Nintendo Has A Tough Time Finding Suitable U.S. Developers

vansau

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May 25, 2010
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Nintendo Has A Tough Time Finding Suitable U.S. Developers



Believe it or not, it's difficult for Nintendo to find Western developers to work with because they're run too much like businesses.

Getting to work with Nintendo is pretty much a dream goal for most development studios. To say the least, it's an incredibly prestigious position. But, it also turns out that Nintendo has a tough time finding developers out here in the West to work with.

In an interview with Edge, Kensuke Tanabe (the man who works as a liaison with Nintendo's US-based studios), explained that the publisher believes that Western developers are an important part of its operation, but that finding "suitable" studios to work with is easier said than done. Apparently this difficulty is due more to the fact that studios aren't interested in producing quality games, but are instead only interested in making money:

"I absolutely believe so. I work with other development partners, such as [Punch Out!! developer] Next Level Games in Vancouver and Monster Studios [of Pilotwings Resort] in Minneapolis.

"And they, much like Retro, really get our development philosophies. I want to find as many people as we can, as many great companies as we can to get involved with. I'm really looking for developers with a sense of craftsmanship."

...

"There's a real increase in the number of companies that look like they're really running a business for business' sake. There are many of those certainly within the midst of the gaming industry as a whole, or at least I feel that way."


Overall, Nintendo works with very few Western developers. Aside from the studios that Tanabe mentioned, there's also NST of Redmond, Washington, which works on the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, as well as Headstrong Games in Britain, which collaborated on the Art Academy DS titles.

Source: <a href=http://www.next-gen.biz/news/tanabe-we-need-more-like-retro>Edge via <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-04-08-nintendo-struggles-to-find-us-dev-partners>Eurogamer

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Kevlar Eater

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Sep 27, 2009
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Nintendo are pretty draconian when it comes to third-party developers, hence why there are so few. The massive god complex they're sporting isn't helping much.
 

Plinglebob

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Nov 11, 2008
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archvile93 said:
And this is different from the vast majority of Japanese developers how?
Because outside the US there is often a greater focus on trying to make an interesting/innovative/entertaining product with the hope that it will make money. In the US, the thinking is closer to "I want this game to make money, how can I make it sell?"

Edit: Yes I realise the precieved irony in say "Innovate" in the same sentence as Nintendo, but considering the only games that have come close to carbon copy sequals are Pokemon, Metroid Prime and Mario Galaxy, they innovate more then most western developers.
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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I work for a small Japanese company. From the company president down every company policy and strategy is about how to best satisfy the customers and produce the highest quality products. After that is how to maximize the quality of life for employees and keep them excited about their jobs. Then after those factors is how to make enough money to keep the lights on and food on everyone's table.

The difference is unreal compared to the average american company. There is no room for anything except for the highest level of dedication and integrity in all our dealings with customers.

I can imagine it would be difficult for a Japanese company like Nintendo to find partners in the US who share that kind of mentality.
 

Booze Zombie

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*Cough* ACTIVISION! *Cough* Sorry, terrible cough there. Anyway, I think they're right, however, Japan isn't free from this, either.
 

bushwhacker2k

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HankMan said:
vansau said:
Apparently this difficulty is due more to the fact that studios aren't interested in producing quality games, but are instead only interested in making money:
Super Mario Galaxy 2
That is all
Touché.

I both completely agree with them and recognize that it's kind of a hypocritical thing to say when Nintendo isn't exactly the number 1 company when it comes to trying new game ideas.

I've stated before: I don't recognize gaining as much money as possible as a worthy goal in life and with games being all about having fun (something I DO consider a worthy goal in life) it seems odd that it's become such a businesslike enterprise.

---

Maybe I'm oversimplifying life but when it seems like having fun is such a good goal in life, worrying so much over money just doesn't make sense to me.
 

Dorkmaster Flek

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Mar 13, 2008
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HankMan said:
vansau said:
Apparently this difficulty is due more to the fact that studios aren't interested in producing quality games, but are instead only interested in making money:
Super Mario Galaxy 2
That is all
Mario Galaxy 2 was a straight up sequel, yes, but that's still fairly rare for Nintendo to do. Yes, you could argue that every new Mario and Zelda game doesn't do much new, but there's enough differentiation and they're spaced far enough apart (mostly) that they can still feel fresh. I know I'm looking forward to a new Zelda game (hopefully) this year. We haven't had one since Twilight Princess in 2007, and I like a regular Zelda fix. Four years is a very good amount of time between sequels. Contrast this with, say, Call of Duty. You're talking literally a new game ever year. Hell, Guitar Hero took it even further during the height of music gaming madness in 2009 with 5 separate console titles. Galaxy 2 was easily the closest they've come to something like this, but it was an anomaly for Nintendo. It's a regularity for a place like Activision, which is the mentality he seems to be talking about.
 

DAJ_

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Do they really have any right to complain about that after being so resistant to let independent developers without professional experience make games for their platforms?
 

Baldr

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It is down right stupid when Sony and Microsoft have open submissions for indie developers and Nintendo still has a "Don't come to us, we'll come to you" policy and then turn around and say there are no quality developers.
 

ENKC

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May 3, 2010
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I'm going to nitpick here - wouldn't the title of article make sense with the word 'Western' instead of 'U.S.'?

And the collaboration with Rare up to about 2002 was one of the hottest 'streaks' of any developer/publisher combination ever. Too bad they've not recaptured those glory days.
 

kazoodac

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Mar 14, 2011
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Good to hear that Nintendo still values quality above all else...but someone should tell them about BioWare and Bethesda. And BioWare.
 

archvile93

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rembrandtqeinstein said:
I work for a small Japanese company. From the company president down every company policy and strategy is about how to best satisfy the customers and produce the highest quality products. After that is how to maximize the quality of life for employees and keep them excited about their jobs. Then after those factors is how to make enough money to keep the lights on and food on everyone's table.

The difference is unreal compared to the average american company. There is no room for anything except for the highest level of dedication and integrity in all our dealings with customers.

I can imagine it would be difficult for a Japanese company like Nintendo to find partners in the US who share that kind of mentality.
There's a large difference between how small companies and large corporations work (no pun intended). I believe the reasoning is that corporations are run by a board of directers who only got their posistion by feeding their wealth into the business, and don't know the first thing about the industry they've invested in, or business in general, and can't see more than 3 seconds into the future. Perhaps Japan is different in this regards, but from what I've seen, their corporations are pretty much the same, using underhanded tactics to get ahead, outright insulting the competition, and only caring about the money. This is the reason Valve gave for not going public.
 

Sniper Team 4

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Booze Zombie said:
*Cough* ACTIVISION! *Cough* Sorry, terrible cough there. Anyway, I think they're right, however, Japan isn't free from this, either.
Oh, you stole my joke. :)
I would add in EA too.