Microsoft says Nintendo Wii success ‘unsustainable’

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Xbox head of marketing, Jeff Bell, says Wii success won’t last since third-party developers have yet to show they can make any money on Nintendo consoles.

“Clearly, we have a competitor where they win and no one else wins,” Bell told Reuters in reference to the overwhelming popularity of first-party games on Nintendo platforms. “That is not sustainable, it’s never been sustainable,” he said.

Third-party publishers have struggled in past years to compete with Nintendo-made games given their critically acclaimed quality and loyal following.

Nintendo says times have changed.

Earlier this week, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime told Reuters that 60 percent of Wii game sales came from outside publishers in November.



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  • typhoon

    I don’t understand this. Microsoft saying that no one wins is not entirely true, in my opinion. Because if There are a far more ratio of Wiis in households around the world to PS3′s then game developers should realize that they should make games for the wii since thats what the market is wanting. Why would a company make games for PS3 when their customers they market toward are gearing for Wii games?

    I suppose what I’m trying to say is, Developers are hurting only themselves for not making Wii games, since the majority at this point own Wiis.

    I personally find that many third party games are must haves for Wii. Resident Evil, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Cooking Mama(I love it), Ghost Squad, and others.

    If they’re comparing NIntendo’s sales for SMG or Super Paper Mario or Brawl to say, ‘High school musical’ for wii or ‘Carnival games’ or ‘Disney Princess’ for wii, then perhaps those third party companies should make better games and not crappy ones.

  • Level 9

    Hold on there just a sec… You didn’t post the whole thing…

    Here we are…

    Bell went on to explain, “It’s our belief that a console should only be sustained by mediocre quality and garbage band development teams. Showing people just how much they suck just isn’t nice!”

    Bell then went on into a tree and a half hour rant before bursting into tears & running out of the room like a high school cheerleader during her menstruation cycle.

    Man… How could you have forgotten that part?…

  • JB

    Microsoft is living in a fantasy world. Hence, their actually thinking that the original XBox was a success.

  • PaulT

    To paraphrase: “Microsoft don’t get the ‘win’ in the gen so they sulk in a corner and say ‘one day….you’ll see!’”

    This from the same company that said “yeah, buy a 360 and a Wii instead of PS3!” when the Wii came out. So, the Wii was more successful than they expected, and rather than rejoice in their correct prediction that they would trounce the PS3 and the Wii would be a different market, they’re now sulking because they’re not technically #1. Reminds me why I’ve switched almost completely from XP to Linux instead of having to suffer Vista.

  • mario

    Why the hell do you people care who “wins” the “console war?” You make it sound like a bad thing if Nintendo “loses.” If Nintendo released a shitty ass system with horrible games, you would still buy it and defend it like the brainwashed dummies you are. Microsoft is doing pretty damn good for itself, and for good reason. The 360 has some great games on it, you idiots won’t open your eyes and see that because you are too busy staring up Mario’s ass.

    Seriously, why do you care which company “wins” the console war. All you, as consumers and not employees for Nintendo, should care about is that at least one of the companies has good games coming out for it. Right now that is both Nintendo and Microsoft. So if you have on, or both, of those consoles you are in good shape.

  • king of hearts

    hey mario why dont you name a few? these so called superior 360 game? rule is none that go stright for graphics but have solid physic, control, unbearable glitches, not already on the pc, feels like a rushed beta released as a final product, and shitty camera? Dead raising dosent count.

    I own and love a 360 but the wii has some more solid games. Not just that but more affordable.

  • Level 9

    Uh… “mario” Did you even read the article that we are here commenting on… ?

    Bell was actually trying to prove the 360 was a better marketing tool for third party developers by telling them “Hey guys don’t worry about us, we suck at making our own games”…