Some WiiWare Devs Not Being Paid? #1 at Nintendo Cubed3

At this year's GDC a talk it was revealed that Nintendo has a minimum download threshold for WiiWare games before paying out.

During a talk entitled Independent Game Sales Independent Game Festival chairman Simon Carless discussed Nintendo's approach for bringing quality control to the download service: Keep out shovelware by having a minimum download amount games would have to reach before paying developers - as confirmed by IGN - those who don't will not see a penny for their investment.

Carless has also heard that Nintendo may lower this threshold in the future.

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Stulaw on 15.04.2009 at 00:49#1

Smilie .

Oh well, as long as games sell, there's no problem

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TAG on 15.04.2009 at 01:07#2

That's a bit cold. Even if the game is poo, if some poor soul buys it, the developer should get some money.
It's not fair that Nintendo should keep all the money.

Does anyone happen to know what the magic number is?

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SuperLink on 15.04.2009 at 01:13#3

I think it's a pretty good idea really. I'm sure the sales count isn't TOO high, but it certainly stops shovelware from being put out (on some level) huh?

That's a problem with XBLA, it's got too much pointless crap... not saying Wiiware hasn't, but maybe devs won't use a crap game as a way to get easy bucks.

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Jump_button on 15.04.2009 at 01:20#4

Smilie too bad they cant do this with wii games too Smilie

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Stulaw on 15.04.2009 at 01:26#5

Jump_button said:
too bad they cant do this with wii games too

Very true

But the way games sell on the Wii, there\'d be nothing but shovelware and Nintendo Games, and a couple of gems.

( Edited 15.04.2009 00:27 by Stulaw )

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Mason on 15.04.2009 at 01:26#6

Wow, harsh. Makes developers think twice about releasing any old rubbish on the most popular console, though. It's a shame it can't be applied to retail games, as Jump says...

Yoshindo on 15.04.2009 at 01:30#7

Stulaw said:
Jump_button said:
too bad they cant do this with wii games too
Very true.

Absolutely. I was looking for a game today and the amount of garbage for the Wii is staggering. Chicken shoot? Please, spare me. Nintendo needs to take its seal of quality seriously and say no to shovelware. This minimum requirement may seem harsh but it is a good deterrent.

jb on 15.04.2009 at 01:31#8

Mason said:
Wow, harsh. Makes developers think twice about releasing any old rubbish on the most popular console, though. It's a shame it can't be applied to retail games, as Jump says...

That would make the Wii's catalogue sooo much better. Tis good in a way - gets some good quality in there. Nintendo really need to do their own part in getting sales though, better promotions, more videos/Nintendo channel updates - blending the shop with message board better etc.

And demos, come on!

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Darkflame on 15.04.2009 at 01:38#9

Probably to do with payment infer structure...giving out small packets of money is costly, so its saved up and released in \"bursts\".
Nothing wrong with this, but the threshold does seem too high.

I think the lack of a \"Sort by rating\" function is more hurting WiiWare, imho.
The Nintendo channel lets you submit your rating for a game after 1 hour of play....we should be able to use that as a list-order in WiiWare. (So that quality games can rise above well-advertised but poor ones)

That would make the Wii\'s catalogue sooo much better.

Not really.
Removing a load of (say, ubisoft) rubbish wouldnt automaticaly make more quality games appear, even if it did free up some development resources for that purpose.
There two seperate issues really, even if shelf-space does effect somethings.

Remember Nintendo had very struct policys back in the NES days which they carried over to the Snes...it made them amazingly unpopular with developers, who claimed nintendo was just blocking any game that would compete with them.

Does anyone happen to know what the magic number is?

Varies per-region according to igns sources.
Low thousands in europe, high thousands in america.

Nintendo dosnt really \"keep\" the money though...as stuff is on WiiWare undeffinitely, and no yearly fees are charged, eventualy all developers would get their money back.
Might be too late though if they are small companys, and Nintendo could be accused of keeping the interest over that period.

( Edited 15.04.2009 00:43 by Darkflame )

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jb on 15.04.2009 at 01:40#10

Darkflame said:
Probably to do with payment infer structure...giving out small packets of money is costly, so its saved up and released in "bursts".
Nothing wrong with this, but the threshold does seem too high.
I think the lack of a "Sort by rating" function is more hurting WiiWare, imho.
The Nintendo channel lets you submit your rating for a game after 1 hour of play....we should be able to use that as a list-order in WiiWare. (So that quality games can rise above well-advertised but poor ones)

Aye - it's these basic user functions that are being neglected - big shame Smilie

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Sonic_13 on 15.04.2009 at 02:58#11

Not surprising. The same method is used by other companies, such as Google with Adsense. You don't get paid until the total amount you earned is $100 or greater.

thisissuperk on 15.04.2009 at 06:07#12

I see Nintendo\'s view in this, BUT those crappy developers are selling THEIR product.
Albeit through Nintendo, Nintendo doesn\'t completely own that product.
Any percentage that the owner still owns, that amount of revenue should go to that developer.
If they thought the game was crap to begin with, then why put it for sale on WiiWare anyway?

( Edited 15.04.2009 05:07 by thedarkchao93 )

HazukiSan on 15.04.2009 at 09:58#13

Regardless of whether this stops shovelware surely it restricts one of the key selling points of the Wii, namely an environment less risky than retail for smaller devs to put out their games and for all devs to put out potentially niche products. Thinking about the likes of Flower and Braid...fair enough those sold well but stuff like this might make them reconsider placing the game on the service to begin with especially when XBLA and PSN have no such threshold.

I wonder if there is a similar threshhold for the DSi stuff?

Kangaroo_Kid on 15.04.2009 at 12:04#14

Thing is Nintendo themselves are releasing a fair chunk of this shovelware.

SuperLink on 15.04.2009 at 13:00#15

I can't imagine the sales number is TOO high, I'd think that MOST Wiiware titles make it over, and only a few don't. Like Nintendo said, they're also considering lowering it. As I said before, I think it's a good idea.

Now if only Wii Points weren't so pathetically expensive. I should think that will affect Wiiware sales in a negative way.

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Darkflame on 15.04.2009 at 17:25#16

If they thought the game was crap to begin with, then why put it for sale on WiiWare anyway?

Crap dosnt mean they cant sucker people into buying it.

This is, after all, Ubisofts main retail stratergy at the moment.

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Mario_0 on 15.04.2009 at 17:45#17

Well it dosn't seem to be stopping developers from developing Wiiware games, theres a new one out nearly everyweek and a new game announced for the service every couple of weeks, so it must not be too bad.

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Cheesing it up on 15.04.2009 at 21:59#18

Ouch. Greedy much, Nintendo?

And really, when have quality and sales been that closely linked? If anything it encourages a developer to go with a 'safer' option that can bring home some bacon, rather then take a risk and get zilcho.