Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

@theJGG I know Nintendo have purchased the odd developer in the past, but if I am right in remembering, there was an interview (think it was Iwata) where they said it wasn't company policy to acquire developers and in order to be able to buy Monolith Soft, they had to go to the board and convince them the purchase would be beneficial for Nintendo. I know Phil Spencer probably has to do similar things when Microsoft bought all them studios but I get the feeling it's a lot easier for Microsoft and Sony to make these kinds of acquisitions as it's company policy to expand whenever possible hence why they have done so many whereas Nintendo hasn't.

Even then, Monolith Soft was the last video game developer purchase Nintendo made and that was about 15 yers ago. So although they have made purchases, it's still not anything recent.

@Euler Oh heck, I remember E3 2015 with Nintendo, which from my perspective was horrible. But then again, I also remember several Wii U games that came out that year were Splatoon, Mario Maker and Xenoblade Chronicles X and I enjoyed them all quite a lot, so 2015 and 2016, I don't remember being as bad.

@FragRed It's probably hardest for Nintendo to convince that studio purchases would be beneficial because unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo has a gold mine of retro games. I'd guess the line of thinking would be something along the lines of "Why buy a studio to create extra new games when you can instead release more $60 ports/remasters and get guaranteed better sales?"

With Microsoft it's probably very easy, just point to the very common views of "Xbox has no games" and "Xbox only has Halo, Gears, Forza". Those views will probably stay until like 2022/2023.

With Sony it's probably a case of something like "[insert studio] is best known for their very well received Playstation exclusives so them being a part of Sony Interactive Entertainment will be very beneficial to guarantee the continuation of more high quality Playstation exclusives." (e.g. Insomniac before the purchase was best known for Spider-Man 2018)

@Grumblevolcano I do think you’re right. I also think that because prior to HD consoles, Nintendo could for the most part, put out a sizeable library without needing to lean on outside developers and I do wonder if they believe that to still be the case. So why buy up studios to create the games we can create ourselves? Also Nintendo are leaning really heavily on both Mario and Zelda, perhaps more than ever, and those are basically nearly all done in house with Monolith Soft helping to some extent.

@link3710 wow thanks for the recap, i ignored most of this info.
So it's safe to say Nintendo has not shrunk into only one console, but rather restructured its development. I'm sure most of the jobs lost in the studios closures have found their way into other studios. To tell you the truth i'm not disappointed in nintendo's rate at publishing first party titles, especially compared to the studios owned by microsoft and sony.
I am just expecting to play a breath of the wild caliber title once a year, when in reality these titles come once, maybe twice in a generation.

I want in January

Yeah well that was a pretty dumb rule from Miyamoto, who clearly just doesn't "get" RPGs as a genre (he thinks like platformers and adventure games that you can make a good RPG by just focusing on the gameplay.....which you can't)

And thats what I think they SHOULD do. They have plenty of franchises that aren't being used. They should make a few more deals like the one they've made with Koei Tecmo, or Grezzo, or Tantalus.
Just find a studio that has a good record with a particular genre and just approach them and say "If you make the next Golden Sun/Advance Wars/ Kid Icarus/Star Fox game, we'll give you 50% of the profit".

I know Nintendo are sensitive about that because care about keeping the high quality, but frankly plenty of their first party attempts at those series weren't so great anyway. So why not?

@teo_o Right, these are technically all external studios, so even though Nintendo itself hasn't been reducing it's development output, it's stopped contracting out to develop as many titles. Outside of Koei Tecmo, I don't think they've increased external development at all to make up for the studio closures.

@Grumblevolcano
Okay, that makes sense.
Sometimes though, the hype train gets out of hand with a stream announcement, and there ends up being more disappointment than there might be if was just shadow dropped.
There are some people though that have like 25 games in their backlog, and are wanting like 10 new games the next year. So, in the end, it ends up being different for everyone.

@MS7000 Yeah, and the actual data show Nintendo released more games on average during the Wii U and 3DS era compared to the Switch era (of which 2020 has been the worst year).

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/07/talking_point_is_ni...

@Euler Ha, I do remember that article. I think the worse thing is knowing that most of the output is ports. I wouldn't mind the slightly lower output if there were more new experiences. Hopefully 2021 will be a lot better.

I'm happy nsm3dw is being ported. It was my favourite Wii u game. But it really makes me sad that it means a proper sequel is now about three years away. It likely will take place after odyssey two, a new 2d mario game. If a new galaxy game is made that pushes it to four years away. That's an insane wait for people who previously played it on Wii u. Same as its been an annoying wait for a new mario kart.

@sixrings

I really wouldn't hold your breath for a sequel to 3D World. Chances are they're not planning one. If anything, the next game will be Odyssey 2, then they'll probably just come up with something new after that.

@Dezzy if 3dworld sells well, which all switch games do, then it will get a sequel

personally id prefer if the formula was given to DK and I could play a four player DK game with my family... Donkey Kong, Cranky Kong, Dixie Kong, Diddy Kong and Funky Kong as a cheat character.

@sixrings 3D World is already a sequel and 3D Mario has been in pairs so far except Odyssey:

• 64 -> Sunshine
• Galaxy -> Galaxy 2
• 3D Land -> 3D World
• Odyssey -> ?

@MS7000 I'd like to point out that data was also a bit misleading. Many titles got dual releases on 3DS + Wii U (Mario Maker, Yoshi's Woolly World, Smash 4, Mario Tennis, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, NES Remix 1 + 2, Art Academy) and/or were incomplete titles released to fill in a troubled schedule (Art Academy Sketchpad, Mario Tennis Open, Amiibo Festival) or were ports themselves (Luigi's Mansion, Xenoblade Chronicles, LoZ OoT/MM/WW/TP, Star Fox 64, 2 Mario & Luigis, DKC Returns). And in general, Nintendo's stopped releasing indie sized games (Pushmo, Dillon's, NES Remix, Steel Diver, Rhythm Heaven, Badge Arcade, Sakura Samurai BoxBoy dropping from 3 on 3DS to 1 on Switch) which helped boost their numbers before, instead replacing these by promoting notable indies without publishing them.

While I'd still say the total is definitely higher on 3DS + Wii U, that data makes the gap look even larger.

@Grumblevolcano what about the NSMB series... there's a ton of those.. We should be trying to make room for more four player Mario games not discouraging them.

@sixrings

I dunno about that. If they really stuck to that rule, then they'd never really make anything new. Mario 64 sold really well, but then they did Sunshine which was very different. Twilight Princess was the best selling Zelda game at the time, and yet they followed it with Skyward Sword, which was very different.

It's just not true that they always make sequels to things. They like to do new things as well.

@Dezzy I didn't mean to imply they always make sequels... yes Nintendo rarely makes sequels... but ill hold out hope for a 3dworld sequel after the switch port sells well...

Considering the direction Mario went afterwards, I think its reasonable to assume that 3D World was considered a bad direction for the series, fair or not. Mainly because it was the 3D Mario on Wii U and points to Wii U's sales

also let's be honest, its mildly a redundant game if they decide to make another 2D Mario, since it literally is a 3D Mario trying to be a 2D Mario, and we're decades overdue for a 2D Mario with actual new ideas anyway (other than Mario Maker)