I don't know about Nintendo's working practices, but as far as I've seen, tons of known developers have mentioned the Wii to be a scary console to develop for when you're not talking about throwaway games. Nintendo doesn't seem to be doing anything to remedy this situation at the moment. And I find it hard to believe that NO game-developing third-party in the world could ever enter new, exciting and highly sellable games, give them the proper amount of advertising, and simply release them on the Wii if it was that simple. No, I kinda think all the smart people simply went for the consoles you can pull out multiplatform on, where you can push the graphics to the maximum and have all the different genres you want without control limitations.
So, every single third-party in the world pretty much went up to Nintendo and gave them shovelware and less-practical games at the same time. No AAA games at all, as I can see. That's kinda hard to believe were they in a comfortable position as you described. They did it because nobody took the Wii seriously when it was launched. The limitation of the controller and the system itself got people thinking there couldn't be alot of buyers for that system. Surprise surprise, there were. So developers emulated what Nintendo was selling at the time, which was selling good. Did it work? No. Did they try again, with better games? The ones who did, like Capcom with Zack & Wiki, and Sega with Madworld, got burnt and their stuff didn't sell well. (Sega had quite a big campaign for Madworld, so no blaming that). What did Nintendo do about that? Nothing I can really think of, because THEIR stuff was selling.
First off, the bold right? That's the developers' and publishers' faults, not Nintendo's. They were given all they were needed to do what they did best and promptly dropped it all on the floor like a petulant child crying "waaahh this console is teh dumb/casual/don't do purty effectz". They don't want to provide for Wii plain and simple. They feel as though it's a novelty that is getting in the way of the "chasing Hollywood" model that a lot of people, both gamers and developers lap up at a moment's notice. They make gamer's games. They are programmed to make the biggest & best, but can't understand how to make something lasting and relevant to a new landscape and audience comprised of people who might be brand new to gaming or don't have a deep background in it. They haven't put thought into what kind of content resonates best within the new market and without that bit of experience, they can't make games with these new experiences that have/has been expected of Wii games.
As such, they have begun to spread the worst kind of FUD on what it's like to make a Wii game (recalls a blatant troll attempt by someone in the industry (as in holding a position as developer in this industry) stating that Madworld needed to sell 1 or 2 million units to recoup its development costs; also recalls the CEO of Epic Games constant and consistent comments on why developing for Wii was never going to be considered), all in an attempt to dissuade attempts at doing something with the console and market. At this point however, it doesn't make much difference. Customers have already made their assumptions on what to expect from any game that doesn't have a Nintendo logo, thus 3rd party games don't sell, thus developers [sonic slicer] and moan about how it's impossible to turn profits on the Wii, thus publishers scale back the amount of titles they want or have lined up for the Wii, thus gamers go around saying "Wii has no games" and everyone's unhappy with the exceptions being those developers who started the circle with the discouraging "support" and now have their bread buttered with checks made out by Sony or Microsoft.
Secondly, I don't know how intelligent these smart people who chased development elsewhere are when they can't think far enough outside of the box to come up with one or two little ideas or invest even a little in think tanks that could work around the supposed limitations of the system, such as the Wii being unable to do certain gameplay, and deliver new content that wasn't insultingly derivative. Remember the PS2? That console was absolutely murdered in terms of pure technical merit by the Gamecube and Xbox, yet despite that, developers were able to create the God of Wars, Metal Gear Solids, Zones of The Enders, Devil May Crys, Onimushas, Final Fantasies, Kingdom Hearts, Jak & Daxters, Slys, Ratchets, Personas, SoTC and Ico. (Please don't use the similar controller and hardware line against this. The point is if developers really wanted to develop for Wii and make good games in the face of all the Wii's issues, controls differences and limitations, it wouldn't be anything new since they all should have been used to making these great games and gameplay for the "inferior" PS2.) On top of that, Wii is actually capable of game play and applications that can't be done traditionally with buttons and pads. Developers had a choice at the beginning of this all to cover all their bases with equal support or do what they did and served up a steaming plethora of bad "me toos" and "I want ins".
Next up, I want to kinda take apart that Madworld thing for a second since it's popped into mind. SEGA made this game into some form of second coming, and honestly I can see why it would be so. Looking at what it had going for itself:
- It was made by Platinum Games, a group with a god tier pedigree thanks to the creative talent of Capcom's former Clover team making the bulk of its self
- It was a game tailor made to the Wii's strengths while addressing and (seemingly) working around its problems
- The game had a marketing blitz, actual ad campaigns & tons of promotions
It seemed like it was going to be a huge deal, however, there was tons of writing on the wall that spelled out Madworld's fate:
- The game was made by developers for a very niche group of fans. You could tell from its presentation to its inclusion of homages throughout the game.
- The game was rife with jarring content that would turn off anyone from even trying it unless they were of the mindset the game was catered to accomodating. This is made more true by its ultra gory and bloody (although stylized) combat, the absolutely profane (but damn hilarious
) commentary, and the whole "bloodsport" presentation it took upon itself.
- Although this is a very vain nitpick to most folks, there were quite a few instances of technical issues as well as situations where options that were standard on Wii games were completely lacking in the finished game (no 480p, Europeans got shafted in terms of the 50Hz/60Hz debacle). These are features that the hardcore (using this word to mean very invested in their gaming, not the kind of games they buy) supporters would notice right away and be put off by.
Yet, even for all of my stating that Madworld was a mismatch in terms of massive sucess, SEGA has gone on record and said that Madworld has done very well for itself over time. Capcom had a similar situation with Zack & Wiki (pure Monkey Island-esque adventure game in '07 with "almost but not quite controls" and a total lack of backing in the marketing area), and that game has done well enough that Capcom doesn't consider it a glaring mark of failure anymore. That was with practically nothing in the way of marketing.
So the fact of the matter is that Wii gamers will not shun quality, if it's good, they'll come to it. They are also open and receptive to things so long as they aren't overdone. They are also capable of making informed decisions and purchases which explains why developers & publishers get mad when C rate trash is straight up rejected and cash ins are relegated to eternal store display stand ins. It's now the developer's jobs (as it should be) to provide the gamers with content.
Finally, since I neglected to make a note on this, hell yes Nintendo has the right mindset there. Why the hell should I help you up for the umpteenth time when I already showed you how to move in the game? It's your choice to make bad calls when I already gave you a fair playing ground and rules. I'm not going to bend over backwards to accommodate you when time and time again you've shown that you won't put in any effort.
(Tangent: Wii games are notoriously slow burners. Best example of this is de Blob, a game that debuted with less than 250K copies that wound up selling more than a million within the timeframe of a year. Frontloaded sales don't happen often on Wii, but that doesn't mean that quality doesn't get picked up on with time and word of mouth. These things don't interest most publishers and developers though as the Hollywood model creeps into play and dictates that if you don't sell wild numbers at first, the [parasitic bomb] is BOMBA.)