I wanted to go ahead and put a thread together since I've heard a lot of comments already talking about how the NX will have "literally zero third party support" or "very few third party games".
We don't have a lot of hard evidence yet, but what we have points to better Japanese third party support for the NX than Wii U received, as well as the possibility of better Western support.
What I've listed below are either statements/interviews from the companies themselves or reports from reliable sources (i.e. Serkan Toto's report about Bandai Namco). Also note these are retail publishers, so I'm not including indies or developers who don't publish their own titles.
Big thanks to Eradicate for helping out and providing some info. If anyone has anything to add that I've missed feel free to let me know.
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Bandai Namco:
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Capcom:
Electronic Arts:
This is from their Q2 2016 Earnings Conference Call on Oct 29, 2015
Here is what one of their VPs said to BBC on May10th:
And here is a Q&A from their recent May financial results that's also relevant
Basically, once they port Frostbite over to a platform, it's not a huge risk for them to support that platform.
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GameTrust (Gamestop's new publishing division)
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Koei Tecmo:
Koei Tecmo confirmed they were developing NX titles during their financial presentation on April 28th, 2016
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Level 5:
IGN: Yo-Kai Watch Developer Open to Bringing Franchises to Wii U, NX
Nippon Ichi:
Duckroll summarized this part about future business (from their recent financial results in Japanese):
Spike Chunsoft:
Square Enix:
http://kotaku.com/these-are-the-first-nintendo-nx-games-1720545061
http://nintendoeverything.com/square-enix-open-to-bringing-final-fantasy-xiv-to-nx/
Take-Two:
https://www.thestreet.com/story/136...-zelnick-we-re-here-to-delight-customers.html
Ubisoft:
Just Dance 2017 coming to NX "next year", announced during Ubi's E3 press conference
--
Here's a quick summary of some of the other major publishers who haven't mentioned the NX, but recently supported or are still supporting the Wii U. I would suspect they will all be supporting the NX as well to some extent.
Activision Blizzard:
Released 3 retail Wii U titles in 2015, Skylanders SuperChargers, Guitar Hero Live, and The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure.
Sega/Atlus:
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games gets released on Wii U in June. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE also comes out in the west in June. Atlus is still a strong supporter of the 3DS, obviously.
Warner Brothers:
Still releasing Lego games on Wii U (where they sell fairly well). LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out in June.
There's also some other minor publishers supporting Wii U, i.e. Deep Silver publishing Mighty No. 9/Bloodstained Ritual of the Night to retail, or Nordic Games bringing Legend of Kay Anniversary to Wii U last year.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only other third party publishers that are relevant on consoles that I haven't mentioned in either list are Bethesda/ZeniMax (privately held), CD Projekt Red, and Konami (not making many console games anymore).
Anyway, I hope this helps spark a little discussion. I'm not saying NX is going to have great third-party support for sure, but I think it's clearly going to be more than "very little".
We don't have a lot of hard evidence yet, but what we have points to better Japanese third party support for the NX than Wii U received, as well as the possibility of better Western support.
What I've listed below are either statements/interviews from the companies themselves or reports from reliable sources (i.e. Serkan Toto's report about Bandai Namco). Also note these are retail publishers, so I'm not including indies or developers who don't publish their own titles.
Big thanks to Eradicate for helping out and providing some info. If anyone has anything to add that I've missed feel free to let me know.
---
Bandai Namco:
---
Capcom:
---Capcom Financial Results Briefing Oct 30 2015 said:Q. What are your plans involving new platforms (NX, PlayStation® VR and others) and
the timing of launches of Capcom titles for these platforms?
A. Our R&D operations are working on technologies for many types of hardware. We
will consider the possibility of creating technology demonstrations and making
versions of titles under development for these new platforms. At this time, we have
not announced any plans for specific products or the timing of a product launch.
Electronic Arts:
This is from their Q2 2016 Earnings Conference Call on Oct 29, 2015
Here is what one of their VPs said to BBC on May10th:
BBC said:Battlefield is currently planned for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC but could it and other EA titles make an appearance on Nintendo's mysterious new console the NX when it comes out next year?
Patrick told us: "I personally and the company are huge fans of Nintendo, they're the reason why I started making games,
"We're in constant communication with them and when they come to market something - and if it makes sense for us - we'll be there."
And here is a Q&A from their recent May financial results that's also relevant
Basically, once they port Frostbite over to a platform, it's not a huge risk for them to support that platform.
---
GameTrust (Gamestop's new publishing division)
EGM said:Mark Stanley, vice president of internal development at GameTrust, the GameStop subsidiary publishing Deformers, admitted to being in talks with Nintendo about the system.
“On the GameTrust side, we’ve seen where [Nintendo is] at and that’s a conversation that keeps going… Since they announced the NX officially, they’ve been kind of wrangling a lot of the inquiries… and, from my perspective, it seems like they’re trying to get their hands around what type of they content they want to have for their launch window.”
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Koei Tecmo:
Koei Tecmo confirmed they were developing NX titles during their financial presentation on April 28th, 2016
---
Level 5:
IGN: Yo-Kai Watch Developer Open to Bringing Franchises to Wii U, NX
IGN said:Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino wants to get Yo-Kai Watch into the hands of as many players as possible. In an interview, Hino told us this means potential Yo-Kai Watch games on Wii U and potentially, Nintendo's next-gen platform known as NX.
---IGN said:As for the next generation of hardware, Hino expressed interest in developing game for the platform, if the console can "bring Level-5 games to as many kids as possible." If the company determines that to be the case, Hino told us "it wouldn’t be impossible" to see Level-5 developing games for it.
Hino also told us he believes Nintendo's Pokemon and Level-5's Yo-Kai Watch can co-exist peacefully. "If kids are willing to buy both of them, I couldn’t be happier," he said.
Hino spoke of Level-5 games broadly when discussing the NX, so there's the possibility that other Level-5 franchises, like Professor Layton or Fantasy Life, could appear on Nintendo's upcoming hardware.
Nippon Ichi:
Duckroll summarized this part about future business (from their recent financial results in Japanese):
---But with regards to other consoles, they said they're actively looking into supporting the next generation of hardware - both PSVR and the NX, but it doesn't sound like a firm commitment.
Spike Chunsoft:
---Gematsu translation of Famitsu interview said:Talk about future hardware decisions…
“For stationary consoles, we’ll focus on PlayStation 4. After, Nintendo’s new hardware, the NX. I would also like to start fully working on Steam.”
Square Enix:
http://kotaku.com/these-are-the-first-nintendo-nx-games-1720545061
Kotaku said:“Dragon Quest XI, which we announced today, as well as Dragon Quest X, which I’m working as a producer, are planned for release on the NX, which Nintendo is currently developing,” Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito very clearly said as he read from a script during the Dragon Quest event. He said further details would be announced at a later date. This was the last announcement made at Square Enix’s press conference and was part of a “message to all Dragon Quest players.”
Kotaku said:Square Enix PR, however, issued a press release after the event saying, the games were being “considered” for the NX.
http://nintendoeverything.com/square-enix-open-to-bringing-final-fantasy-xiv-to-nx/
---Nintendo Everything said:Final Fantasy XIV may have a shot of coming to the NX. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida has said that he’s waiting to know when the console will be released, and the company would need to talk with Nintendo about the policies regarding cross-platform gameplay before a port can be considered. Note that negotiations with Nintendo have not yet been started.
Take-Two:
https://www.thestreet.com/story/136...-zelnick-we-re-here-to-delight-customers.html
TheStreet.com said:Nintendo (NTDOY) has already announced Nintendo NX will be coming out in spring 2017. What impact will new consoles from the major players have on the gaming industry over the next couple of years?
It could be very exciting. You never want to count Nintendo out. They go quiet for a while and then they come to market and do something really exciting. We are very interested and watching closely the development of what Nintendo plans to do next.
Ubisoft:
Just Dance 2017 coming to NX "next year", announced during Ubi's E3 press conference
--
Here's a quick summary of some of the other major publishers who haven't mentioned the NX, but recently supported or are still supporting the Wii U. I would suspect they will all be supporting the NX as well to some extent.
Activision Blizzard:
Released 3 retail Wii U titles in 2015, Skylanders SuperChargers, Guitar Hero Live, and The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure.
Sega/Atlus:
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games gets released on Wii U in June. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE also comes out in the west in June. Atlus is still a strong supporter of the 3DS, obviously.
Warner Brothers:
Still releasing Lego games on Wii U (where they sell fairly well). LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out in June.
There's also some other minor publishers supporting Wii U, i.e. Deep Silver publishing Mighty No. 9/Bloodstained Ritual of the Night to retail, or Nordic Games bringing Legend of Kay Anniversary to Wii U last year.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the only other third party publishers that are relevant on consoles that I haven't mentioned in either list are Bethesda/ZeniMax (privately held), CD Projekt Red, and Konami (not making many console games anymore).
Anyway, I hope this helps spark a little discussion. I'm not saying NX is going to have great third-party support for sure, but I think it's clearly going to be more than "very little".