Sony are now claiming that Nitendo’s best-selling success story is lacking in innovation.
What publishers have said is they’re not going to spend the resources on Wii… In my job, we compete against Microsoft and Nintendo, and we’re competing for resources. So when I walk into a publisher, I ask, ‘Where are you guys pushing your resources?’ In the past, it was ‘Look how hot the Wii is,’ or ‘Look how hot the DS is,’ and ‘We should put resources there.’ They did that and realized, ‘You know what, third-party product just doesn’t sell on that platform.’ So now they’re taking those resources, coming back to us and saying, ‘Sony we’re going to be able to provide you with that exclusive content,’ or ‘We’re going to put more engineers on it and figure out to maximize the Blu-ray and get more out of PS3.’ That’s what we’re seeing now.
I don’t even have to fight for their hearts and minds; I just show them the TRST data with regards to how many top 10 titles are third-party titles on the Wii, or how many top 10 titles are third-party titles on the DS. Not many. It’s not a hard story to sell, and they get that. Unless they’ve got a particular franchise that’s worked well on the Wii, you don’t see a lot of innovative new IP coming out on that platform.
– Rob Dyer, SCEA Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations
I’m afraid that these days, Sony could be on the money. Not to say that the Wii is a bad console, definitely better than the Xbox 360 at any rate, but the PS3 really is something magical. Sony and Microsoft seem to be copying Nintendo and their motion control, but what if the Wand and Project Natal could give better interaction than the Wii Remote?
But the claim that Nintendo is lacking innovation is unfounded. Some of their upcoming games are definitely pushing boundaries: Metroid Other M seems to be a cross between 2D Platformer, Third-person action-adventure and first-person-shooter, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is set to provide even more originality than Super Mario Galaxy, and all these claims about Zelda Wii make it sound like it will be the next turning point of the gaming industry.
At any rate time will tell us all we need to know.
Odin
February 20, 2010 at 8:20 PMNintendo doesn’t lack innovation in their product, they lack content in their programming. Metroid Other M, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Zelda… I played every one of these titles on an 8-bit system like 25 years ago, Nintedo doesn’t make a bad product, they just fail at coming up with anything new when it comes to story and game content.