It's no secret by now that one of Nintendo's major weakness the past few generations of gaming has been their third-party support — or lack of it.
So, does this mean the company will now spend serious cash to pry away some of that exclusive third-party love from the hands of Sony and Microsoft? If you were counting on that, I wouldn't hold my breath as Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata is not very keen on the idea.
While Nintendo is not entirely opposed to exploring that option, I don't think it would be an appropriate course of action for Nintendo to get into a battle with a company like Microsoft over the cost or the expense of trying to go head to head in a situation to try to obtain exclusive rights.
Of course, this doesn't mean that's not going to happen at all. On the contrary, Iwata states that if a publisher or developer can make use of the Wii U's GamePad in a unque way, Nintendo will partner up with them in an "unprecedented manner."
If a third-party developer or publisher has come up with an idea of a potentially very unique use of the Wii U functionality with such a device, there is a high possibility that Nintendo will be a partner with that third-party in an unprecedented manner.
Does Ubisoft fit into that above statement? They're the only publisher we know now that's doing something unique with the Wii U — though the games they've revealed haven't exactly been original IPs — save Zombi U.
Is Nintendo on the same path to "third-party failure" once again or are they doing the right thing? If not an outright exclusivity deal, should Nintendo at least negotiate a timed-exclusivity deal with publishers for proven franchises?
Source: Gamasutra
