The Wall Street Journal has
conducted a new interview with Nintendo president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime, in which he again emphasizes the success of third party publishers on the Wii, and is dismissive of the Wii’s graphical inferiority to the PlayStation 3.
Fils-Aime repeated his claim that third party publishers have sold more software for the Wii than Nintendo themselves, although he admitted there were not yet any third party million sellers. He said that Ubisoft had two titles that “are awfully close” (likely
Red Steel and
Rayman Raving Rabbids) and that a number of other titles from other publishers have or are about to reach the half million mark.
When asked whether the traditional lack of third party support on Nintendo platforms was due to higher royalty rates, Fils-Aime indicated that this was “not the issue”. Referring to
Shigeru Miyamoto’s recent comments that publishers were using less experienced teams to develop for Nintendo formats, Fils-Aime suggested that, “While in the past development teams may not have been up to par, I certainly believe that's changing. When you have Disney or EA creating dedicated centers of excellence on our platforms... the game creation and game content will only get better.”
Asked specifically whether he could foresee a time when third party publishers outsold Nintendo published titles on the Wii, Fils-Aime answered: “I think it's certainly doable. I think some of the content here is quite provocative.
Boogie from EA is quite provocative. I love the support we're getting from 2K Games and their sports franchise. Activision with
Guitar Hero - when that comes out on Wii I think that has the potential to become the top-selling game across the industry.”
Commenting on the commonly suggested theory that the Wii might struggle to compete against the PlayStation 3 later in its life span, when the difference in graphical power is more pronounced, Fils-Aime was adamant that Nintendo is not at a disadvantage, saying of Sony: “I guess when you're not doing well you have to grasp at something.”
“From our perspective, this industry is about entertainment and it's about driving a consumer interface and engagement with content. That's why people want to play games. From that standpoint, our strategy is certainly working and we believe it's going to work into the future. What that future is going to look like and what's the content - stay tuned,” he added.
