The Nintendo DS is dominating sales charts. For months it has been at the top of consoles sales world-wide, far ahead of any console of the new generation. Nintendo announced last October that it sold 50 million copies of the two-screen wonder. With a huge install-base and low development cost, it’s a great platform for publishers to focus on.
But they don’t. Publishers outside of Japan don’t seem to care whatsoever about the number 1 console on sales today. According to Game Rankings, there isn’t a single game in the top 20 best reviewed DS games that was released by a non-Japanese publisher. In fact Nintendo has published 16 out of the top 20 titles. There isn’t a single non-Japanese title that breaks the 85% average score.
Why is this? I can’t understand it. A great DS game with good production value and good marketing could be a huge hit — just look at the success of Phantom Hourglass. But North American publishers keep on making mediocre licensed games built with the lowest budget possible. A typical DS game has a budget around 1 million dollars, while the next-gen Spiderman 3 game cost more than 35 million to make. You could make a dozen AAA DS games (with a 3 million dollar budget) for the price of one multi-platform console title — and the DS has sold more than the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii combined.
This seems like an obvious missed opportunity. What am I missing here? Why aren’t North American publishers caring about the number 1 console on the market?
December 21st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
U.S. develops games around the end result and not by the core game mechanics. They suck at making these game mechanics practically 99% of Western side of the world games have big presentation while its core game mechanics are very poor and sloppily copied from Japan. Japan makes all there games from core game mechanics, this style is called Classic game design, the design that Shigero Myimoto started. This is why Japan doesn’t buy U.S. games because they now a game is good by its game play. The DS and Wii are designed after they concept which U.S. does not understand and so they can never make a good game for the DS or Wii. Nintendo will be making allot of money. I personally never by a U.S. made game… they all suck. There are very few exceptions, I can only hope America wakes up and actually designs a good game instead of one that has a nice pretty presentation.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:53 pm
The situation is more complicated than that. There are some very good games made by US developers, so blaming non-Japanese developers as a whole is an over-generalization.
It’s true, however, that American publishers like games with lots of features rather than simple, focused games. Developers who would like to make simple games can’t make them if publishers won’t accept to make them — believe me, I’ve tried pitching that kind of game. Complex DS games could also work, assuming appropriate budgets.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:50 am
I wonder how much of has to do with the market that the Wii and DS is attracting.
I work in big box retailing in the back offices, and I’ve personally processed in and blown out two Nintendo shipments in the past week to completely non-traditional gaming customers.
Some of them were buying for eBay and grandchildren, but most of them were buying for themselves, and believe me when I say these are Jack Thompson fans who wouldn’t go near an Xbox or Playstation.
A traditional game publisher probably knows this, and is probably scared to death by it because they don’t want to compromise their brand by failing in what is essentially a completely new, untried market.