Publisher Ubisoft wants to be the biggest third-party name on Nintendo’s upcoming console.
Regardless of whether or not that happens, the mere fact that a prominent third party like Ubisoft is so excited about the impending system is a sign that Nintendo is heading in the right direction.
The Wii was a smash hit success when it launched, and gained all sorts of acclaim. But here’s the problem – how many Wii titles did you see on the news or mentioned in pop culture that were made by someone other than Nintendo?
Third-party game makers slowly started stepping away from the platform due to the proprietary nature of the system and the fact that few non-Nintendo names were making any sort of success stories on the console.
The Wii U has been reported to be on par, performance-wise, with the PS3 and Xbox 360, and the basic fundamentals of the controller are the same as the two competitors, meaning it will be much easier for companies steeped in Xbox and PS3 development to start showing some love to the Wii U.
Case in point, Ubisoft. The company’s SVP of sales and marketing Tony Key said in a Gamasutra interview, “We have big plans for Wii U. Our intention is to be the number one third party on Wii U, just like we were on Kinect and 3DS. We’ve always had a really close relationship with Nintendo so I’d venture to say that we did have an advantage in getting dev kits earlier than other people.”
So bravo to Nintendo for finally being able to appeal to third-party publishers in a big way. Let’s hope it stays this way.
