Pachter Predicts Poor Third Party Support for Wii U

[The Wooster]

Pachter Predicts Poor Third Party Support for Wii U

Gaming's most vocal soothsayer reckons the Wii U won't be seeing much third-party love.

"Nintendo has to simply stop living in the past in 2012," he remarked during an interview with IndustryGamers. "They had a great deal of success since 1985 by making proprietary hardware and supporting it with proprietary software. They attracted third party support based upon the large installed base they generated for their hardware. They appear to me to be confident that 'if they build it, third parties will support it', but I don't think that is the case for Wii U."

Of course, predicting that a Nintendo console will have issues when it comes to quality third-party support is hardly revolutionary. In fact, it's rather akin to pointing out the console will most likely be three dimensional and will travel forwards through time rather than backwards, but Pachter supports his prediction with an interesting argument.

"By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different that they are all but assured of limited third party launch support, which ultimately will lead to modest hardware sales."

Though many would argue it was due to limited hardware rather than the unorthodox control scheme, the Wii did suffer when it came to multiplatform titles. Though it's unclear how many third party games will be available at launch, Nintendo has confirmed that titles from THQ, Codemasters, Sega, Ubisoft, EA, Namco Bandai and Tecmo are in the pipeline.

Of course it doesn't really matter either way, as according to one of Pacther's earlier predictions, Nintendo is doomed anyway [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.268604-Pachter-Nintendo-Is-Doomed]. Doooomed.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/wii-u-all-but-assured-of-poor-support-says-pachter/]

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[Baresark]

I think he is partially right. The controller thing will make it complicated in the sense that I think a great many companies will struggle to figure out a good way to use the tablet controller. It's pretty self explanatory that the Wii suffered due to it's technical limitation and not so much the controls, especially since you had so many options to make programs with. That being said, most companies made very poor use of the motion controls.

The WiiU has already rallied some great third party support, but these same companies were there for the Wii as well, such as Activision and EA. Time will tell though. I'm looking forward to seeing what it has to offer. But, there must be good games. I am looking forward to some 3DS titles, but I'm not dropping any money till the games are around for it.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

And Nintendo will still rake in millions by recycling their franchises for the next generation.

 

[Something Amyss]

This Just in: Micheal Pachter <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.337232-Nintendo-Wont-Let-Developers-Share-WiiWare-Sales-Numbers#13624085>Reads the news

I was going to say "Patcher predicts water wet," but I like yours better.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

This Just in: Micheal Pachter <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.337232-Nintendo-Wont-Let-Developers-Share-WiiWare-Sales-Numbers#13624085>Reads the news

I was going to say "Patcher predicts water wet," but I like yours better.

Indeed. In other breaking news "The sky is still blue and cancer is still bad."

 

[Something Amyss]

Indeed. In other breaking news "The sky is still blue and cancer is still bad."

Actually, with Patcher's track record, if he said the sky was blue, I'd check my window first thing.

I'm not saying he's always wrong, as this is a case of him being right (though on the blatantly obvious), but anything he said I agreed with would be cause for me to re-evaluate.

I'm always torn on Michael Patcher. Part of me wishes people would stop reporting his insane claims so maybe he'd go away, but another part of me wonders what crazy stuff he's gonna say next.

I have a feeling this is why people watch Jersey Shore.

 

[Triforceformer]

This Just in: Micheal Pachter <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.337232-Nintendo-Wont-Let-Developers-Share-WiiWare-Sales-Numbers#13624085>Reads the news

I was going to say "Patcher predicts water wet," but I like yours better.

Indeed. In other breaking news "The sky is still blue and cancer is still bad."

YOu positive on the second one? Seems like a grey area.

 

[Mr. Omega]

By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different..

Ok, really, why is everyone acting like Nintendo has just handed game developers a fucking 20-sided Rubix Cube? It's a PS3 Controller with a touch screen on it. Not exactly quantum physics.

Where was all this commotion and predictions of demise when Sony added the oh-so-puzzling second analog stick? What about the SNES decision to add *gasp* L and R buttons?!

Yes, it's different enough to add a bunch of things that can be unique to the WiiU (which is a very good thing), but it's not like devs have a completely different control scheme to work around like they did with the Wii. It's a standard controller they've been using since the PS2 era, with some new things on it.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I've been visiting this website since 2008 and I still have no idea who this Pachter fellow is or why we listen to anything he says. Not that I don't agree with his assessment that Nintendo is in a glorious imploding tailspin of doom that will hopefully crescendo with the Wii U being DOA when it finally hits shelves, it's just far as I can tell he's some random jackass on the internet who makes predictions that have been made by the average forum goer already.

 

[XT inc]

It depends on how strong the wii u is graphics wise, if they use the Wii's momentum to sucker punch past owners with a full priced console this gen, then they might get to have some of the other games on the wii u as well. However if they duck out of hardware, then the best I see them getting is indie games.

 

[Voltano]

By trying to be 'different' with the tablet controller, they have complicated game design for developers, who can't figure out if the Wii U will ultimately support only one or multiple controllers," he said. "Nintendo made the device sufficiently different..

Ok, really, why is everyone acting like Nintendo has just handed game developers a fucking 20-sided Rubix Cube? It's a PS3 Controller with a touch screen on it. Not exactly quantum physics.

Where was all this commotion and predictions of demise when Sony added the oh-so-puzzling second analog stick? What about the SNES decision to add *gasp* L and R buttons?!

Yes, it's different enough to add a bunch of things that can be unique to the WiiU (which is a very good thing), but it's not like devs have a completely different control scheme to work around like they did with the Wii. It's a standard controller they've been using since the PS2 era, with some new things on it.

Well, I agree that the controller has evolved with each console, but they all have been variants around the keyboard/mouse input used with PCs (from my view). Before consoles, that is what programmers and game developers worked with and understood. Okay maybe it changed slightly when analog sticks where introduced, but that is just a variant of the mouse input method.

Nintendo really changed this with the Wii-mote (and back then with the Power-glove--which turned out well [http://cinemassacre.com/2006/11/22/the-power-glove/]). By changing the input device like this, developers have to figure out a way to port their normal input device method from default controllers (like the Xbox 360) to something that could have some latency issues. Then you got more complicated devices like the Kinect which is meant to detect body gestures, but may not work well with a variety of human frames (or size). So developing games with these new input methods is unpredictable for developers.

Plus, if the game doesn't respond so well to the input device being used (Rise of Nightmare? [http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/10/aj-rise-of-nightmares-lp/]), would the game be fun for players and make it feel like its worth paying $60 bucks for? They need to make the game enjoyable to their consumers--unless their EA.

Now is Patcher right? Eh, I don't think the guy is always right, but there is some good reasoning with his argument here. But, as you put it, its a controller with a touch-screen, and games related to that hardware are very popular with developers, maybe this kind of input device wouldn't be hard to work with.

 

[TheComfyChair]

This is the guy that seriously believes that PC represents around 1/10th of AAA games sales.

The guy can't even comprehend what digital distribution is.

The guy is a complete and under moron.

 

[koroem]

I predict Pachter is master of the obvious and still a class A clown. Why people still listen to him and report on it is beyond me. Plant the seed, all it takes is an idea right?

 

[GeorgW]

I love the picture
I don't think the prediction or the person is as interesting as the reason, so I'm gonna discuss that. In a single player game that's not a problem, so there's no reason third party devs should be worried about it in those kind of games. And with the continuing loss of split-screen :'(, maybe that isn't that much of a problem. Still extremely odd if Nintendo is the one to finally kill split-screen though.

 

[Xanthious]

Don't much care for Pachter but he's right on the money here. Although I think he's sorta grasping at low hanging fruit with this prediction though. Nintendo was well on it's way down the path o' failure completely unable to compete with Sony and Microsoft before they caught lightning in a bottle with the Wii. That won't happen a second time.

I'd bet that the Wii-U is going to pick up right where the Gamecube left off. The Wii was a fad that rose above being just a game system. However fads pass and the Wii's time is well past it's prime. Most Wii owners won't know or care about the Wii-U when it's released and gamers largely couldn't be paid to care about Nintendo anymore. Bottom line the Wii only delayed things and Nintendo has been out of their depths in the video game market since the N64.

 

[gunner1905]

Who's Michael Pachter? And why should we listen to him?