The Wii U was a disaster, a toxic console that ended up losing Nintendo mindshare with the costumers – which is terrible, because it leads to the kind of vapid sales that the Wii U ultimately experienced – and, worse still, with developers, which can be extremely problematic, because it means that Nintendo’s ecosystem is not no longer part of most developers’ development pipelines, no longer part of most publishers’ projections and future plans.
It is absolutely necessary that Nintendo regain third party support with their upcoming console, the enigmatic Nintendo NX, because there is no way they will be able to survive in the console market for much longer otherwise. This is why generally, when we hear third parties give a vote of confidence to the system, we begin to feel optimistic about its chances.
So far, we have heard a lot of third party publishers be bullish on the NX and its prospects- Spike Chunsoft, Level 5, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, Bandai Namco, Ubisoft, Activision, and even EA have been cautiously optimistic about what Nintendo may have to offer. But it is this new vote of confidence from the CEO of Take Two, the company that also holds Rockstar and 2K Games, that is the most exciting- Take Two have never once expressed excitement for a Nintendo console pre-launch, they are generally known for hardcore games, and their titles, such as GTA, Red Dead, and 2K Sports, are among the ones that matter the most in terms of third party support.
This is why Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s recent comments on the NX are so encouraging. Speaking to thestreet.com, when asked about the NX, he said, “[The NX] could be very exciting. You never want to count Nintendo out. They go quiet for a while and then they come to market and do something really exciting. We are very interested and watching closely the development of what Nintendo plans to do next.”
Of course, this is far from a public commitment to support the system- but it does indicate that third parties seem to be largely positive on the NX already, which is a change from the negativity that surrounded the Wii U pre-launch.
It will be interesting to see just what kind of third party support Nintendo have managed to enlist for their console when they finally end up revealing it, allegedly some time around this Fall.
