LA Times: Japanese Dev Shift From PS3 To Wii?

A new mainstream press story on Sony's PlayStation 3, this time from the Los Angeles Times, has quoted a Japanese representative from the IGDA who suggests that many studios may be shifting their focus to the Wii and away from Sony's console.

[ItsDubC]

I wonder if this news changes Jason xg1's mind or not regarding the lack of 3rd-party Wii support. Keep in mind that this article makes no mention of American developers, so who is to say if the same applies stateside or not.

Kudos to Sony for the 700% increase in BluRay movie sales since the PS3 launch.

[Saint Sony]

Many studios is a pretty wide concept. It does not really say what kind of studios.. if those would be tiny 3rd party devs that do mostly little mobile crap, it wouldn't affect Sony much anyhow. On the other hand if those studios would be BIG name studios.. then damn.

[scarlett_rg]

"Committed to PS3 for 10 years"...

... but what happens in 5-6 years when Nintendo (or MS) comes out with its next system that, due to rapid advancements in technology, will blow the PS3 out of the water?

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

[snoop_dizzle]

If Msoft and Nintendo release a next gen system that blows the PS3 out of the water(yes it is possible(maybe not nintendo), we are living in exponential times), the PS3 can still survive, the PS2 did with the original XBOX.

It all depends who has the most amount of games.

Since its a new system, developers might go more towards Msoft, though soon mostly everything will be multi platform.

If we were looking at a historical point of view to judge how the next xbox as to the xbox being released after the PS2(could consider the PS2 being the 360, and PS3 being the original XBOX, in many ways), the one issue there is that there were a lot of exclusives on consoles more so than now and the upcoming years.

So really the PS3 could be very successful, but it could also go the other way due to less exclusivity of games these days. OR it could be an even playing field, as I've heard others say.

[Vojkan]

Folks this is inevitable for now. Wii is selling so well in Japan unlike PS3 so there should be no question marks about this "announcment". Developers want money, they are not "fanboys" so the only thing that matters is money, which is normal reaction.

[jam9]

Money. Small Japanese devs are already shifted to DS and Wii because of the cheaper cost for game creation.

Numbers. In Japan, 360 market is bad. PS3 market is also bad. So, not only small devs but also big devs are starting to create games for Wii because of the size of its market.

Many Japanese hardcore gamers believe Wii will not live long since it is even not a next gen console, but casual gamers don't care about the next gen. Maybe we need to wait 2011, the year almost all Japanese people buy HDTV.

[rusgreim]

...Sony will still be committed to the PS3 for an additional 5 years and MS will be releasing their next, next-gen console.

All bad news for Sony...

[kewlkat007]

The whole deal is, look at Wii/DS sales/installment base. While numbers tell a lot of different stories, the DS is more then just a little hand held. The stylyst alone brings new ideas to the table, games and interactive fun, Educational Apps and such. Plus, it is very cheap to develop for.
The wii is probally the hottest thing since TICKLE me ELMO in japan.

It's like NAMCO releasing any sh!tty game on a playstation 6 years ago and it would of sold regardless.(because of the installment-base and the lack of comparable competition) PSP while being a formidable opponent, has not been able to shake the DS. As for the PS3 ,I don't know if it will catch the WII in sales over there.

This was a very good interview, I don't think anybody read it, here is one part:

http://www.gamasutra.com/fe...

"GAMASUTRA: What do you think it will take Microsoft to succeed in Japan, not necessarily financially, but in terms of really winning over the audience?

RN: Online. I don't know what's going to happen to PS3, so it’s (up in the air). Right now, in Japan, the Nintendo DS and the Wii are very successful, so many developers and publishers in Japan are focusing on the DS and the Wii, and very little on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. So eventually, most of the Japan-made games will be on either handhelds or the Wii.

They were ready to invest in the PS3, but the PS3 wasn't as successful as people thought, and it's expensive to develop PS3 games, so a lot of publishers now only do a couple of PS3 games, and many DS and Wii games. Then a little Xbox 360, because the 360 is successful in the United States. But its presence in Japan is small."

You get a different view of Japanese Gaming culture.

Japanese Developers love that little DS. There is more you can do with a DS is my point, besides games on a hand held. Same goes for the WII.

can WII all agree?

[snoop_dizzle]

Developers might for now since the PS3 isn't doing as well as the Wii.

But who knows how long that will last.

[bootsielon]

I don't like the Wii, it's hurting the game industry and segregating the hardcore from the casual, unlike PS2!

[PhinneousD]

regurgitate recycled media crap.

[Pheneus]

How is it doing that? It is just a game machine like any other. Once all the rpgs, action/adventure games, horror titles and first party nintendo stuff is released it will be no different than the other two, except that it will have casual games also. Right now the only difference between Wii and PS3 is sales numbers and casual games, because they both have the same number of hardcore titles and racers, at about the same quality. They are both new systems with little to offer in the way of deep gameplay thus far. What is separating Wii is that it also has a bunch of pick up and play titles (that are quick and cheap to develop so they get to market quickly). Had the 3rd parties developed tonnes of Mario Party clones, a Loco Rocco update and some other casuals for PS3, it would be in exactly the same position.