Nintendo's Biggest Issue with Third-Parties IS Nintendo

Yes, you read that correctly.

As we all know — third-parties haven't played well with Nintendo, for quite a while now; over 20 years to be exact. Yes — it's been THAT long.

Every generation, it seems to be the same old story; Nintendo announces new system with a myriad of the tried-&-true exclusives and only a handful of (decent) third-party titles to accompany them. While their handheld devices are arguably good on the number of third-party titles, their home consoles are pretty much starved.

That exact same scenario has played out with Nintendo's latest home system, the Wii U. While the "Regginator" promised that things would be different this time around, all we've seen thus far with the Wii U as it relates to third parties — is a whole convoy of games being announced to NOT COME to the system. It's been that way BEFORE it released DURING IT'S RELEASE and now here, after the fact. It seems like every week there's some other third-party dev or CEO giving their negative comments about the Wii U. In fact, just recently, Ubisoft's CEO blatantly said that Wii U owner shouldn't expect any more of the company’s "mature" titles to hit the system, with Watch Dogs being the end of the line.

It's not just them — many other companies have chimed in. SEGA, EA, Activision, Square Enix, Rockstar...the list goes on.

So — why exactly do third-parties blatantly avoid Nintendo systems with 95% of their games? Some blame it on Nintendo's lack of providing "top-of-the-line" hardware with all the muscle of the other guys, as well as the extra features to boot. Others blame it on Nintendo-hardware's general appeal to only the "casual" market — insisting that "mature" titles don't have a place on Nintendo systems at all. Like I said — this isn't new. This has been the case for quite a few generations now. In fact — let's go back — WAY back, to the times of the NES and Genesis era.

There's always been a fight between two mega-giants here in the gaming industry, and during the 3rd generation of video game consoles — it was Nintendo vs. SEGA. Nintendo had built themselves a mega-empire by means of franchises like Mario and Zelda, but SEGA fought back hard with franchises like Sonic. But outside from each camps' exclusive titles, third-party offerings were pretty much tit-for-tat. The thing is, even then, Nintendo systems portrayed themselves as being "casual", or "family-oriented" — as it was referred to at that point in time. On the other hand, SEGA was the place for all the teens and young adults; an attitude that was even portrayed with their mascot, Sonic, who was more of an anti-hero than a smiley-all-the-time, heroic Italian plumber.

This contrast was pretty much introduced with the big Mortal Kombat fiasco. The Genesis version of the game allowed players to really get the full "mature" factor by offering blood — which was censored out in the NES version. So as you can see, even from way back then, Nintendo has always seem to be "casual-gamer" HQ.

Now then, what does that have to do with the third-parties avoiding them? Well, that's only ONE PART of the story. It also has to deal with Nintendo's own franchises. As mentioned before, Nintendo had already built themselves an empire — an empire that even today, still bears some pretty sweet fruit. The majority of Nintendo franchises are still living on, and it's been over 5 generations (25+ years) — since the majority of them has been introduced. Despite their age — not only are new games still being made, but they're still selling in the millions. They're still getting 8s, 9s, and 10s when being reviewed. Their merchandise is still going out of stock on Club Nintendo. Little kids are still being introduced to gaming through these characters, and gaming veterans are still enjoying their childhood classics in new lights.

With standing power like that, Nintendo has always been successful, even when they're not. For instance — the Gamecube was Nintendo's lowest point in the console industry (no Virtual Boy, stay in your corner) — and yet, Nintendo still reaped profit from it and it's library full of pure gaming gems and many still consider to it one of the best systems they've ever owned. That was a system that Nintendo literally supported BY THEMSELVES. Third-parties hadn't avoided a Nintendo system to that extent, before the Gamecube.

Are you seeing the point yet? Nintendo has always been the ones who've had the task of making and carrying their systems, especially their home-consoles. This is the job for all console-makers; so yes, Sony and Microsoft are included in the bunch. Yet even so, just put either of those two in Nintendo's shoes. Imagine a world where Nintendo was like Sony and the PlayStation or even like Microsoft and the XBOX. Imagine if third-parties treated them like their best friend, and the likes of Mario and Zelda were only seen every now and then. Imagine if gamers weren't running to Nintendo ONLY for those franchises, but also for Need for Speed, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA, Mass Effect, and so many other third-party franchises.

Imagine if Sony and Microsoft instead had to carry their own systems on their own backs, with the majority of their libraries consisting of first-party exclusives. Trust me — they wouldn't be able to do it.

Nintendo's empire is simply too great and too timeless. I'm not being a fanboy when I say that — I'm being real. While Sony has big franchises like Uncharted, The Last of Us, LitteBigPlanet, and Gran Turismo — and Microsoft has franchises like HALO, Forza, and Gears of War: NONE of those could match the likes of Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Pokémon and Donkey Kong, which have literally stood the test of time.

Truth is; third-parties see Nintendo more as competition than business companions. When third-parties release their games on Nintendo systems, they have to compete with Nintendo's juggernauts. Why exactly do you think Watch Dogs was purposely left out of the loop on the Wii U? It would've been coming out in the same time frame as Mario Kart 8 — that's why. Why do you think Project CARS was also left out of the loop on the Wii U — because it'd be coming out way too close to Smash Bros. — that's why.

Nintendo's franchises are simply too big and cover too much ground for third-parties to handle. Also, third-parties can't make Nintendo dip into their pockets and hand over the green the same way that they can do with Sony and Microsoft. Just look at it; exclusive DLC, timed-exclusives, ad-campaigns, entire exclusive games — you know how much MILLIONS Sony/Microsoft have to shell out to companies like Ubisoft, EA, and Activision to get those perks? Why do they go through all the trouble? Because they know darn well they can't do it on their own. Imagine if PS4 wasn't being showered with the likes of Battlefield, Destiny, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, or Watch Dogs? Imagine if it's players mainly had to live off of Gran Turismo, inFamous, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet, The Order: 1886 and Knack? Imagine if Microsoft gamers had to mainly live off of HALO, Gears, Forza, and Sunset Overdrive?

Nintendo hasn't changed very much over the years. They're still stuck in their own ways, and continue to go on in this big fiesta of the industry — dancing to their own beat. Their loyal fans and younger comrades continue to stick with them. While everyone else is cheering and screaming at the likes of Gabe Newell, Suhei Yoshida and Phil Spencer — people like Iwata, Reggie, Sakurai, Anouma and Miyamoto are having tea in their own little circle. While Sony and Microsoft go at each other's throats, with EA, Ubisoft and Activision grin maliciously as they count their wads of cash — Nintendo is their playing patty-cake amongst themselves.

That's just how it is. Honestly, if they were to come out tomorrow with "Wii Ultimate"; possessing x86 architecture, 16GB of RAM, a Nivida TITAN graphics card, 12 cores, native 4K resolution, and 2TB hard drive, with an online system that sends the likes of PSN and XBL to their graves; third-parties still wouldn't care. They've been down that road already, and it didn't work out, so now, they're just doing their own thing. They've buddied up with devs like Platinum, SEGA, and Temco Koei to fill in the gaps with third-party exclusives, but trust me; never will you see the day that major third-party devs and publishers come running to Nintendo willingly.

The saying may go like: "If you can't beat em, join em" — but in Nintendo's case: "If you can't beat em, then just do you".