Third Party is a Good Party
The Wii U did in fact have third party support, especially during the launch window. Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Platinum Games, and many more were eager to showcase new, and re-released titles on Nintendo’s new hardware. But, as time went on, it began to fade away. Newer, more powerful consoles hit the market and began grabbing up large chunks of the market share. They also started flexing their financial muscle in order to snatch up tons of timed and complete exclusives, as well as unique bonuses to new games.
Nintendo decided to rest on their laurels and bet big on their established franchises. This worked well with the most hardcore of Nintendo fans, but it didn’t do too much in the way of attracting the not so hardcore. Other platforms had the ability to set up a market for hardcore followers and for those who wanted access to all the other popular third party games. The Wii U struggled (and still struggles) with this issue and it has caused more than its fair share of problems that Nintendo would probably like to avoid with the upcoming NX, whatever it may be.
The NX needs to cement itself as the platform to play on for all gamers. It needs to have Nintendo exclusives, the big third party exclusives such as Bethesda’s RPGs, EA’s many franchises, Activision’s action blockbusters, and even some more non-Nintendo exclusives. The NX needs to step in strong and stay strong. Of course, in order for it to do so there is one thing that needs to be given some much needed attention…
