Speaking with GameSpot at PAX Prime, manager of business development Dan Adelman and senior marketing manager for licensing Damon Baker spoke candidly about the challenges of perception Nintendo has faced and what the future holds for digital games on Nintendo systems.
Damon Baker previously worked at Nintendo as their Senior Manager of Publisher and Developer relations. On December 21st, 2018, he announced that he was leaving Nintendo after over 12 years of working there. At the time, he said “This isn’t goodbye as I’m incredibly excited for what’s next! You’ll definitely hear more from me soon.” Today, we’ve learned just what he’s been up to since: Damon Baker has joined the Xbox team as the new Head of Portfolio.
Microsoft has been hiring many greats to the Xbox brand. Glad they are taking Xbox so serious! Great addition to the team.
Since Phil Spencer was promoted to VP (about a year ago), Microsoft Studios and Xbox Team are bigger and better than ever!
@414gamer I feel bad for all the Xbox haters next Gen when Xbox does phenomenally lol
"At Nintendo, Damon worked with third-parties in order to get games on the Nintendo Switch. He also worked with independent developers and was one of the key people responsible for the push of indie games on the Nintendo Switch, or “Nindies” as they are affectionately called.
As the Head of Portfolio at Xbox, Damon Baker will be in charge of evaluating different third-party games for Xbox and reaching out for different deals, as well as helping to form new partnerships and relationships with publishers and developers. With the recent expansion of Xbox and Microsoft Studios, acquiring and founding multiple new studios in 2018, it’ll be interesting to see what the future brings. Xbox is also confirmed to attend E3 2019"
I expect many partnerships with Japanese developers with this.
It would be nice, but still a tough sale as they know for a factor Xbox isn’t a huge seller in Japan, and most Japanese games are pretty nicehe outside of Japan (or even in it at times). If they can find a happy medium with PC though they can augment that there since PC bars (whatevere they’re called) have active players much more than Xboxes numbers in japan.
That’s the only way I see “Xbox” (MS) getting anything special made from japan studios—pc market doing the heavy lifting there (and possibly cloud eventually—Japan has the best infrastructure for it compared to most countries).
However, it’s still a start and it’s not all Japan based (likely had to do with part of the talks with Mario+Rabbids since it’s third party too—one of the best Switch games imo).
Your spot on and one thing people are missing with microsoft trying to make pc and xbox closer together. If they get big exclusives for Japan add them to services like game pass but get the pc version to its a massive win for them. They may not sell many consoles but could have a big following pc side. Its going to be intresting to see what happens going into next gen.
He was probably tired of trying to convince bigger pubs to develop for the Switch.
Oh then I can't wait to play Sekiro, Cyberpunk, Metro Exodus, Far Cry, Anthem, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 2, Psychonauts 2, Code Vein, Control and Kingdom Hearts 3 on my Nintendo Switch.... /s
Yes I guess I can sell my Xbox one x now since I can play hellblade. Hitman, evil within 2 , AC odyssey, life is strange 2, red dead 1&2, nier automata, on switch..../s
The games need to make money to have partnerships and we know how well Japanese games sell on Xbox compared to Sony and Nintendo. Even if not comparing they don’t do very well unless they are mainstream games
The only way for MS to get more Japanese and niche titles is to offer porting costs, plus not take any fees from developers
Most of those titles just don't make enough on Xbox and that is the main reason for their publishers skipping the ports
Nintendo doesn't need those games I mean look they're 15 million away from passing Xbox One sales they can do it by the end of the year there's no doubt about it Nintendo has proven they don't need third party support does Wii ring a bell??
So you're saying Nintendo doesn't need these big games? Not necessary at all? Oooookay.
Try again. Damon Baker handled the indies side for Nintendo, not the bigger publisher.
Well first of all, it was really just a joke, but in the case of indies... yes he has done and amazing job and getting ports.
Did Nintendo need third party support for Wii??? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo o and they won that console war.
Yeah because they had a gimmick console that everyone and their grandmas could enjoy and afford. You want to take that logic against the Wii U!?
Sure I can say Wii U failed however Nintendo is doing great now look at the Switch sales look at the games they put out they get rated very well they're selling like hot cakes when is the last time Xbox had a game rated 10s or, a game with sales in double digits??
And? It's doing well, no one can deny that, but its also missing a massive amount of very important games. This is why Nintendo will no longer be a stand alone console, because if you only have a Nintendo console you're going to have a very tiny amount of games that revolve around the same Mario franchises and YEARS old ports.
Nintendo has a 20 year deal with Nvidia and Nvidia destroys AMD with their graphics cards Nintendo will be putting out a home console by 2022 and you can bet its going to be powerful with Nvidia working on it. There's people saying EA has Frostbite running on Switch which mean you can very well see Battlefield on it or Star Wars EA said it couldn't be done on Switch when it was first unveiled now it can possibly a more powerful Switch is coming.
Lol I highly doubt it I think people will be seeing other games on the Switch because of its install base now close to 30 million in 22 months compared to the Xbox and PS4 sales in 63 months that's great news for Nintendo.
My bet is we will be seeing more 3rd party timed exclusives for Xbox next gen. On the 360 many games 3rd party games were exclusive for around a year before they showed up on PS3.
“Already happened with PUBG”
So we shouldn’t believe Phil Spencer is what you are saying?
@gangsta_red
Sony has never said Exclusives don't matter, and a couple of fanboys saying compared to the head of a billion dollar division is much different.
Exclusives sell consoles, MS is saying that because they have no worthwhile exclusives.
That's the current trend, instead of trying to fix an issue, you try to change the perception to make the bad, good. It's happening in society and in gaming.
@2pacalypse
Are we changing the subject so soon already?
"Sony has never said Exclusives don't matter,"
Okay...not really sure what that has to do with Sony buying 3rd party timed exclusives.
Phil changed his mind and can do as he pleases. You, on the other hand, have no such luxury.
@gangsta_red
"Sony fanboys also said that, before Sony started doing it this gen."
Sony has been buying exclusives since the Ps1 days, so I don't know how they started doing it this gen.
@TheColbertinator
Not really, he still answers to shareholders, so he cant really do as he pleases.
Me on the other hand, can choose to buy a product on PlayStation over Xbox, I have that luxury.
I don't think that is what he said, actually. I could be wrong but I thought he was talking about giving exclusive content for one system over another. Like giving PS4 Destiny players certain weapons or strikes exclusively for one year over xbox players. Could you provide the link to your assertion? I am sure you are right, I just don't remember it.
That's right. Sony has been making such deals since the PS1 days. Deals like this one http://www.core-design.com/... and still, we all know what happened when Rise of TR was announced as a Xbox 1 exclusive.
It seems Phil thinks "exclusive content" is bad unless Xbox is the one benefiting from exclusive content. Yes, Sony has done those deals in the past as well. But Phil Spencer, the top dog at Xbox, got on his high horse and wagged his finger at his competitors for doing the same shit he and Microsoft does with Xbox. Spin it any way you want but that is just a fact.
That's a really good hire for Xbox. He did some great work for Nintendo. It's nice to see Xbox finally taking things more seriously.
Damon Baker might not be quite as famous as certain other employees who work at Nintendo of America, but he's definitely not far off. Now, in an unexpected announcement, Baker has revealed via Twitter he will leave Nintendo after more than 12 years. In 2019, he will pursue a new opportunity and promises fans this won't be the last time they hear from him.
Dan Adelman says he's been trying to get Axiom Verge on the Switch since launch. Is Nintendo ignoring him because of his past?
They're shafting it cuz it reminds them of their own mishandling of the Metroid IP and they'll be damned to see an indie developer do a better job at it on their own platform.
That's my guess at least
It's available on Wii U so that reasoning doesn't make much sense.
Tom approached Nintendo to put Axiom on the Switch, Nintendo said not now cause they are looking into newer indie games and not ports(which makes little to no sense since Binding of Isaac, Fast Racing RMX, and Shovel Knight are ports and available on the system).
It's possible it can release alongside the Wii U physical version but I doubt it.
The game will most likely come to Switch; I'd be surprised if it didn't.
Wait, I didn't realize it before but the titles that have been "ported" to Switch from Wii U aren't straight ports at all. They're all upgraded versions.
If they were trying to put "Axiom Verge: Definitive Edition" on the Switch, then it'd be inconsistent to tell them to hold off. Is that the case though? Is this a newer version of Axiom Verge?
Game is not on Switch, Adelman's right, Nintendo are douches. There can not be a sound reason to hold it back and give customers 1-2-Switch and Snipperclips.
Snipperclips is amazing. I'd rather play it than Axiom Verge any day. But then again I don't like pixelated graphics.
