Nintendo Too Late To Attract Third-Party Support, Bethesda Says

[Andy Chalk]

Nintendo Too Late To Attract Third-Party Support, Bethesda Says

Bethesda VP Pete Hines says Nintendo's opportunity to attract meaningful third-party support to the Wii U "has long passed."

Nintendo is an island. This is fact. Pete Hines, Bethesda's vice president of marketing and PR, put it succinctly during an episode of Bonus Round filmed at PAX when he said, "You shouldn't have ever bought a Wii U expecting to play great Bethesda games on there, because it's not something that we have ever supported in the past."

As for what Nintendo can do to turn that frown upside-down, the answer, as far as Hines is considered, is probably nothing. "The time for convincing publishers and developers to support Wii U has long passed. The box is out," he said. "You have to do what Sony and Microsoft have been doing with us for a long time, and it's not that every time we met with them we got all the answers we wanted, but they involved us very early on in talking to folks like Bethesda and Gearbox and saying, 'Here's what we're doing, here's what we're planning, here's how we think it's going to work," to hear what we thought, from our tech guys and from an experience standpoint, what we thought."

"You have to spend an unbelievable amount of time up front doing that," he continued. "If you're going to just sort of decide, 'Well, we're going to make a box and this is how it's going to work and you make games for it,' well, no. No is my answer. I'm going to focus on the other ones that better support what it is we're trying to do."

Source: GameTrailers [http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/jyfd3n/bonus-round-questions-from-the-audience]


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[xaszatm]

So...remind me again why we should care what Bethseda says about the WiiU? I mean, I know The Elder Scrolls is suppose to be the best WRPGs ever, but they have always been more of a PC series (and company) than a console one. Why should something that defines the PC Western RPG genre matter to the only non-portable console that is trying its best to not be a PC?

As for Nintendo not getting third party support...uh...I know Nintendo isn't the best at third party, but don't they have better relationships with their second party friends? Not to mention, with Platinum games discussing on how much freedom they got making their games, isn't at least interesting enough for some third party groups to get on board?

 

[StriderShinryu]

I can't really argue with him on this. It's not that the WiiU is a bad system or won't have any good games for it, but the focus of the system (and most of what Nintendo does) always has come off as "here's our system, it does this, design games for it." Sony and MS do definitely seem to be more in the "build by committee" type, and I can certainly see that approach being more appealling even if it doesn't do as much to give their consoles a truly unique feeling totally unto themselves.

I also do feel that with WiiU's head start the gen pretty much over, he's probably right about it not seeing an uptick in 3rd party support any time soon.

 

[Micalas]

While I agree third party support has not been Nintendo's strong suit over the past decade, I don't think we should really care what Bethesda has to say about console release games. If you play a Bethesda game on anything other than a PC, you're going to have a rough time. And this isn't a PC gamer elitist thing. It's more about the fact that without the command console and mod community bug fixes, it'll be rought.

 

[Dragonbums]

So Bethesda- a game company that hasn't made a single game for Nintendo since the 90's. Suddenly decide to jump the bandwagon of "No 3rd party support for Weee U" and talk about how they will continue to do their two decade ritual of not making games for Nintendo.

Meanwhile the citizens of Xbox360 and PS3 are anticipating the flying Wooly Mammoth season so they can upload yet another "Skyrim glitches lol" video on Youtube for the masses to enjoy.

 

[GonzoGamer]

"You have to spend an unbelievable amount of time up front doing that," he continued. "If you're going to just sort of decide, 'Well, we're going to make a box and this is how it's going to work and you make games for it,' well, no. No is my answer. I'm going to focus on the other ones that better support what it is we're trying to do."

Isn't that why companies like Valve hated the ps3 for so long? Isn't that why Bethesda games hardly work on the ps3?

I think there's more to it than that. I'm sure it's a big bump in the road but not a complete roadblock.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Didnt think people bought nintendo consoles for the 3rd party games? They but the console for the Nintendo games.

 

[Dragonbums]

So...remind me again why we should care what Bethseda says about the WiiU? I mean, I know The Elder Scrolls is suppose to be the best WRPGs ever, but they have always been more of a PC series (and company) than a console one. Why should something that defines the PC Western RPG genre matter to the only non-portable console that is trying its best to not be a PC?

As for Nintendo not getting third party support...uh...I know Nintendo isn't the best at third party, but don't they have better relationships with their second party friends? Not to mention, with Platinum games discussing on how much freedom they got making their games, isn't at least interesting enough for some third party groups to get on board?

While I agree third party support has not been Nintendo's strong suit over the past decade, I don't think we should really care what Bethesda has to say about console release games. If you play a Bethesda game on anything other than a PC, you're going to have a rough time. And this isn't a PC gamer elitist thing. It's more about the fact that without the command console and mod community bug fixes, it'll be rought.

Their opinion matters because their games sell like gangbusters. 10 million copies of Skyrim were sold, onky 14% of which were on PC. PC no doubt has the best experience, it usually does, but they definitely matter to consoles. And that's not even mentioning the other games they just publish. As a third party developer and publisher, Bethesda is quickly getting right behind EA and Activision in terms of influence.
And he's right. Nintendo has always done their own thing which is why no one really thinks about them when they think consoles. They're in a tiny field of their own, like the ipad and the ouya. Influential to a degree, but not really relevant.

The point I think we are getting at is that why does Bethesda's opinion even matter in regards to Nintendo?
It's not so much that they make killer games no the consoles, it's that for the past two decades they have NEVER put a game on a Nintendo console and nobody was expecting them to do so now.

Why, all of a sudden are people going around asking them about third party support on the Wii U? They never cared back then, they don't care now, and chances are, they aren't going to give a shit in the future.
I'm more focused on whether or not their console version games are going to be more riddled with bugs than a shitty shovel ware game.

 

[Johnny Wishbone]

Let me translate this guy's entire statement:

"Microsoft and Sony paid us millions to cozy up with them. We approached Nintendo, but they didn't want to play the game our way, so we froze them out and ignored them. Period."

All about the Benjamins, guys. That is the ONLY reason these decisions are made.

 

[xaszatm]

Their opinion matters because their games sell like gangbusters. 10 million copies of Skyrim were sold, onky 14% of which were on PC. PC no doubt has the best experience, it usually does, but they definitely matter to consoles. And that's not even mentioning the other games they just publish. As a third party developer and publisher, Bethesda is quickly getting right behind EA and Activision in terms of influence.
And he's right. Nintendo has always done their own thing which is why no one really thinks about them when they think consoles. They're in a tiny field of their own, like the ipad and the ouya. Influential to a degree, but not really relevant.

Okay, so they are dipping more and more into console releases over the last two years, good on them. I just checked online and the first paragraph seems to be right so yeah, they have a right to an opinion.

But, while I know the Escapist has a hard-on for hating Nintendo, isn't Nintendo THE thing when anyone thinks of video games? That or Call of Duty? Nintendo was perhaps the most relevant console for the last generation. Despite being the weakest console of the generation and one following what others called a "gimmick", it sold like gangbusters throughout its lifetime and caused Xbox 360 and PS4 add-ons with the exact same "gimmick." The 3DS is still the king of handheld gaming even including newer things like tablets and phones.

As for the Bethseda quote itself, their games probably wouldn't have a chance on Nintendo anyways. Your games tend to be glitchy and buggy even when good. Nintendo wouldn't be the best choice as Nintendo is all about quality control. Not that Bethseda games are bad, just that the buggy nature of their games (which are kind of there by virtue of what types games they are making) wouldn't fit with Nintendo's polished gameplay style.

 

[xaszatm]

The point I think we are getting at is that why does Bethesda's opinion even matter in regards to Nintendo?
It's not so much that they make killer games no the consoles, it's that for the past two decades they have NEVER put a game on a Nintendo console and nobody was expecting them to do so now.

Why, all of a sudden are people going around asking them about third party support on the Wii U? They never cared back then, they don't care now, and chances are, they aren't going to give a shit in the future.
I'm more focused on whether or not their console version games are going to be more riddled with bugs than a shitty shovel ware game.

Well, considering it was the audience asking the question, I would think it was because either the audience member didn't know why Bethseda wasn't working on Nintendo consoles or because the person just wanted vindication for not liking Nintendo. (Yeah, the internet in general has made me cynic about anyone who asks about Nintendo. Joy.)

 

[SilverBullets000]

Man, it's a good thing I bought my Wii U for Nintendo titles rather than 3rd party support. Granted, Bethesda wasn't one of the shit bags that pulled out support after saying they would, but at the same time, this isn't much better. They gave it quite a bit of time to gather some support, but all the companies left them hanging. Also, since when did Bethesda ever give a rat's ass about Nintendo anyway?

 

[search_rip]

OK Bethesda, I KNOW you don't like Nintendo so it's time to shut your effin mouth, I swear I'm tired of this news, I've seen several statements of Bethesda regarding this in the past weeks...

 

[kahlandra]

The point I think we are getting at is that why does Bethesda's opinion even matter in regards to Nintendo?
It's not so much that they make killer games no the consoles, it's that for the past two decades they have NEVER put a game on a Nintendo console and nobody was expecting them to do so now.

Why, all of a sudden are people going around asking them about third party support on the Wii U? They never cared back then, they don't care now, and chances are, they aren't going to give a shit in the future.
I'm more focused on whether or not their console version games are going to be more riddled with bugs than a shitty shovel ware game.

Well, considering it was the audience asking the question, I would think it was because either the audience member didn't know why Bethseda wasn't working on Nintendo consoles or because the person just wanted vindication for not liking Nintendo. (Yeah, the internet in general has made me cynic about anyone who asks about Nintendo. Joy.)

actually i was kind of lead into the question because of my shirt (play on power puff girls with zelda, peach, and samus). i would never buy a bethesda game on any console (i was at quakecon...obv a pc gamer), and i was looking less for nintendo hate, and more logical answers (which were almost completely dodged in favor of saying how much they hate nintendo).

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Bethesda, even if Nintendo were the last console maker in the world you STILL wouldn't make games for them because the one thing Nintendo refuses to do is pamper their partners. Sure, they WILL help people, but they are NOT your nanny. Either grow up or shut up.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Nintendo fans, if you don't like what Bethesda has to say then stop giving articles with their opinions hits, especially when it's usually other people who ask them these questions. I'm just glad they're giving out a 'we simply don't give a shit' rather than the whole PR spinning in order not to burn bridges.

Frankly it matters what Bethesda thinks, because Bethesda is a big third party publisher and Nintendo's big sell was; 'we're totally going to have lot's of great third party titles this time dawgs, we swear', and with the little love that the Wii-U is getting then obviously he isn't the only one with this opinion.

Not trying to hate, but they're not giving me reasons to love I can say that much.