Wii Sees Decline in Developer Support

[Austin MacKenzie]

Wii Sees Decline in Developer Support

The Nintendo Wii is seeing a sharp decline in Western developer support, according to the 2009-2010 Game Developer Research report.

The survey, hosting 55 questions and a sampling of 814 respondents, was tailored towards Western developers and their developing trends. The Wii suffered in the recent year, with the percentage of console developer support falling from 42 percent to 30 percent.

Properties that saw a surge were the iPhone and other mobile devices. The last survey indicated developer support for mobile platforms was at 12 percent, recent figures indicate it has risen to 25 percent, effectively doubling the developer support.

The divide between PC and console developers remained steady. Over 70 percent of developers said they were developing at least one game for PC or Macintosh platforms (the survey included both browser and social network-based games in the survey), and 41 percent of developers were working on console games. The Xbox 360 is leading the console pack at 69 percent of console developers, while the PlayStation 3 is trailing close behind at 61 percent of console developers.

What's causing the current trends? Mostly, respondents said, ease of development and market penetration.

"Like any other medium of entertainment, video game development is subject to change with the ebb and flow of the economy and any hot new trends, and this year's survey continues to reflect this evolution," Global Brand Director of Think Services Game Group Simon Carless said.

So what does this mean for the industry as a whole? For the most part, developers are looking towards mediums they can develop high-grossing games for with minimal cost. In the current economic climate and with heavy layoffs hitting a number of industry giants, developers have actually been breaking off and forming smaller studios. This trend is also linked to the increase in the development for mobile platforms, which have the potential to reach wide audiences for lower development costs. Likewise, as the Wii's market appeal appears to be lessening, some developers have pulled back, looking for consoles with stable fanbases.

Source: <a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26846/State_Of_Game_Development_Survey_Reveals_iPhone_Support_Surge_Wii_Lull.php>Gamasutra

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[grimsprice]

And so cometh the prophets of doom for Nintendo's little console that... couldn't make steam to begin with.

 

[MetaKnight19]

To be brutally honest, I'm suprised it took this long. However it does suck that devs are losing interest in the Wii, but I can see why they can lose interest.

 

[Jared]

Hmmm. Wonder what this will signal dot the big announcement they are making in E3

 

[Woodsey]

Can't say I'm surprised they're losing interest.

 

[NeutralDrow]

That's kind of bizarre. I mean, I guess going for stability of consumer base rather than sheer size makes some amount of sense, but it's still kind of surprising.

Hope the remaining 30% includes some of the ones making good games. Nintendo does fine on their own, but a little more variety wouldn't hurt.

 

[Beyond D espair]

I wasn't surprised by this article. I also wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's next big console to be announced at E3 is one with actual controllers.

 

[TheyTookOurJobs]

I guess this means I'll never buy a new wii game again, which i'm sort of sad about.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

Now that most developers are totally up to speed on writing for the HD consoles I'm not surprised they're leaving the low-spec machine behind. Wii sold tons but not to people who are interested in traditional games.

 

[Signa]

Well, depending on who is leaving, this could be good. After all the shit that was thrown out on the system, 9/10ths of them don't belong in business. Sadly, I'm not that optimistic, because I'm sure it's all the good devs that are leaving and not the shitty ones.

 

[Brotherofwill]

3 things:

1) That's a pretty large drop
2) It's hardly surprising
3) Quantity isn't quality in this case.

 

[AceDiamond]

And so cometh the prophets of doom for Nintendo's little console that... couldn't make steam to begin with.

Why make steam when you can make money?

 

[CrystalShadow]

I wasn't surprised by this article. I also wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's next big console to be announced at E3 is one with actual controllers.

What, like say, the classic controller?

Honestly, this is just stupid.

I do realise most devs try to tack on wiimote controls even when it's a bad idea, but the Wii does have perfectly functional old-fashioned style controllers if anyone feels like using them in a game.
(3 variations, in fact, if you consider the support for gamecube controllers.)


I am somewhat surprised in general that you'd have devs saying they're dropping support for the Wii due to development costs...
Since those tend to be relative to the graphical requirements, and should technically be lower for the Wii than say, the Xbox or PS3...
Then again, if it's being compared to the Iphone...

Meh.

Just stop swamping the damn console with so much crap, and I don't care what you do or don't do...

 

[mikecoulter]

I'd say there's a lot more that can be done.

I know its on the PS3, but Fat Princess would have made an excellent Wii game also. I think experimental platformers would be great.

 

[docbox1567]

The problem is that no one wants to devlop for a dying platform. Think about it. Nintendo probably sold the most games last year combined. There is a huge market for Nintendo software. That means developers would like to make games with more depth than Mario driving a cart or rail shooters.

 

[Ghost]

4 of the top 5 selling games of 2009 are Wii exclusives, 2 of them being the same game (Wii Fit and Wii Fit +). I can't see the Wii dying any time soon.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Hasn't there always been decline in developer support? The only good Wii-games I can think of are Japanese.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

This kind of stuff always puts me in a tough spot. I want to like Nintendo and back them up, but I hate motion controls, and I'm still bitter over the name "Wii"...

 

[xyrafhoan]

Maybe the developers should work on making good games for the Wii in the first place. And the companies that do make good games never ADVERTISE and then wonder why their sales are piss-poor.

Also slap reviewers who demand games use motion controls. That's not a demerit. The only game I've played that had extremely engaging motion controls was Metroid Prime.

That said I'd like to see more games in the vein of Rune Factory Frontier this year. That game was a blast and was almost the perfect rendition of Harvest Moon.

 

[DrDeath3191]

Less shovelware for us, then!