in huge profits from the 360 and PS3, why can't EA do the same?
Answer: EA long ago lost its ability to innovate, and have resorted to small incremental increases in their annual games franchises like Madden, NCAA and FIFA. Reason EA is doing so badly has nothing to do with not making more games for the Wii. its got more to do wth EA games being crappy.
Now they dont even play it anymore and its gathering dust. Even though
I have been a playstation gamer forever, I would much rather get the 360
instead of the Wii.
For all of you convinced that the Wii is a fad, get real. Its still just about impossible to find them, after 2 years, and the PS3 and 360 have had how many price cuts? And the reason for the price cuts? Cause people like me refuse to blow $400-$500 on a game system. When the 360 hits $200, I'll get one. Maybe. PS3? Not a chance.
Its impossible to find because Nintendo is intentionally hyping up the hysteria for people to get a Wii by holding back on shipments of the thing. For a unit that has essentially a DVD drive and no HDMI outpput, how can Nintendo NOT be able to push these things out at double the rate that Sony and Microsoft are pushing their respective products out? If every Nintendo fanboi out there would get over their rhetoric, they'd question Nintendo on why two years into the lifecycle of the Wii that they're still experiencing "shortage" issues for a unit that has basically offshelf parts. But that won't happen, because fanboi's will buy the company line.
If you want to spend $250 for what's essentially a hyped up Gamecube unit with a gimmick control system, then fine. If you think you're going to a get a Blu-Ray high definition ready unit like the PS3 which still has years of upgradability ahead for $250, then you're clearly missing the most important consumer line: "You get what you pay for."
Oh, and Nintendo's innovation, to me, isn't very innovative. None of their games that have been made specifically for the Wii and the DS really seems all that revolutionary. Little Big Planet looks pretty innovative, Boom Blox was innovative (i am aiming this at Nintendo as a developer), Katamari Damacy was a real innovative game. Who saw that game coming? So you don't need a wiimote for innovation, and no one has really shown how it is any more revolutionary then a light gun game, or a mouse cursor.
Signing off.
~bitter old man.
- by OMGBearDriving July 30, 2008 8:51 AM PDT
- I'm a Wii owner and a Nintendo loyalist but I really do think that the Wii sells right now because it's the gadget du jour. I consider myself a core gamer and I think the interest in Wii is going to start to fade soon. While the "games drive console sales" theory can't be directly applied to the Wii since it has become more of a pop culture prop than a true gaming console, its pop icon status may prove to be it's downfall. Wii has been popular due to a gimmicky control scheme that was a fresh idea but it's not a strong enough concept to carry the system into the future. Eventually, your average non-gamer (who are the majority of those purchasing Wiis) will tire of Wiimote waggling and move on to the next gadget. Iwata was right to look at the Apple approach to developing and marketing products. Creating a product that is attractive and doesn't intimidate those who are weary of high tech gadgetry is a guaranteed rainmaker. The only problem is that video games don't have the same widespread appeal as other media formats. Apple has cashed in on the iPod phenomena because everyone listens to music and watches TV and movies, not everyone is an avid gamer. Gamers still make up a small customer base. So when the news stops running stories about the elderly playing Wii sports and the trendy hipsters abandon the Wii to watch Entourage and go wine tasting, Nintendo will be kept afloat by those loyal to Mario and the rest of the legacy titles. Just like the N64 and the Gamecube. It was nice to see that Nintendo was able to come out of the shadow cast by Sony and MS but I think it's going to be incredibly difficult for the Wii to have the longevity of a Playstation or even an Xbox if they don't come up with a way to get past the fad status.
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