The WiiDS Podcast » Third Parties Need You!

Third Parties Need You!

We’ve discussed this on the show at length. Yes, there are some third-party games that are just plain crap. Yes, there’s an obscene amount of hastily-released shovelware on our console. Yes, Nintendo’s games are just that much better. But we shouldn’t turn our back on third parties.

$Seriously - doesn\'t this look fun?$ I’m not going to get on a high horse and preach – you all know my gaming collection is depressingly unadventurous, particularly my DS collection. But my fellow WiiDS, Jason and Mani, are showing me the light. Even the listeners are helping – Boom Blox was nothing more than a temptation to me before the likes of Jack “the Jumpman/cronogenesis” Smith started harping on about it. Nevertheless, I did not regret my purcahse and neither would you, should you come to your sense and buy it.

The thing is, neither I nor any other member of the team can tell you which games to buy. If you prefer to stick solely to Nintendo then by all means do so – as I have said, I’m pretty much in the same boat! But when browsing the shelves or checking out game trailers, look at the third party games. Not the franchised stuff like FIFA, Need For Speed, Mortal Kombat, The Incredible Hulk, etc. Look for original IP. Look at the likes of Boom Blox, Okami, the imminent reinvention of Alone In The Dark, the upcoming Mushroom Men.

Consider the potential each one holds, because it was only a couple of decades ago that the likes of Mario and Sonic were first appearing on shelves. People put their faith in those characters, allowing them to establish franchises. Look at Pokemon – a game inspired by collecting insects in your back garden, now a worldwide phenomenon. Even if the rewards aren’t instant and sequels take a while to come out (“Beyond Good & Evil 2″ – Mani), a single purchase now is both a declaration of confidence in the developer and an investment in the future of gaming.

Man cannot live by bread alone. Consoles cannot live by first-party success alone. Remember, the reason the N64 and the GameCube lost out to PlayStations 1 and 2 is because it lacked the third-party support – and that was because third parties lacked our support.

I leave you with the news story that inspired all this. Interestingly some one pointed out that Boom Blox only sold 60,000 in the U.S. in its first month. With an installed userbase of 10.2 million in the region, that means only 0.6 per cent of American Wii owners picked up the game. For shame!

Source

USB analyst Ben Schachter has commented on Nintendo’s dominance over Wii software sales, calling for more third-party successes on the console.

In his latest industry note, Schachter observed that, while hardware and software sales for the Wii are generally strong, research firm UBS “would like to see more third-party hits on the platform”, according to Game Daily.

“To date, Guitar Hero III, Sega Of America’s Mario And Sonic: Olympic Games, and Take 2’s Carnival Games are the only third-party Wii games that have sold more than 1 million units to-date according to NPD, and there are many third-party Wii exclusives that have come and gone with minimal reaction from the market,” reports Schachter.

“Nintendo’s share of software dollars on its platform has approximated almost 50 per cent since the Wii was introduced, and reached an all-time high in May of 68 per cent,” he added.

In NPD’s May results, eight of the top 20 bestselling titles were for the Wii, of which only three were published by third party companies. The recent release of Boom Blox, a joint project between EA and Steven Spielberg, met considerable critical but failed to make it into the top 20, selling only 60,000 units in the first month of its release.

Speaking to Game Daily about Boom Blox as an example, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said: “It’s still really hard for new IP to breakthrough the noise in the market, and there has been a lot of noise so far this year. Between Super Smash Bros. Brawl, GTA IV, Wii Fit, Mario Kart and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 (to name a few), there have been some really high profile game releases.

“The game was really well reviewed so I’m suspecting the marketing just didn’t break through the clutter to the extent that they were hoping for,” she added.

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