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[nynt9]

So, since the last year or so on the WiiU was rather anemic in terms of first party releases, many people assumed that Nintendo were holding back titles from the WiiU and pushing them to wait for the Switch, and how we should expect a torrent of releases on the system. Given that the launch window is pretty empty in terms of major first party releases beyond Zelda, what was going on with the WiiU? Where are all the games? The launch window lineup being lackluster is made more egregious by the fact that over the past year or two there were few major titles on their previous systems.

Apologies if this thread falls under the "don't react to the Switch yet" rules. I'm looking for a more "state of nintendo over the past years" type of discussion instead of trying to be reactionary.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

This happens every console transition with Nintendo.

 

[MCN]

Stuff that hasn't been announced yet?

 

[Remeard]

Probably sticking to developing 3DS games. I somehow think they're not abandoning the handheld market for this console/handheld hybrid.

 

[nbnt]

Game development takes time

 

[Crazyorloco]

Spoiler

Black man duck face meme

I think things will become more clear after the treehouse presentation. Well I hope it does. I do expect next year to have an abundance of games or this system won't last long.

 

[Pyrokai]

I'm quite positive many of their studios are working on games that were not shown yesterday. It's pretty obvious. We'll find out probably around E3 if they truly want to keep momentum up. They can't show every single game at once or some overshadow others. Mario, Splatoon, and Zelda are some of their biggest hitters.

 

[Cheebo]

Probably sticking to developing 3DS games. I somehow think they're not abandoning the handheld market for this console/handheld hybrid.

They aren't making 3DS games. 3DS first party internal support started to dry up last year and it isn't coming back. 3DS is effectively dead by years end.

 

[hEist]

yeah, thought pikmin was also ready.

 

[mindsale]

Game development takes time

I mean, we're basically talking a 3-year dev cycle (1st year of Switch and last two of Wii U) on humble architecture.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Stuff that hasn't been announced yet?

They don't get the benefit of the doubt after the wii/wii u transition

 

[yoonshik]

3DS still makes money.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I think the games announced + a few unannounced titles is fine for a 2017 lineup, first party-wise.

2018 needs to dramatically increase first party output though or there's a real problem.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

maybe they're leaving themself stuff to announce at E3

maybe

 

[TheMagicMax]

There's probably a few more games for this year that we will see at E3. (Another round of Wii U ports, Pikmin 4...)

 

[nynt9]

Game development takes time

I understand that, but Nintendo have many teams constantly making games and prior to 2015 they've put out a relatively consistent stream of titles but then the well dried out so the assumption was that the games would then present themselves on Switch.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

E3?

 

[DeuceGamer]

Stuff that hasn't been announced yet?

Yea, they didn't announce everything yet. But since we don't know I guess that must mean their studios like Retro hasn't been working on a game.

Just because it's not shown or ready for the launch doesn't mean they haven't been working on games. I expect more games to be shown at e3.

 

[kinggroin]

Wasn't this platform supposed to unify development in such a way that software droughts were a thing of the past? Am I missing something, or is what we saw the fruits of blending handheld and console together?

 

[jiggle]

VRDS

 

[Guevara]

HD Rumble technology

 

[mindsale]

E3?

When did Nintendo last prioritize an E3 showing? Genuinely curious.

 

[Sgt. Garlic]

yeah, thought pikmin was also ready.

Isn't that the spinoff for 3DS? Actually I don't remember Miyamoto being clear as to whether it was the spinoff or 4.

 

[what-ok]

I guess they were just working on Zelda and Mario. There was no mention of Virtual Console, Eshop, Streetpass, or any interface info at all. I know that info will come before release, but I feel like this was the perfect time to go deep into the system. A missed opportunity IMO. I imagine that E3 may bring some new titles that for some unknown reason, weren't mentioned last night. There may be more announcements today as well during the Treehouse event, but not holding my breath.

 

[JoeM86]

When did Nintendo last prioritize an E3 showing? Genuinely curious.

2015

 

[TanookiTom]

This indeed is my main question going out of the presentation. I can live with the limited processing power, I can live with the price point, I might even be able to live with paid online.

But having another Nintendo system with a software drought like the WiiU? That's something I can't live with. I accepted the fact that Nintendo has been letting the WiiU die a slow, painful death for two years by the time the Switch launches. Because I was hoping the Switch would launch with a firework of games that they had put the resources to instead.

But this is a mess.

The only hope is that they're saving a lot of announcements for E3 which makes sense since it's just after the launch. But in general I will not be there day 1 like this smh :-(

 

[slit]

Game development takes time

Which in many people mind's they have completely run out of.

 

[Occam]

Their resumes?

 

[The Boat]

It's almost like they will announce and release more games later on!

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Don't worry guys. Nintendo has 'learnt' from system software droughts and won't make this mistake again like the last few systems. Hahaha.

 

[mindsale]

2015

Star Fox and Muppets if I recall.

 

[KooopaKid]

Yeah, apparently Nintendo just isn't big enough to develop multiple HD games on its own system. We're talking 2 years here without any major input on Wii U. Mario Odyssey shouldn't be a Holiday 2017 title.
Not even sure the unified environment will help that much. The games are not ready
After 2 years, I really thought most teams would have something ready. It's the same engine too!

 

[what-ok]

Their resumes?

WOW! (=

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

This indeed is my main question going out of the presentation. I can live with the limited processing power, I can live with the price point, I might even be able to live with paid online.

But having another Nintendo system with a software drought like the WiiU? That's something I can't live with. I accepted the fact that Nintendo has been letting the WiiU die a slow, painful death for two years by the time the Switch launches. Because I was hoping the Switch would launch with a firework of games that they had put the resources to instead.

But this is a mess.

The only hope is that they're saving a lot of announcements for E3 which makes sense since it's just after the launch. But in general I will not be there day 1 like this smh :-(

Did you not own a Wii? It was Nintendo's most successful home console by far and they completely neglected it for the last two years of its life.

 

[Pyrokai]

When did Nintendo last prioritize an E3 showing? Genuinely curious.

Almost always with the exception of last year's Zelda E3.

They won't show nothing at E3 this year. I expect more Mario Odyssey + new games.

 

[psyfi]

That's the question, isn't it. I expected them to come out swinging a lot harder.

 

[jacob armitage]

Stuff that hasn't been announced yet?

This. I was expecting them to come out of the gate swinging a little harder, but perhaps they felt their announcement was strong enough and they can save more for E3, TGS to raise excitement throughout the year.

 

[Kikorin]

Games that will be shown during E3? Yesterday they shown what will be out this year, and probably not even all, I'm pretty confident there will be a lot more.

 

[cws]

We arent even 2 weeks in 2017 - you really think they announced everything they have in store today ? Come on...apply at least some common sense to it.

 

[HeisenbergLannister]

They seemed to only show off their 2017 lineup, which is still rather weak, especially for a new console's first year.

They have all these IPs, some that have been ignored for generations, and we get 1, 2, Switch instead.

 

[Stairouais]

E3?

Watch them not going to e3 this year.

 

[NippleViking]

This happens every console transition with Nintendo.

This happens every console transition in general, remedied solely by CGI trailers.

The 'over 80 titles in development' line from the show is a little concerning however.

 

[MrBadger]

When did Nintendo last prioritize an E3 showing? Genuinely curious.

Last year was the only year when they didn't. They had nothing but garbage the year before, but they still used E3 to announce said garbage.

 

[schuelma]

Ehh I thought the 1st party stuff was pretty good and we know there are more Wii U ports coming plus Pokemon.

Its more the timing (Splatoon 2 summer and Mario holidays) and the complete non presence by 3rd parties that is concerning.

 

[Futureman]

I think they've revealed everything that will be coming in 2017.

If this is really Nintendo's only system now and handheld and console teams will be working on it, 2018 must be loaded with releases. Disappointing for 2017 though (I mean Mario and Zelda will be great, but would have been nice to see 2 or 3 other big games coming this year.... and where's Retro?!).

 

[Mushroomer25]

I get the sense that Nintendo is trying to space out first-party software launches for this thing, knowing that they'll likely be the only ones propping it up. That's why Mario Kart & Arms aren't hitting until shortly after launch. They need material for a constant stream of game releases, not just a massive launch & subsequent drought of content.

It seems to be a lesson they actually did learn from the WiiU, spacing out releases to give the perception of constant software support.

 

[TanookiTom]

Did you not own a Wii? It was Nintendo's most successful home console by far and they completely neglected it for the last two years of its life.

I did and you are right. But the Wii had a huge games library in general. Lot's of great 1st party and even quite a few good 3rd party efforts. So there were a lot of games in my backlog which could smooth over the transition. To sum it up: The Wii had lot's of games to play.

On WiiU what has there been to play for the past two years? Almost nothing. So I think the situation here has been a lot worse.

 

[wapplew]

Wait for E3.
Nintendo have plenty internal development team, first party games is the last thing I'll worry about.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

Considering how anaemic the last 5 years have been and how bare the cupboard looks for 2017 this is a painfully pertinent question.

Wait for E3.
Nintendo have plenty internal development team, first party games is the last thing I'll worry about.

I totally agree because there's no way I'm buying another nintendo console now.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

This happens every console transition with Nintendo.

This is especially bad though. There are only two retail Nintendo games coming out at launch, one is a minigame collection, and one is a game that they've been making for the Wii U that they've decided to port over. It isn't getting another fully original Nintendo game until the end of 2017.