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The launch of WiiWare in North America is far different from that of the Japanese launch of the service. According to Shigeru Miyamoto via Wired, the means of video game production is concentrated in just a few hands. As a result, the majority of the nine titles released for WiiWare last November were made by big players such as Namco Bandai and Square Enix. The U.S. launch of six titles was comprised of games from studios with names such as Nnooo, XGen, and Frontier Development. In fact, Square Enix was the only massive developer that made the North American launch. Why has Nintendo gone this route? The answer is simple; Nintendo seeks to distinguish its download service in North America from the others by establishing a level playing field where indie developers can rise to the forefront of gaming.
According to Miyamoto, “I think America has always been better at creating unique products. Here in the United States, you have these independent developers who have managed to get the skills and the training and the development, and also have managed to get access to the technology and the hardware needed to develop it. They’re able to let their own personality and their own kind of unique interests really flourish in the games that they’re creating.” We’ll have to wait and see if WiiWare becomes a viable platform for indie developers or not, but certainly the fundamental principles upon which the service is founded seem to make sense. |
