Publishers afraid of creating Wii titles… But why?

Nintendo’s strategy on gearing next-gen toward gameplay experience instead of system power is working great for the company. We’ve reported on numerous occasions on how sales for hardware as well as software have been excellent for the Wii. But it looks like some third party developers are having second thoughts on collaborating with Nintendo.

Why? Well, we’re not certain, but FrontLine Studios explained that big publishers have been wary of creating new titles for the Wii due to the feeling that first-party titles are better supported than third-party games. FrontLine Studios is yet to come up with its own Wii title but its developers are currently helping out on Nibris‘ Sadness.

According to the company’s Business Development Manager Brian Dreyer, this very perception has created a gap within the market that is now being exploited by independent studios. He lamented:

Nintendo hardware is traditionally seen as great for first-party titles, but not so much for third-party games. That fact really scares a lot of publishers and frankly we’ve seen a lot of publishers take that wait-and-see attitude with the Wii. Rightly or wrongly, publishers are more frustrated with that than independent developers are.

Despite having said that, Dreyer continued that for their company’s part, they are actually seeing where Nintendo is coming from.

It’s the marketing warfare. Nintendo is the challenger, it’s the underdog and it has to be coming to market with something that is completely different. Gamers are yawning at these supposedly great-looking games on other systems. With the Wii, we’re back to the fundamentals, the nuts and bolts of any videogames experience, which simply means it has to be fun.

Sadness is a completely different game. It has been reported that due to its content and nature, the game is recommended for adults alone. We guess FrontLine is wearing a wait-and-see attitude with this one as well. If things go well for this title, maybe FrontLine will decide to come up with a Wii title of their own.

Nintendo’s strategy on gearing next-gen toward gameplay experience instead of system power is working great for the company. We’ve reported on numerous occasions on how sales for hardware as well as software have been excellent for the Wii. But it looks like some third party developers are having second thoughts on collaborating with Nintendo.

Why? Well, we’re not certain, but FrontLine Studios explained that big publishers have been wary of creating new titles for the Wii due to the feeling that first-party titles are better supported than third-party games. FrontLine Studios is yet to come up with its own Wii title but its developers are currently helping out on Nibris‘ Sadness.

According to the company’s Business Development Manager Brian Dreyer, this very perception has created a gap within the market that is now being exploited by independent studios. He lamented:

Nintendo hardware is traditionally seen as great for first-party titles, but not so much for third-party games. That fact really scares a lot of publishers and frankly we’ve seen a lot of publishers take that wait-and-see attitude with the Wii. Rightly or wrongly, publishers are more frustrated with that than independent developers are.

Despite having said that, Dreyer continued that for their company’s part, they are actually seeing where Nintendo is coming from.

It’s the marketing warfare. Nintendo is the challenger, it’s the underdog and it has to be coming to market with something that is completely different. Gamers are yawning at these supposedly great-looking games on other systems. With the Wii, we’re back to the fundamentals, the nuts and bolts of any videogames experience, which simply means it has to be fun.

Sadness is a completely different game. It has been reported that due to its content and nature, the game is recommended for adults alone. We guess FrontLine is wearing a wait-and-see attitude with this one as well. If things go well for this title, maybe FrontLine will decide to come up with a Wii title of their own.