After Iwata's big speech at the 3DS announcement, about how third party games are not selling like Nintendo's, Alchemist's boss got a little infuriated, and posted a blog entry to vent his anger: http://www.alchemist-net.co.jp/nikki/?p=2741
The crux of the matter is that a lot of the issues with 3rd parties on Nintendo hardware are still Nintendo's fault. In particular, the software manufacturing process leaves a lot to be desired. Here are the key points mentioned:
1. Repeat manufacture starts from X thousand units.
Say your game is more popular than you expected (or you were a little too "safe" with first run numbers). If you decide to manufacture more copies, Nintendo says you must start with X thousand (the X is secret because of NDA). Other hardware manufacturers start at 100. There's a massive risk involved for smaller publishers, in particular, here.
2. Manufacture turnaround time is 3-4 weeks.
In the case of DS games, it takes Nintendo 3-4 weeks to manufacture a second run of carts. Other hardware manufacturers have a one week turnaround. When your game is selling like hot cakes, you can understand the need to get extra units out quickly. Nintendo, apparently, doesn't.
3. Manufacturing costs have to be paid 100% upfront
Other hardware manufacturers are not mentioned here, but the example is given that "let's say it costs 1000 yen per unit to manufacture" (actual cost depends on cart size), and if a game is expected to be a big hit and sell 1 million units, that's 1 billion yen that has to be paid upfront. That's a ridiculous amount and causes a bit of a headache as far as company capital goes. He suggests reducing it to 1/3 upfront payment, to ease the problem.
4. Nintendo could try to help with TV advertising
Right now, Nintendo is sponsoring a lot of TV shows via advertising. It would be a good opportunity for Nintendo to sub-let advertising, at a reasonable price (thanks cvxfreak) to third parties during these programmes.
He mentions the last point is really a personal request, but the others are serious issues.
The crux of the matter is that a lot of the issues with 3rd parties on Nintendo hardware are still Nintendo's fault. In particular, the software manufacturing process leaves a lot to be desired. Here are the key points mentioned:
1. Repeat manufacture starts from X thousand units.
Say your game is more popular than you expected (or you were a little too "safe" with first run numbers). If you decide to manufacture more copies, Nintendo says you must start with X thousand (the X is secret because of NDA). Other hardware manufacturers start at 100. There's a massive risk involved for smaller publishers, in particular, here.
2. Manufacture turnaround time is 3-4 weeks.
In the case of DS games, it takes Nintendo 3-4 weeks to manufacture a second run of carts. Other hardware manufacturers have a one week turnaround. When your game is selling like hot cakes, you can understand the need to get extra units out quickly. Nintendo, apparently, doesn't.
3. Manufacturing costs have to be paid 100% upfront
Other hardware manufacturers are not mentioned here, but the example is given that "let's say it costs 1000 yen per unit to manufacture" (actual cost depends on cart size), and if a game is expected to be a big hit and sell 1 million units, that's 1 billion yen that has to be paid upfront. That's a ridiculous amount and causes a bit of a headache as far as company capital goes. He suggests reducing it to 1/3 upfront payment, to ease the problem.
4. Nintendo could try to help with TV advertising
Right now, Nintendo is sponsoring a lot of TV shows via advertising. It would be a good opportunity for Nintendo to sub-let advertising, at a reasonable price (thanks cvxfreak) to third parties during these programmes.
He mentions the last point is really a personal request, but the others are serious issues.
