According to Brian Dreyer, business development manager at Frontline Studios (Sadness for Wii, in-development), third parties are hesitant to develop for Nintendo platforms because of historically poor performance for non-first party games (gee, that sounds familiar). In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Dreyer claims that while Ubisoft has jumped in feet first (albeit with 2 original titles and a host of ports) and Sega has released a Wii-specific version with a new Sonic game on the way, developers like Capcom and Konami have little announced for the new console. So far, this hesitance has proved financially sound, as a first party title is still the top selling game on the platform, with Red Steel and Rayman coming a distant second and third respectively. Third party software sales also saw a diluting effect from the pack-in domestically of Wii-sports, effectively mitigating the need for third party titles that other console launches have seen. In case it isn’t obvious, third parties like it when you have to buy one of their games before you can actually play the system.
The question is, if independent developers like Frontline are willing to develop for the platform due to its comparatively low development costs and the possibilities of new means of interaction, will they be able to find publishers willing to take a chance in hostile waters? And if they do, will Wii owners actually buy it?
-Aegies