I agree with some of what your saying. One of the main reasons Nintendo went with underpowered hardware with the Wii was to put a damper on development costs by keeping the upper ceiling of visual fidelity low. As a result the Wii did become a little bit of a refuge for some middle-budget games (Fragile Dreams, the Trauma series, etc.). On some level, Nintendo kind of called it right in regards to whether people were ready for HD-level console game development. Tons of western studios bankrupted themselves, a lot of Japanese studios took way too long to adjust to HD-level game development, and even today most games are still only 720p. Developing lower-budget games for the Wii might have been beneficial for a lot of the studios want went under because it would've decreased the chances of them throwing massive budgets at the games.
The other reason those massive budgets happened though was because guys like EA and Activision set a standard for audiovisual presentation in games this generation which required those huge budgets. They're trying to create an environment similar to other media industries where almost the whole market is controlled by the four or five companies that can actually afford the cost of putting out content. Some developers (especially Japanese ones) were smart enough to ignore this and focus on their core audience, even on the PS3 and 360.
Disgaea 3 and 4 are PS3 games, but they pretty much look just like the PS2 games, just running in 720p. I imagine Disgaea 5 is going to be a PS4 game and will probably still have the same graphics, just in 1080p, and that series' fans will still buy it. All developers really have to do to survive on these new expensive platforms if they aren't EA or Take-Two or Activision is play to their audience. They don't necessarily need weaker hardware to force them to lower budgets.
Finally! Someone who makes sense!!
My bad, I read it incorrectly. However it still goes against your point of third parties not supporting the Wii. The fact Suda 51's most successful game is on the 360/ps3 pie rather than Wii pie surely shows why third parties did not need to develop on the Wii. Would it of helped their sales....yes of course but time and resources would need to be spent and whether the venture was worth it was their decision.
You're treating the X360 and PS3 as one console. It's _two_ consoles. You can't compare the sales of two consoles to one console. Compare them individually. Once you do that, you'll understand that the Wii was a viable platform to develop for. There was an audience on the Wii that developers ignored.
3rd parties weren't trying to make fun games. They were trying to make interactive movies they couldn't afford! They didn't ignore the Wii because of resources. They ignored the Wii because they wanted to make big budget movies in HD. Those 3rd party companies failed. You get it? THIS is my point.
I'm not sure what you mean here because I clearly showed this was incorrect with the data I posted?
I misunderstood you when you said the WiiU is looking like the same deal.
I don't see how the WiiU is looking like the same deal.
Furthermore, were talking about the console market here. We know western third parties are reluctant to work on handhelds and thats where the majority of Nintendo's market share is from.
1) You're comparing the sales of two consoles to one console. This is why you're confused.
2) You misunderstood what I said. Don't look too far into it or you'll confuse yourself.
3) I'm telling you that 3rd parties ignored *Nintendo*. Not just the Wii or the Wii U. They completely ignored Nintendo as a company, and therefore, flopped. Some of these western developers could've made games on the DS and still be afloat today, but they weren't having that. Now look where they are.
I remember a developer (can't remember which one) saying that they didn't care if the company went bankrupt, because they wanted the freedom to use the power of the PS360 to show off their creativity. They released a game, it flopped and the entire company went belly up. This was the mentality these 3rd parties had at the time and it killed them. This issue is so very serious right now. 3rd parties are willing to commit kamikaze just to release high budget games they can't afford. It threatens the entire video game market to the point where we could witness another crash. It seems to me like Nintendo is trying their hardest to save the market!
Looking at your source WiiU has something like 7% of market share while PS3 has 25% and 360 20%.
Errrr.....every dev that has made a decent profit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV#Commercial_success
http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/1/3941948/mojang-2012-revenue-new-markets
I am sure GTA made more money than Minecraft
1) Ok. I never made this point. You did.
2) Which dev would that be?
3) I believe your original point was that indies can't do well, and I've disproven this logic three times over. Even if GTA sold more, Minecraft is a shinning example of an indie dev doing well.