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THQ: Wii dev costs fraction of PS3's, 360's
Publisher talks cost and ease of development for Nintendo's next-generation system.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted May 5, 2006 3:26 pm PT
THQ gave its quarterly earnings report today, and the analysts' conference call that followed saw the publisher detail some of its plans going forward. On multiple occasions in the course of the call, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell spoke about developing for the Nintendo Wii, touching on a number of topics including THQ's first reactions to its Wii games.

"We showed in a press event recently a SpongeBob game using the Nintendo Wii and Wii controller," Farrell said, "and standing there watching very jaded game journalists hoot and holler on a SpongeBob game was actually quite relieving. One of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That's something that's quite encouraging. As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be."

Currently the publisher has announced Wii games based on the Nickelodeon shows SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as one for Pixar Animation Studios' upcoming film Cars.

Farrell also talked about developing for the Wii as opposed to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, noting that it was far less expensive making games for Nintendo's console. Farrell prefaced his comments by noting that he wasn't "a development professional," but he said the development environment for the Wii was similar to the GameCube's.

"[The Wii] wasn't a whole new programming environment," Farrell said. "So we had a lot of tools and tech that work in that environment. So those costs--and again, I hate these broad generalizations--but they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half."

As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be.

Praxis wrote:Yes, but it's very nice of them to call children the entire demographic.
Sounds to me like we can't expect any serious games from THQ other than Nickelodeon titles.

Glocksman wrote:

Praxis wrote:Yes, but it's very nice of them to call children the entire demographic.
Sounds to me like we can't expect any serious games from THQ other than Nickelodeon titles.

Is that what Nintendo is telling them the demographic will be, or did they come up with that on their own?

Gamespot wrote: "We showed in a press event recently a SpongeBob game using the Nintendo Wii and Wii controller," Farrell said, "and standing there watching very jaded game journalists hoot and holler on a SpongeBob game was actually quite relieving. One of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That's something that's quite encouraging. As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be."

Gamespot wrote: Farrell also talked about developing for the Wii as opposed to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, noting that it was far less expensive making games for Nintendo's console. Farrell prefaced his comments by noting that he wasn't "a development professional," but he said the development environment for the Wii was similar to the GameCube's.

Glocksman wrote:

Praxis wrote:Yes, but it's very nice of them to call children the entire demographic.
Sounds to me like we can't expect any serious games from THQ other than Nickelodeon titles.

Is that what Nintendo is telling them the demographic will be, or did they come up with that on their own?

What he is qualified to talk about, however, is the development costs, which is the important part of the article. IIRC, there was a Poll in Weekly Famitsu stating that most developers preferred developing for the Wii as opposed to the PS3 and XBox 360, because they were already familiar with the Development tools and it was very cheap. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find a link, but I'll keep looking.

Famitsu Polls Show Interesting Results
Gamers, developers and publishers all excited about Wii.
by Ali Shehzad

April 30, 2006 - Heading into E3, Famitsu magazine conducted a survey and asked gamers, developers and publishers about their interest at E3. The polls revealed interesting results as both parties were more interested in Nintendo's forth-coming new console, Wii. Check:
Wii PS3 XBox 360 Other
Gamers 45.3% 44.8% 4.4% 5.5%

Wii PS3 No Response
Developers/Publishers 47.4% 36.8% 15.8%

The polls also revealed that twelve companies plan to reveal new undisclosed titles. Out of those, five companies stated that at least one of the secret titles is for Wii console, and one company stated that there are undisclosed titles for GameCube and DS which are to be shown at E3. Readers should keep in mind that this list is not complete and only reveals information various companies were willing to give Famitsu.

Praxis wrote:

Glocksman wrote:

Praxis wrote:Yes, but it's very nice of them to call children the entire demographic.
Sounds to me like we can't expect any serious games from THQ other than Nickelodeon titles.

Is that what Nintendo is telling them the demographic will be, or did they come up with that on their own?

It's what they came up with on their own. Nintendo assisted Ubisoft in developing Red Steel, a bloody FPS/swordfighter.

Praxis wrote: Wonder what the 5.5% "other" is? The Phantom? Whatever "other" is, it beat the 360 in Japan.

Either way, Wii seems to hold the majority of interest for both gamers (barely) and devs in Japan.