EA has no titles in development for Wii U

[Nesh]

Not it's not. Your missing the point.

N64: No large, cheap cd's, no. But almost no loading times and an almost undestructable medium.
GC: Small, cheap and powerful. Yes the mini dvd's are a bit silly but at the time online didn't really matter much yet. Xbox was the only one offering decent online anyway because the gimped PS2 online wasn't exactly something to write home about either.
Wii: No HD but than again, nintendo didn't charge 600 euro's for their console either. It was a small, cheap device with a interresting controller.

Now you might not agree with the decisions Nintendo made but you must atleast admit their is some reasonable thought put into it.

Wiiu on the other hand is the exact opposite. It's not cheap, it's not powerful and it doesn't really offer anything new.

We know that Nintendo had some reasonings behind these decisions. But really they introduced other problems.

Nintendo wanted to bring the older gen conveniences of the cartridge but ignored why others abandoned these conveniences in the next generation of consoles.
Nintendo wanted to bring the older gen conveniences with the GC too and decided to go mini disc to fight piracy but again they ignored why competition continued to abandoned these solutions. And lets face it the PS2 was also small was released earlier, and got the extra slim treatment later on.

The Wii was a GC slapped with a motion controller. It has succeeded only because of that and it was the only good thing they did. If that controller was not there, the Wii would have been a good decorative piece to fill in in store shelf space. Its weaknesses would have been more prevalent discouraging elements of purchase decision.No low price or small dimensions would have saved the console and people would have been discussing in forums today why Nintendo did wrong to introduce an underpowered non-HD product which was basically a GC which people didnt care about anyways a generation ago.

The WiiU is a repetition of the Wii strategy only this time its "strong" feature, the tablet, did not resonate well with the customers. People who had Wii or a PS3 or a 360 see little reason to buy that console because its stuck in time. Just as the previous Nintendo consoles were

The numbers are there. You can see by yourself that Nintendo's reasons (whatever they were) for making their consoles the way they are dont work well with the market. Thats enough proof that they have to change their strategy

 

[Cyan]

Not it's not. Your missing the point.

N64: No large, cheap cd's, no. But almost no loading times and an almost undestructable medium.
GC: Small, cheap and powerful. Yes the mini dvd's are a bit silly but at the time online didn't really matter much yet. Xbox was the only one offering decent online anyway because the gimped PS2 online wasn't exactly something to write home about either.
Wii: No HD but than again, nintendo didn't charge 600 euro's for their console either. It was a small, cheap device with a interresting controller.

Now you might not agree with the decisions Nintendo made but you must atleast admit their is some reasonable thought put into it.

Wiiu on the other hand is the exact opposite. It's not cheap, it's not powerful and it doesn't really offer anything new.

Ninty's hardware was quite good up til the Gamecube days.

GC was an amazing console for its time, and running its games on Dolphin and HD resolutions is quite an eye-opener.

BUT I always found it to be a toy when I had it. I couldn't watch DVDs on it with my friends and things like that. That was my main gripe with anything Nintendo.

It was my last Nintendo console, and the problem with them, imho, is that the Wii was the beginning of the end.

The new controller was very exciting, even hardcore players kind of accepted the fact that casual existed too and there were other ways to play games.

But the hardware was obsolete already, and very limited.

Nintendo need to reinvent themselves.

I’ve seen better days
Been the star of many plays
I’ve seen better days
And the bottom drops out

"Better Days", Citizen King (1999)

 

[Cyan]

I don't think mimic would work though, because I don't see 3rd parties as willing to support yet another console that does exactly the same as the other three (counting PC). Releasing the same HW as PS4 wouldn't be enough IMO. They'd need to release something that get mainstream gamer attention, which would be more hardware for less money to get them to switch from PS and XB to Nintendo. Either that or some incredible new experience that greatly improves the CODs and Gears and Fifas and Maddens of this world like a headset based console. I don't see a place for more of the same - the market is saturated and there's nothing in it for 3rd parties. MS and Sony are even tackling issues like ease of publishing to make it an easier, fairer experience, so Nintendo won't have much room to compete on services. Short of allowing developers to publish their games with no license fees, I don't know what N. could do to make the effort of targeting a new N. platform appealing.

Now it's done, but they should start with the name of the WiiU. I have never ever heard of such a crappy name for a console.

Nintendo HD was a MUCH better name, imho; simple, attractive, harkens back to Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

[-tkf-]

I don't think mimic would work though, because I don't see 3rd parties as willing to support yet another console that does exactly the same as the other three (counting PC). Releasing the same HW as PS4 wouldn't be enough IMO. They'd need to release something that get mainstream gamer attention, which would be more hardware for less money to get them to switch from PS and XB to Nintendo. Either that or some incredible new experience that greatly improves the CODs and Gears and Fifas and Maddens of this world like a headset based console. I don't see a place for more of the same - the market is saturated and there's nothing in it for 3rd parties. MS and Sony are even tackling issues like ease of publishing to make it an easier, fairer experience, so Nintendo won't have much room to compete on services. Short of allowing developers to publish their games with no license fees, I don't know what N. could do to make the effort of targeting a new N. platform appealing.

If they released a Console that would make ports fairly easy to make it would be a market that was cheap to tap into, i think they would do that.

 

[BRiT]

If they released a Console that would make ports fairly easy to make it would be a market that was cheap to tap into, i think they would do that.

Uhm, that's exactly what the WiiU is and we know how much of a flop it currently is for third party titles.

 

[-tkf-]

Uhm, that's exactly what the WiiU is and we know how much of a flop it currently is for third party titles.

How is it easy to port to? The 360/ps3 ports are only now getting up to a point where they look equal. It took 6 years to get there. I fail to see where it's easy to port to a brand new architecture that doesn't resemble either the ps3 or the 360. While the ps4 and oo will be pretty much based on the same hardware. If Nintendo did the same with a u2 (amd) it should be very simple to port 3rd party games.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If they released a Console that would make ports fairly easy to make it would be a market that was cheap to tap into, i think they would do that.

But I don't see why devs would port to it, or why people would buy it. It'll be just another console, only with Nintendo exclusives for all the Nintendo fans, who Nintendo can sell to anyway. It'l be on the back foot sales-wise with PS4+XBI having a year or more headstart on userbase, meaning the new N. system would represent maybe 10% of the total market (ignoring PC) with a userbase known for buying Nintendo games and ignoring 3rd party games.

IMO N. would basically have to offer to port all the games themselves so the devs and publishers have absolutely nothing to lose.

 

[ERP]

How is it easy to port to? The 360/ps3 ports are only now getting up to a point where they look equal. It took 6 years to get there. I fail to see where it's easy to port to a brand new architecture that doesn't resemble either the ps3 or the 360. While the ps4 and oo will be pretty much based on the same hardware. If Nintendo did the same with a u2 (amd) it should be very simple to port 3rd party games.

It's not about the cost of the port, it's about being to sell enough units to make it worth while.
Any release has inventory management, marketing etc etc.
And perhaps more importantly opportunity cost, why would you develop a port for machine A if investing those resources elsewhere results in a better return on investment.

The problem N has right now isn't the crappy hardware, it's the fact games (specifically 3rd party games) aren't selling on it, I'm not sure that new hardware would change that without something to let them carve out a niche.

 

[Bagel seed]

Stuck in between a rock and a hard place. 3rd parties didn't come over because it wasn't easy enough to port their games and N probably didn't court them that well either. So no one buys the system because the games won't come out on it, so not enough owners to buy the games that are on it, and so 3rd parties see that and the loop continues..

Lesson is, you need that 3rd party support right off the bat like PS3 did, which mitigated all of it's early hurdles. Otherwise you'll be stuck in that feedback loop.

 

[Cyan]

It's not about the cost of the port, it's about being to sell enough units to make it worth while.
Any release has inventory management, marketing etc etc.
And perhaps more importantly opportunity cost, why would you develop a port for machine A if investing those resources elsewhere results in a better return on investment.

The problem N has right now isn't the crappy hardware, it's the fact games (specifically 3rd party games) aren't selling on it, I'm not sure that new hardware would change that without something to let them carve out a niche.

Afaik Ubisoft won't abandon Nintendo. Well done by the way. I adore technical comparisons, and I would love to know the differences between ports, WiiU included.

They reaffirm their faith in the WiiU, and their confidence on it being successful in the long run. -no way it is going to win this next generation, imho, but when it's priced right it might have a chance to sell a decent number of consoles-

http://www.cubed3.com/news/18809/1/ubisoft-still-confident-in-nintendo-wii-u-success.html

 

[dagamer]

Afaik Ubisoft won't abandon Nintendo. Well done by the way. I adore technical comparisons, and I would love to know the differences between ports, WiiU included.

They reaffirm their faith in the WiiU, and their confidence on it being successful in the long run. -no way it is going to win this next generation, imho, but when it's priced right it might have a chance to sell a decent number of consoles-

http://www.cubed3.com/news/18809/1/ubisoft-still-confident-in-nintendo-wii-u-success.html

The thing Ubiosft has that EA doesn't is titles and franchises that have sold well primarily on Nintendo consoles. This is why even though the 3DS is still selling reasonably well, EA isn't much of a factor, if at all. No one wants to play Battlefield 4 on a 3DS. I'm not blaming EA for that though, these days spending money on new IP for handheld makes sell sense when mobile gaming is overflowing with cash from in-app purchases.

As always, the onus is on the platform owner to convince developers to work on their platform. It is rarely the other way around.

 

[oramay]

Afaik Ubisoft won't abandon Nintendo. Well done by the way. I adore technical comparisons, and I would love to know the differences between ports, WiiU included.

They reaffirm their faith in the WiiU, and their confidence on it being successful in the long run. -no way it is going to win this next generation, imho, but when it's priced right it might have a chance to sell a decent number of consoles-

http://www.cubed3.com/news/18809/1/ubisoft-still-confident-in-nintendo-wii-u-success.html

That's what they say now. I think the future will heavily depend on how their next few games do on Wii U.

 

[-tkf-]

But I don't see why devs would port to it, or why people would buy it. It'll be just another console, only with Nintendo exclusives for all the Nintendo fans, who Nintendo can sell to anyway. It'l be on the back foot sales-wise with PS4+XBI having a year or more headstart on userbase, meaning the new N. system would represent maybe 10% of the total market (ignoring PC) with a userbase known for buying Nintendo games and ignoring 3rd party games.

IMO N. would basically have to offer to port all the games themselves so the devs and publishers have absolutely nothing to lose.

Good point that the U2 would be behind on sales compared to PS4 and oo. My point would still be that the ports should be easy enough to warrant the investment. But it's pure speculation (of course).
We have been filled with arguments about how "content" is what drives development costs up, so any chance to spread that investment over as many platforms as possible should be used. But if the U2 base is so small that it doesn't matter it would be a mute point. I guess i would have to dig into PC sales of 3rd party titles to find out if it's worth it

I think the Nintendo problem is (as mentioned somewhere else) that it's not the first choice for 3rd party purchases given the price. "Everyone" already owns a PS3 and 360, and with the next gen taking a leap 3rd party titles would still be bought for the new consoles.

Maybe Nintendos tactic is pretty simple to survive and make a profit without being the champions of the world. I wonder how much a WII U with PS4 power would have ended up costing..

 

[BRiT]

Maybe Nintendos tactic is pretty simple to survive and make a profit without being the champions of the world. I wonder how much a WII U with PS4 power would have ended up costing..

But Nintendo doesn't make a profit on the hardware, and if they lowered the price they would need even more games to be bought. As it is now, their first party games are barely bring sold too. The NSMBU hasn't even hit 800K sales, thats a poor attach rate!

Maybe that was their plan, but they really needed to release it back in 2009 to have had any chance of success.

 

[dagamer]

But Nintendo doesn't make a profit on the hardware, and if they lowered the price they would need even more games to be bought. As it is now, their first party games are barely bring sold too. The NSMBU hasn't even hit 800K sales, thats a poor attach rate!

Maybe that was their plan, but they really needed to release it back in 2009 to have had any chance of success.

Make sure you aren't confusing NPD numbers (US only) with worldwide numbers: http://www.vgchartz.com/game/70766/new-super-mario-bros-u/ (820,000 in the US, 1.82 million so far worldwide, and that does not include eShop numbers which only Nintendo has access to)

If the Wii U has sold 3.45 million, then NSMBU has an attach rate of at least 53%.

 

[BRiT]

Okay, those are slightly better sales numbers world-wide, but the US sales do include the eShop numbers if I read the NPD reports correctly.

It still seems to be a low attach rate in my opinion if you believe the premise that people buy the console to play Nintendo games ... surely that should be higher, perhaps in the 80-90% range?

 

[-tkf-]

Okay, those are slightly better sales numbers world-wide, but the US sales do include the eShop numbers if I read the NPD reports correctly.

It still seems to be a low attach rate in my opinion if you believe the premise that people buy the console to play Nintendo games ... surely that should be higher, perhaps in the 80-90% range?

If Mario on the WII is any indication that specific game will keep on selling, at the launch price, for years. I would guess the attach rate will rise.

 

[Cyan]

The thing Ubiosft has that EA doesn't is titles and franchises that have sold well primarily on Nintendo consoles. This is why even though the 3DS is still selling reasonably well, EA isn't much of a factor, if at all. No one wants to play Battlefield 4 on a 3DS. I'm not blaming EA for that though, these days spending money on new IP for handheld makes sell sense when mobile gaming is overflowing with cash from in-app purchases.

As always, the onus is on the platform owner to convince developers to work on their platform. It is rarely the other way around.

Yes, Nintendo has to solve the problem asap, but the thing is how.

I think Nintendo fans have no option but to choose between complaining about WiiU not getting PlayStation 4 / Infinity games because developers use excuses like the the system isn't powerful enough or hoping for having PS3 / X360 games because developers think the WiiU is not next gen.

Sure it's not fair to complain about both things at the same time, some games will have to miss the WiiU because of obvious reasons and somebody should be right.

But all games? EA is definitely wrong, imho.

Maybe this is good news.... Activision is apparently going to launch Deadpool on the WiiU too:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/18/4343226/deadpool-listed-for-wii-u-on-amazon-canada

 

[James Car]

I'm not a huge fan of EA's actions as of late, but they are certainly in the right in this case. The sooner WiiU dies, the better for the industry at large.

Less distractions for 3rd party devs working on obsolete hardware, and Nintendo games on hardware that will enable Nintendo devs to realize their vision.

Nintendo needs to be a 3rd party developer (and 3ds... while it lasts).

 

[Grall]

Nintendo won't go 3rd party as long as a single rupee remains in the clay pots of Nintendo HQ in Kyoto. Why pay royalties on their own game sales to someone else, they would reason.