Nintendo Wooing Devs Away from XBLA

[taco31]

Original article at IGN: Nintendo Wooing Devs Away from XBLA
WiiWare is apparently a cheaper, more profitable alternative.


by Daemon Hatfield
showUSloc=(checkLocale('uk')||checkLocale('au'));d o***ent.writeln(showUSloc ? 'US, ' : '');March 18, 2008 - As it prepares to launch WiiWare, its original downloadable games service, Nintendo has apparently been trying to woo developers away from Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. According to a report from Develop magazine, Nintendo is addressing concerns that have been expressed about the competition and painting a rosier picture for WiiWare.

Development for Nintendo's service is seemingly cheaper, and developers can be flexible with their pricing. The Wii hardware is less expensive and the SDK Nintendo provides is supposedly very detailed. A developer can purchase two to four Wii dev kits for the same price as one Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 kit. The company is also offering a higher royalty rate. Develop says Microsoft recently cut the royalty rate it pays developers in half, from 70 percent to 35 percent for games that earn less than $4 million. As a trade off, Microsoft is now handling some of the localization and worldwide rating work, but game makers are apparently still angry.

Another aspect of WiiWare Nintendo is touting is the fact that it won't be focusing on retro games, instead allowing independent developers to release new content.

"Nintendo has made it very clear to us that we'll not only be making a better royalty rate from WiiWare games, but we'll also have a better chance of selling games -- the service won't be clogged up with the retro titles that have blighted the chances of many independent studios on Xbox Live Arcade," an anonymous source told Develop.

Another developer who didn't want to be named says, "Frankly, we're not looking at making games for Xbox Live Arcade because the service is full of s***."

[Wonderbread]

If only for a moment, Rare could make a Banjo Wiiware title =( Can't Nintendo buy back Rare, how much would they need to get them back or is Rare bounded to a contract with Microsoft for like...50 years.

[Thousandfootwii-mote]

Let's see a new star wars game! Mabye a star wars version of links crossbow training.

[taco31]

Originally Posted by thousandfootwii-mote

Let's see a new star wars game! Mabye a star wars version of links crossbow training.

That would be cool maybe a first person version of shadows of the empire with rendered graphics and of course wii zapper compatablity. Or if your going for a newer thing maybe a game where your Han Solo in first person.

[Thousandfootwii-mote]

Originally Posted by taco31

That would be cool maybe a first person version of shadows of the empire with rendered graphics and of course wii zapper compatablity. Or if your going for a newer thing maybe a game where your Han Solo in first person.

That would be cooooooooooooooooooooooool.

[wiifro]

i like the han solo idea
also there needs to be like a first person lightsaber thing

[Thousandfootwii-mote]

Maybe that wiil be a option is the force unleashed.

[Greatheart]

Interesting, I'd like to see how this will affect the consoles in the future.