Iwata: Third Party Wii U Launch Titles Could Not Enjoy Brisk Sales As Many Were Ports

This is a good point, but he fails to mention for obvious reasons, many were poor ports worse than the original releases.

Well said Iwata, if only the lazy American third party developers would figure this out. Too bad most of them probably listen to IGN and think that it's a way of nature to crap on Nintendo.

While ports were an issue, parity with other versions is a bigger one. Wii U owners expect all the modes, dlc etc as other consoles have, especially considering we pay the same price!

@Samurairu Absolutely. In the case of Mass Effect 3, it should've been released as a package with all 3 Mass Effect titles with the best graphics they could squeeze out of the system so that Nintendo gamers (like me) who didn't play the series, would have a lot of incentive to get into it.

It's not solely because they were ports.
It's because many of said ports were done BADLY.
Take ME3 for example; released on the Wii U right around the same time as THE MASS EFFECT SERIES COLLECTION.
IIRC, it didn't even have all of the DLC, and used a comic book to make up for the story players missed.
It was a piss-poor attempt at bringing the games to the Wii U, and that version would never have sold well on any other system either.

@luminalace actually, Wii U versions were more expensive, due to the other versions being older and generally half the price as well as having less content in the Wii U version.
Most Wanted U and Black Ops 2 made up for it in the extra content and fancier graphics for MWU and the great off-screen gamepad options for both, particularly the way Black Ops 2 uses gamepad screen for one player and the full tv screen for the other with 2 player local multiplayer.

This is what I've thought for a while in terms of Wii/Wii U and sales of third-party games. It's simple really; very few take advantage of what the Wiimote/Game Pad can offer to the player. A simple port won't sell, nor will just mapping buttons to waggle. I think a lot of the mini-games in Nintendo Land demonstrate the Game Pad's potential, but there's yet to be a killer app that makes its use revolutionary. I think Pikmin 3 will be the first game to do that, as well as Wonderful 101. Hopefully that'll pave the way for other RTS games, because there's definitely potential there. I also think it would be great to provide two different perspectives...a game like MGS could provide the classic top-down perspective on the gamepad, while the TV would display the 3D perspective, and the player could switch between them based on their preference or for what makes sense in a particular level. There's also a world of potential for local multiplayer, since split screens are no longer necessary. Still, they have yet to support more than one gamepad at a time, so there's that.

Ultimately, what has to happen is more third parties stepping up to create these sorts of experiences in their games rather than waiting for Nintendo to do it. Continually pointing the finger at Nintendo isn't productive. They've made some missteps so far, but the third parties are equally to blame for their sloppy ports. Tailor your games to the platform and you'll see sales.

It is in part Nintendo's fault. They should have made the Wii U more attractive from the beginning. Those first party titles and "momentum" should have been there right at launch. As a result, even exclusives like Zombi U, Rabbids Land and Nano Assault Neo suffered.

@Luke8400 W101 could be that game, but I don't think Pikmin 3 is really using the gamepad in interesting ways (Off TV Play and as a map?). Most people will probably use a Wiimote and nunchuck to play the game.

W101 is using it interesting ways to control your heroes. Drawing shapes and having your heroes react.

I think the problem for Nintendo's third parties is Nintendo let the Wii completely die without really telling anyone and didn't get the Wii U ready until everyone already had a console of similar spec. All the 3rd parties like EA probably made next to no money on their late Wii games (admittedly EA just re-skinned old games) so they then didn't want to risk new games for Wii U.

In the meantime, MS and Sony probably shipped container trucks filled with cash to all the important publishers while Nintendo probably thought the Wii and DS success would be enough to keep 3rd parties on board.

I don't want to see any less competition in the console market but I would love it (Kevin Keegan style) if Sony and MS sales go the Wii U way immediately after launch but then again, MS and Sony won't refuse to advertise their console.

@Mahe attractive how? They made their system cheaper than the ps4/xBone

Are you suggesting they should made a system to placate the dudebro gamers? Who only care about graphics as a first priority.

@Mahe Agreed; Zombi U is a great example of a third party doing something right, but Ubisoft can't be the only ones. It seems there's always a bit of confusion from third parties regarding Nintendo platforms at first, and they often don't figure it out until others do something for them to emulate. Usually it's Nintendo that does this; with the Wii, it was Wii Sports; with the Wii U, it was Nintendo Land, but again, NL isn't quite as accessible nor does it fully demonstrate the advantages of the Game Pad. I don't think there's anything out there that does yet, and that's part of the problem.

Third parties CAN see sales if they take some risks and create experiences specifically for the platform, but I think the problem is that they're used to playing it safe and seeing instant sales with their tried and true ports on Xbox/PS. The more unique gameplay experiences exist for the platform, the fewer arguments you'll hear about specs and graphics, because ultimately they don't matter if the gameplay is better. Which is exactly the reason why Nintendo's games sell.

I didn't buy any of the launch and laugh window old ports. The only one that was even remotely on my radar was the Need for Speed game, but without local 2 player I gave it a miss. All reviews pointed to a sloppy choppy mess of old games made worse on the Wii U. Yet original games such as Zombie U and Scribblenauts Unlimited enjoyed great success. It really goes to show what kind of philosophy Nintendo are trying to prove with the Wii U. Make a game only for this system, a game that can only be made on this system, and watch the dollars fill your pockets. Instead we have most 3rd parties going multiplatform to maximise sales, leaving Wii U versions unimpressive and its features underused, and that's if we are lucky to see a Wii U version of a big game in the first place.

I still fail to see EA's logic though. Especially in the case of Mass Effect 3. How can they as a company have expected this game to sell when it was already old, had frame rate problems, no DLC, and had it compete with the entire ME Trilogy on the other systems for much the same price. Why wasn't the Wii U version the Trilogy? What on earth were they thinking? No wonder no one bought it. Their fault. Not Nintendo's or their fans.

@SkywardCrowbar I could not agree more!! I never bought any of the MEs. Had they released the other two along with 3, it would've been an absolute purchase for me!

Ultimately Nintendo have to take the blame. It's fine making your console drastically different from the competition, but the flip side of that is how much work it takes to create games. You're not going to see many devs optimising their code because they have no chance of making that money back with the sales being so low. It's a business, they're all in it to make money, not to provide Nintendo with a stacked games library.

If they'd have a Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy caliber game out there for launch, then hardware numbers wouldn't be as abysmal as they are now, and devs would be more hopefully of making their money back on games.

Pikmin 3, W101, Rayman Legends, the freakin launch lineup isn't even out yet. If you don't launch with your launch titles there really is nothing to say but derp!

"Third Party Wii U Launch Titles Could Not Enjoy Brisk Sales As Many Were Ports"

Well...I could have told you that Iwata. What matters is making sure it doesn't happen again. Get to it! >:3

It also doesn't help that those ports were sold at full price. I mean really, what were the publishers thinking? Pricing games at $60 when they can easily be bought on other systems for $20? Not to mention that whole Mass Effect Trilogy fiasco.

@Samurairu What obvious reasons? You mean the fact that most of them were rushed?

@Melkaticox I don't think he's willing to call out the 3rd parties publicly for releasing poorly done ports which were; as you say; rushed and offering less in the majority of cases.

I agree on them being really pessimistic. It's as most of us have said though: Give a lazy effort and it's your own fault when none of your stuff sells.

@TrueWiiMaster Another great point. The only reason I bought NFS: MW and now FIFA 2013 aka 2012, is because they were 29.99 and 14.99 respectively. NFS:MW is the only worthy port I've played though... awesome game IMO.

true many were ports of games most had so would only appeal to the people who only had a Wii last gen

although not that a few ports were bad but a lot of them were badly done thus leading to poor sales of both console and games that has hurt Nintendos image in the eyes of third party developers

(would still love to see the other two Mass Effect games Castlevania LOS and Bayonetta 1 on WiiU)

I find it annoying how many 3rd party developers are so vocally focusing their resources on PS4/XBone, whereas when Wii U was launching they took a much more wait-and-see approach. Also,I realize that developing games is expensive, but porting or adding a platform to a game already in development is much less costly, which means that for it to make business sense to bring a game to Wii U, sales only have to cover the additional cost, not single-handedly turn a profit. I don't believe that it would be difficult, with proper effort, to meet the necessary sales threshold, so I don't believe anyone, PR department or apologist, who says it's just business.

We've all said it. It's nice to see Nintendo confront the issue and, at the same time, the Western publishers who so often seem to criticise without fear of contradiction.

I'll give Iwata a pat on the back for having the maturity to not mention how cruddy the ports even were.
I'm still under the impression that the likes of EA and Activision simply don't like Mr.Iwata and are getting back at Big N for years of treating the 3rd party devs horribly. Kinda conspiracy theory-ish, but I really wouldn't put it past EA with the way their corporate culture works.

At launch I got Tekken Tag 2 and Sonic Transformed. After that a few days ago I got Arkham Armored Edition and NFS MW, because I could get them at $30 each.

Had these old ports been released at $40 or even $50 at launch that would have made them more attractive. A tacked on use of the gamepad and off TV gameplay is not worth the extra $20 or more when compared to their PS360 counterparts.

I think youre right though, ajcismo. Its not a conspiracy theory to think that third party devs wouldnt run back to a company thats historically done nothing to help them succeed, no matter what. Im not saying that nintendo owes these people a living or anything, but ms and sony both clearly seem to invest more care toward the profitability of the companies that make software for their consoles.

@cdude
Its almost like they're all being petty, like getting back at an ex-girlfriend or something.

Obviously true Mr. Iwata. Some publishers need to control their sales expectations for later ports.

@ajcismo One other thing to consider is that EA has never had a close relationship with Nintendo. They first found success on computers, and their first successes on home consoles was due to Sega, not Nintendo. In later generations, they found their greatest success on Sony and Microsoft platforms. Long story short, Nintendo has always been a secondary focus for EA. Their main successes and focus have always been on non Nintendo platforms such as Sega, Sony, and Microsoft.

As a gamer from the 16-bit era, I'm barely surprised by EA's sorry excuse for support.

As for Activision, I would say they have been pretty good to Nintendo. The Wii got their own versions of Call of Duty 3, Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 3, World at War, and Black Ops. The only ones that skipped a Nintendo platform was Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty 2. Otherwise, Nintendo's platforms have gotten Call of Duty.

Plus, we have gotten ports of Acitivsion's other games such as Skylanders, the James Bond games, and other Activision franchises. I think Activision has been pretty good to Nintendo over the last few years.

I probably would've been interested in Mass Effect, but as a Nintendo gamer I hadn't played the first two and it seemed a bit late to the party to jump in at three, seeing as I believe (though I may be wrong) the story is quite integral to the whole trilogy.

@Caryslan
You're right about Activision... although sometimes the quality in their ports can be a bit lacking.
Too bad these things always come back to the Evil Empire (EA), we should be talking about how there is going to be a ton of 3rd party indie games coming out in the next few years.

I got Darksiders 2, COD Black Ops 2, Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed ... All of which I could have purchased on my Xbox 360 ... But I chose to wait and buy with the purchase of My Wii U Deluxe w/Nintendo Land ... Transformers Prime & New Super Mario Bros U . I enjoyed all 6 games on my Wii U & Packed My Xbox 360 up and Haven't opened it since Halloween 2012 !!!!

Since launch I've purchased 4 more games Walking Dead Survival Instinct, Injustice Gods Among Us, Lego Batman 2 : DC Superheroes & Resident Evil Revelations ... And I plan on supporting Wii U Big Time This Fall !!!! I plan on buying Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends, The Wonderful 101, Sonic Lost World, Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag, Batman Arkham Origins, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze & Super Mario 3D World !!!! Let's Go Nintendo

This really annoyed me at the launch. Nintendo Land, Mario U and Sonic Transformed were the only games I bought at launch. Eventually, I did get Need for Speed and I LOVED it, but the other ported games didn't feel as good as the alternatives. Pikmin 3, a game I bought a Wii U for, is still not out yet either, which is really bugging me now.

I don't count Black Ops 2 or Sonic Transformed, BTW. Thought it was worth saying that since I see them getting mentioned, but both were released really close to the other versions, with the little weeks between them being the Wii U launching. Both seem to be really good versions of each game anyway, lack of DLC for Black Ops 2 notwithstanding.

Nintendo Life NEVER mentions Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist which is a Ubisoft title coming to Wii U next month!!!
I know I'm the only one that always notice this...

It is both parties faults really... Nintendo needed to have more first party titles at launch.. to move systems.. but then.. even if they did.. if most third party games were only cheap ports.. (or really bad) or generally speaking ripoff games.. (Where we get one part of a series with no DLC or anything.. while everyone else gets the entire series.. with DLC etc.) What the heck did Third parties expect?? We are not going out there and buying such games..

@GearsOfWarU If more people supported their Ninty console this way, 3rd party support would never be an issue...DS II, AC III, COD BLOPS II, and ZombiU all at launch for me. MH3U came at release and I will be gifting myself a monthly game between now and Dec, haha.

Platinum trumps Ninty games should I have to choose one over the other.

@StyledFawn476 THATS VERY TRUE

I thought the Batman Arkham City Wii U version was pretty beefed up, and a little more than a port from playing a buddy's Wii U. No surprise with all the ports, especially from EA, who use to drop the worse ports back in the day on the 64. The 3rd party titles coming up, if not utilizing the gamepad in some way to distinguish themselves and offer a unique and rewarding gameplay modification will not sell. Nintendo has to make that a huge priority with themselves and 3rd parties. Show people why this gamepad is needed, and how it changes gameplay. I still have yet to see that, but we'll see what happens this winter.

@GearsOfWarU
I am that way too. I have only touched my 360 once since I got my Wii U, and that was for Bioshock Infinite..(Shut up, I caved okay!)
At launch, I got ZombiU, New Super Mario Bros U, Epic Mickey 2, and Nintendo land..later on in december, I got Tekken, Black Ops 2, Darksiders 2, I did not pick up anymore games until Monster Hunter 3 U, and Lego City Undercover came out, which I purchased both of. Then, a few weeks ago I bought Need For Speed Most Wanted U, and Nano Assault Neo! I plan on getting all the Ubisoft games as well, along with Batman, and MAYBE scribblenauts..I will debate Ghosts, since I never enjoyed Black Ops 2 much. Quite frankly, I don't buy my third party games on other consoles If I have a choice.

@Cyberbotv2
agreed with arkim city i love playing the wii u version compared to my nephew's ps3 version.. the gamepad made the difference for me..
i hope watchdogs will do the same.. fingers crossed

Increasing the install base doesn't really matter. The audience for Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, GTA, Madden and COD already have consoles (360/PS3) that play these types of games. Off-TV play is great but people aren't buying Nintendo systems for M-Rated third party games. Mario and Donkey Kong will sell very well this holiday season, but will third party games like Watch_Dogs and Ass. Creed IV do the same? I doubt it.

I have to admire Iwata's composure for the reactions of some third parties. Most of them released ports of games from months ago and get mad when it doesn't sell much, and the more recent multi-platform games, while released day one on Wii U, they were released days/ weeks on other system with more stable features like dlc.

Some games like Warriors Orochi 3 hyper didn't even try to sweeten the deal, using off screen play as there only selling point for their price. Wish they at least did like Batman Arkham City and included their dlc on-disc instead of releasing it for purchase months laters after release.

With that said, I still brought 5 of the month old ports since it's new to me, I don't have 360 or PS3, and to support the system and developers.

It seems like American companies don't have faith in Wii U, while Japanese and the European/Canadian developers want to give the system more of a shot.

The only company from America I can think of that is giving the Wii U great games is WB.

I think Nintendo needs to let there NA and European offices a little more freedom in deciding how to advertise and promote getting people from their regions into the Wii U. That has always been one big problem with Nintendo, the Japan office says how to do things, and the others have to just listen, but Japan and NA/Europe are completely different markets. Nintendo needs to make some changes within the company, I guess is what I'm saying

the logic of the third parties:

Wii U is launching, lets release ports of games that have already been out on the older consoles for months without any graphical upgrades or DLC packs ((talking about launch titles although Black Ops II is an exception kinda in terms of its release date.., not talking about NFS or Injustice or the upcomming games from Ubisoft, , Watch Dogs!!! why is 11/19 so far away...)) and then complain when they don't sell because the majority of gamers have already owned them on the 360, PS3 or PC~

EA's reasoning is so poopydoodlelovebuggies it just blows my mind. I would love to know how they really expected poor ports of these late releases to perform.

@renaryuugufan92

This is the crux of it. How EA can profess to be disappointed that Mass Effect 3, Fifa 13, and Need For Speed didn't sell is beyond belief. All 3 were late ports and charging full price. Mass Effect 3 had most of the dlc missing. What they should've done is release the trilogy with all dlc, for say $50. Fifa 13 was missing features and looked visually poor. Need For Speed port was released almost 5 months later than other versions, and although it was the best looking console version because it was built off the PC version, it didn't come with the dlc of the other versions. So yeah, big surprise their 3rd party efforts were mostly overlooked...

I see this as a complicated situation. It's super risky for 3rd parties to release a new game exclusive to the Wii U. And many of them couldn't just tack a Wii U version into their production pipeline for the games released recently. They definitely couldn't treat Nintendo as their reliable partner the second they became Wii U developers, especially when their past experiences with the company were abysmal. So I got nothing D:

Check out www.vgchartz.com
There's a lot of great info here regarding games sales data. Keep in mind for new releases that data is only updated once a month (on the 15th of every month). It does show interesting things. The crappy port sales were extra crappy. I think only 40,000 copies of mass effect were sold! Similar abysmal numbers for other old ports trended on the WiiU. Third party titles that launched at the same time as the other systems showed some success. Sonic & Sega all star racing transformed sold 240,000 copies. The same number as on the PS3 and very close to Xbox 360. Games like Assassin's Creed III, while launched across all systems at all times, didn't do that great. It sold 5 million copies on the PS3, 4.5 million on Xbox 360, and only 160,000 on the WiiU. The only possible defense I could offer here is to wonder what percent of PS3 and 360 owners purchased the game. If its close to the WiiU owners percentage, then we need to compare apples to apples here. If we assume 80 million PS3s were sold world wide (based on estimates that I found online) that equates to around 5.5% of ps3 owners bought Assassin's creed 3. This is roughly the same percentage for the WiiU!
As Iwata inferred, more system need to be sold. Once that happens, it would be stupid for third parties to ignore the WiiU as long as current titles are being placed on the system.

Agree with the title of this article.

i agree with this competely

well i'm showing my support any third party game that has a version coming on the WiiU, i get on the WiiU (not counting ports of games i already have), Assassin's Creed IV, WATCH_DOGS, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Splinter Cell Blacklist are all on my radar at the moment and i'm getting them all on WiiU

Tell that to EA, late, bad, no DLC ports. NFS might be the exception.

Ha ha ha, I'm starting to warm up to this guy. That jab sounded a little like Reggie.

@Haywired
It really is, there are multiple occasions where your team mates can die or you have to choose particular ones to go on suicide missions as well as big ethical decisions regarding certain events. To jumb in at the climax of the previous games would be an injustice to the unique way in which your actions carry forward to influence the sequels. This is currently my 3rd favourite video game franchise, and the hightest to not be well represented on Nintendo systems. I erge you to get in on PC or harass Ea for the trilogy.
I think the team who did the Mass Effect 3 port put a lot of effort into it, if I'm not mistaken they then went on to do the Need For Speed Port.
Unfortunately there was little demand for these games from the wider audience as they had already been available as Iwata said.

Very true Mr Iwata.
Looking at my Wii U collection,most of all the games are ports of old games.

Though Tekken was actually a really good port,with the ninty costumes and that.

@X-Factor
You are not the only one. I think I am getting it as it looks pretty damn good.

@MadAdam81

Actually BOP2 has this for online multiplayer, where one player has tv the other the gamepad

@NMH-TRI .... thats why I like to chose one console instead of all 3.... if you only have 1 console you can afford to get most of the good games released... September, October & November are going to be tuff... but save up during June, July & August when in a 90-100 period only 1 good game comes out Pikmin 3 that way you can get extra stuff for the big Holiday Rush!!! Yeah people complain , if you really want to support Nintendo you could be like me and have 10 games in your library ... were alot of people basically have a Deluxe with NintendoLand and then bought New Mario, Monster Hunter and maybe one other title and they complain there is nothing else to play sure there is...

@Sidewinder .... I totally agree... I purchased a Wii U to be my new Console ... So I plan on Supporting It.. I even Passed on Gears Judgment and Halo 4 ( because I've moved on and if i could choose between a game on 360 or Wii U I chose Wii U... its simple... got a bunch of games at launch ... then there was a drought... Jan-March then April & May had some good titles I got all of them and now were in the little summer Drought June-August (except for Pikmin) but thats good gives me time to save up for the Fall Onslaught ... Sept-November is gonna Be Crazy @ least 2 quality games each month so every Nintendo Fan should be Happy

@GearsOfWarU Exactly! I have no complaints about their library. Of everything that I still have, I'm maybe halfway through completing my list. I also have a 3DS and PC (gotta love steam). I don't have enough time to enjoy all and I don't impulsively buy, but the option is there if my interest is piqued towards a PC/3DS/ or Wii U title. Right now, I'm focused on supporting the Wii U and will have to snag hot 3DS titles later. If Ninty kept a 1 release per month schedule (1st and 3rd party), I would still be behind...waaayyy behind. There are also some Wii gems that I still need to pick up.

Anyone that has enough time AND money to pick up all hot titles AND play them on multiple consoles may want to consider spending some time unplugged from their entertainment boxes or get a job.

3rd parties always do this, ship late ports or shovelware then complain it doesn't sell. They have years and years of making it up to Nintendo fans. One or two token efforts, then giving up is not enough. They need to support Nintendo with constant flow of quality games and then they might sell better. They have treated Nintendo and their fans for doggiedoodoodingleberry for so long it might take a entire gen or two to make it up.