GameCube Loses Firm Support From 2 Major Developer

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

GameCube Loses Firm Support From 2 Major Developers

 

Let’s all be happy it’s only two…

 

Factor 5’s, makers of the Star Wars Rebel Strike series, president Julian Eggebrecht announced they will no longer develop any new titles for Nintendo GameCube. Instead the studio is currently developing new software for other platforms.

 

Factor 5 isn’t the only company to go. The Canadian developer Silicon Knights has ended its second party status with Nintendo of America. The company will effectively immediately be allowed to develop game titles for other consoles, including Xbox and PlayStation 2. Difference here being that while Factor 5 was a loss, Silicon Knights is simply expanding beyond the GameCube instead of completely ceasing development on the console.

 

Sucky news either way around if you’re a Nintendo fan. But if you own a PS2 or Xbox, then happy days to you. We’ll keep you updated with more right here.

 

Source: the-magicbox

[Agent_Bond34 0]

Factor5 leaving sucks.

 

I liked the Rogue Squadron series for GameCube.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Anyone have a list of all the companies that have either ended exclusivity deals or abandoned the system altogether?

 

I'm willing to bet we're pushing double digits at this point.

 

There was a string of them a year ago.

[razazteca 0]

Capcom has to be one of them now that Residential Evil on on PS2 again.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Well...at least Resident Evil 4 is still (at this time) GC exclusive.

 

They've already announced that Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7 will be heading to PS2.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

From what I read (as I have no interest in the SW games) Rebel Strike was crap compared to Rogue Leader. Im not gonna miss them as all they did were the Star Wars games which I had no interest in.

 

SK is a different story but its not that big of a deal. SK was responsible for the often delayed Eternal Darkness (still one of my favorite games on the Gamecube) that sold poorly despite great reviews and was supposed to be an N64 title, and the MGS:TS Remake that I can't give them much credit for since all they did is remake a popular game that was just dated.

 

Combined between the two of them I think they were responsible for 4 games on the Gamecube? Man, what a loss.. I was pissed off at SK anyway since they had said that they wouldn't make a sequel to Eternal Darkness.

 

People were complaining about Nintendo losing RARE to Microsoft and thats hasn't even been half as bad as all the doomsayers were calling it to be.

[BUTT 0]

Well, first off, Factor 5 isn't just leaving Gamecube. It's not making games for any other current-generation consoles, either. It's said that their working on game development for the next generation of consoles.

 

As for SK, this is really surprising. Dennis Dyack (head of SK) has said is the past that he really enjoys working with Nintendo and couldn't imagine leaving. Some on the net have speculated that this is just a "sanity trick" leading up to the E3 announcement of Eternal Darkness 2 (especially since the announcement was made exactly a month before the beginning of E3), but I think that's just Nintendo fan wishful thinking.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

As for SK, this is really surprising. Dennis Dyack (head of SK) has said is the past that he really enjoys working with Nintendo and couldn't imagine leaving. Some on the net have speculated that this is just a "sanity trick" leading up to the E3 announcement of Eternal Darkness 2 (especially since the announcement was made exactly a month before the beginning of E3), but I think that's just Nintendo fan wishful thinking.

Eternal Darkness 2 isn't happening no matter how much everyone wants it to.

[Ripper 0]

They aren't leaving nintendo, they are making games for all consoles, right?

 

Thats a smart business move, how exactly is that killing the gamecube?

[dubq 0]

Well...at least Resident Evil 4 is still (at this time) GC exclusive.

I honestly hope that this [along with RE0 and REmake] gets a PS2 release down the road. I have both systems and my Gamecube is a friggin' glorified dust-collecting paperweight. The only reason I'm even holding onto it is for RE4.

[Anya 0]

Thats a smart business move, how exactly is that killing the gamecube?

Less exclusive titles....

[chaosrage 0]

Well...at least Resident Evil 4 is still (at this time) GC exclusive.

I honestly hope that this [along with RE0 and REmake] gets a PS2 release down the road. I have both systems and my Gamecube is a friggin' glorified dust-collecting paperweight. The only reason I'm even holding onto it is for RE4.

I think the same thing about PS2. It's weird, I haven't touched it in about a year. RE:0, RE:Remake, Metroid Prime, Monkey Ball 1, Monkey Ball 2, FzeroGX, Zelda, Mario Kart, and Eternal Darkness vs FFX, GTA3, and GTA:VC. What else is there?

[Ripper 0]

Thats a smart business move, how exactly is that killing the gamecube?

Less exclusive titles....

Yeah, but honestly, the number of people that buy a console for one game is not as huge a part of the market as people would like to think. MOst people that will buy a gamecube will get it because of its cheaper price. Most of the people that are exclusives chasers probably already have it for one of the other games.

[Anya 0]

This isn't an isolated incident though.

 

The "well it's not THAT big of a deal" damage control only works so many times.....

[Ripper 0]

This isn't an isolated incident though.

 

The "well it's not THAT big of a deal" damage control only works so many times.....

I guess. But no major developer has really high tailed it and at worse their exclusive title are becoming non exclusive, which is a trend for all of the consoles.

[Anya 0]

It's not just exclusive titles Nintendo is losing either. Developers are scaling back on porting multiconsole games to GC too.

 

All this news adds up and makes the future of GC and Nintendo's next console look pretty bleak.

[dubq 0]

Well...at least Resident Evil 4 is still (at this time) GC exclusive.

I honestly hope that this [along with RE0 and REmake] gets a PS2 release down the road. I have both systems and my Gamecube is a friggin' glorified dust-collecting paperweight. The only reason I'm even holding onto it is for RE4.

I think the same thing about PS2. It's weird, I haven't touched it in about a year. RE:0, RE:Remake, Metroid Prime, Monkey Ball 1, Monkey Ball 2, FzeroGX, Zelda, Mario Kart, and Eternal Darkness vs FFX, GTA3, and GTA:VC. What else is there?

Lots. I don't play the GTA or the [new] FF series, but right now on my PS2 in regular rotation are Prince of Persia, Resident Evil Outbreak, the Suffering, Manhunt, Hitman 2, Splinter Cell, Smackdown HCTP, Tenchu WOH, Onimusha 2, Rise of Sin Tzu, the list goes on and on. The only exclusive games I have for my Cube are REmake, RE0 and The Sonic Collection [i'm not positive that that one is exclusive]...

[chaosrage 0]

Lots. I don't play the GTA or the [new] FF series, but right now on my PS2 in regular rotation are Prince of Persia, Resident Evil Outbreak, the Suffering, Manhunt, Hitman 2, Splinter Cell, Smackdown HCTP, Tenchu WOH, Onimusha 2, Rise of Sin Tzu, the list goes on and on. The only exclusive games I have for my Cube are REmake, RE0 and The Sonic Collection [i'm not positive that that one is exclusive]...

Get ED and Metroid. I played some of those, just didn't think they were anything that great.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

It's not just exclusive titles Nintendo is losing either. Developers are scaling back on porting multiconsole games to GC too.

 

All this news adds up and makes the future of GC and Nintendo's next console look pretty bleak.

I urge you to read the article on Gamespy about how Nintendo is planning to deal with 3rd parties on the GCNext (official name of the new console) among other things.

 

"In the past, our third-party relations were quite different," Iwata admits. "These are companies that look around, and if they think that Nintendo has created a lucrative market through its efforts and investments, they enter it. That was our view of third-party companies in the past.

 

F-Zero

 

"Now we take a different view. We are more willing to cooperate with third-party companies. They are thinking in terms of development efficiency and maximizing the appeal of their products. Sometimes we license our characters to these third-party companies so that our characters become guest characters in their games.

 

"We are also actively working with Sega, Namco, and Konami to create software. For a platform to succeed, it must have a wide variety of different kinds of software available. In the future, I believe, it will be even more important for us to work with third-party companies."

 

Iwata holds "F-Zero," a co-creation of Nintendo and Sega's Amusement Vision studio, as a good example of Nintendo's new open-door policy. Namco, which teamed up with Nintendo to create "Donkey Konga," has openly applauded Nintendo for its new partnerships.

 

Nintendo's New Direction

[Anya 0]

That's the same rhetoric we heard after N64. For every F-Zero there's 3 MK Deceptions being canceled. Nintendo can talk all they want but where's the results? It's clear GC has less games coming than Xbox and PS2.

[BUTT 0]

Well, for those wondering, apparently Nintendo owns the trademark for Eternal Darkness, so they could make another one if they wanted. Of course, they probably wouldn't want to, considering how it didn't sell that well.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

That's the same rhetoric we heard after N64. For every F-Zero there's 3 MK Deceptions being canceled. Nintendo can talk all they want but where's the results? It's clear GC has less games coming than Xbox and PS2.

The thing is though that they are actually working with 3rd parties now and there's some evidence to show that they are going to back up the talk this time with their next console.

 

As for results, F-Zero and SC II were pretty good games, SC II some recognized as being better than the XB/PS2 counterparts. Im surprised Donkey Konga is getting a U.S. release, but Namco supposedly will be working on a traditional DK game.

But I don't think that the actual results of their new efforts to reach out to 3rd parties will be seen until the new console comes out. Supposedly they are going all out to make it easy to program for so that should be a big help.

[Anya 0]

Reaching out and making the console easy to work with only go so far. The reason developers abondone GC is because the ports just don't make enough money, not because of Nintendo's relations with them.

 

Nintendo's in a horrible sit. uation(which is there own fault) where they can't get a huge userbase because they don't have enough games and they don't have enough games because they can't get a huge userbase.