Sales Figures

[Late]

Bayonetta 2 wouldn't work without a certain microcomponent made by Samsung Electronics, that's inside the Wii U, so I'm going to say it's a Samsung first party title.

You're "earning" way too much if you're forking out for all those games. On a console the state should have never given you in the first place. But we're into a different discussion here.

Mario Kart 8 - I'd probably have that one.
X - maybe. Looks promising, but we need more info.
Bayonetta 2 - definitely not. The first one was crap, the second one is set to be more of the same.
Hyrule Warriors. No. Just no. I love the Zelda games, but this bastard offspring is just cringeworthy.
Gamecube game 1 - not a chance. If I want to play gamecube games I'll play them on my Wii.
Gamecube game 2 - as above. In fact I bought about eight or ten gamecube games when I got the Wii. Have never played a single one of them.
Wii Sports - no way. I have Wii Sports already. With local multiplayer. Online multiplayer for the game does not appeal in the slightest.
Yarn Yoshi - I don't know much about it, but I get the impression it's Mario with wooly textures. I'm underwhelmed.

[jman]

You know what "Indie" stands for right..

Independent.

How can you be an independent developer if you are being financially backed by a publisher lol

Another harv classic 


2nd party games are made by developers who work solely for one platform.

Last time I looked, Platinum Games had released just as many games on the other platforms compared to just Nintendo platforms.

[harv]

An indie developer is any developer not owned by a publisher. Platinum Games are indie developers, Crytek are indie developers, Traveler's Tales are indie developers. Indie developers can either self-publish games or have contracts with publishers for one or a series of games.

2nd party games are games that are made by a developer that a platform holder has a stake of ownership in (but are not completely owned by) or a developer that is independent but has a contract with a platform holder for one or more games.

So if you're saying that Bayonetta 2 isn't first party, isn't second party...then what is it..? A third party title published by Nintendo..? No it isn't. It's completely different to Monster Hunter and Sonic Lost World because those games are developed by third party developers, not indie developers.

Lego City Undercover is also a second party title.

And of course Platinum Games have released games for other platforms - THEY'RE INDEPENDENT DEVELOPERS!!!

[harv]

And Shin'En, who only develop for Nintendo platforms, are not second party developers. They're simply indie developers who choose to only release games on Nintendo platforms. If they hadn't made that choice as a company and they decided to sign a contract with Nintendo legally binding Nano Assault Neo to be a Wii U exclusive title published by Nintendo then Nano Assault Neo would be a second party game developed by an indie developer the same as Bayonetta 2. But because they decided to self publish the game it's a third party game developed by an indie developer.

[Late]

I guess you won't be getting Tomodachi, Harv?
Nintendo have ruled same-sex relationships will not be possible.

[harv]

Lol, there's been a load of people on Gaf going mental about these last couple of months...you would have thought there were more important things in the world to worry about lmfao

[jman]

Ok lets take Travellers Tales then harv... (which are definitely not indie developers)

Even by your definition they are not indie developers because Travellers Tales is actually a subsidiary of TT Games - who have developed and published games themselves....therefore TT is owned by a publisher.. 

Lego City Undercover, actually developed by TT Fusion - another subsidiary of TT Games, but published by Nintendo.  Does this makes the game a 2nd party title.. no.. because Nintendo have no stake/ownership or say in TT Fusion and more importantly the IP of the game, meaning that if TT Fusion wanted to, they could port the game on other platforms (with a different publisher of course) - which makes them third party.

[harv]

Nope, it can't be released on another platform, there's a contract preventing that from happening

Didn't realise they had a publishing arm, so my bad. I guess they haven't published many (if any?) of the Lego games because they don't own the Batman/Marvel/[insert film name here] rights.

Platinum Games and Crytek are indie developers though. I think we're going to see more collaborations between Nintendo and both more indies and third party publishers announced at E3 this year and the next couple of years if the Wii U doesn't get multiplatform third party games going forward.

Like I've said before though, the PS4 doing gangbusters and the One flopping in Europe could end up doing the Wii U a few favours with regards to multiplatform titles in the not too distant future. It's not going to be long before there are twice as many PS4s in homes and with twice as many PS4 SKUs than Xbox One SKUs selling publishers may add the Wii U as a 4th SKU to spread the cost of development. Going to be interesting to see what they do, I can see publishers losing A LOT of money supporting the One unless Microsoft either drastically cut the price or manage to have some major Megatons to unleash at E3.

[harv]

Looks like Mario Kart 8 has done well over its first weekend

Going to be interesting to see how that's affected hardware sales too. Should have sold a good few Wii Us during that weekend worldwide as well.

[jman]

Makes you wonder why the eff Nintendo gave a free game away with Mario Kart 8 - will boost the pretty terrible game attach rate I guess and guarantees a decent number of week 1 orders for MK8 - one game wont be enough to save the platform - I'd expect the Wii U to slip back into last place in a week or two.

[Late]

Apparently Wii U sales went up by 666% above the previous week's sales figures.


Which probably means last week they sold 3 consoles and this week they sold 23...

[harv]

Makes you wonder why the eff Nintendo gave a free game away with Mario Kart 8 - will boost the pretty terrible game attach rate I guess and guarantees a decent number of week 1 orders for MK8 - one game wont be enough to save the platform - I'd expect the Wii U to slip back into last place in a week or two.

Actually the software attach rate is quite respectable, at least it was the last time I saw it.

Edit: Just looked at VGC and the following consoles have these attach rates:

Wii U: 3.87
PS4: 2.39
One: 3.00

Doesn't look terrible to me, although to be fair I'd personally put the one's rate at 3.29 because VGC have the Xbox One installed userbase overtracked.

Another Edit: I bet that bloke at Polygon is feeling a bit daft, he lost all sense of reason and predicted 1.2m lifetime sales I think lmfao

[harv]

Oops, it wasn't lifetime sales, but he did predict just 1.99m total sales at the end of the financial year...so just 700K between now and April 2015 lmfao

[Late]

Sounds like his predictions are considerably more accurate than yours or Iwatas, tbh.

[jman]

Well it is terrible if you account for the fact Nintendoland was a bundled in mini-game and has the second highest tie-in ratio of 50% - I doubt many people would of bought the game had it not been bundled in.

I'd personally put the Wii U's (real) tie-in ratio at around 3.00 after you take away the bundled in mini-games and the free games given away with MK8.

To see any games with tie-in ratios above or beyond 50% after 18 months of the console being on the market - only tell you one thing - there's fuck all else to play on the console