You are not wrong. But they have things still left to announce for this year to January/Feb. So that's why I think there is less opportunity for the fan pleaser Q3/Q4 2020 stuff.
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You are not wrong. But they have things still left to announce for this year to January/Feb. So that's why I think there is less opportunity for the fan pleaser Q3/Q4 2020 stuff.
I'm very curious to see what's ahead, especially if stuff like Monolith's new game and Pikmin 4 are still further off from being revealed. Maybe we'll finally see what Retro had been working on before Prime 4!
Yeah, that's far too optimistic, I know.
Hey Era,
It doesn't warrant its own thread yet so I'll just say it here:
I bought a Switch this week, this is my first Nintendo console since the original NES (which was a second hand copy called "Family Game" in my country). I also bought a SNES Classic last year but that doesn't count imo.
Anyway, I only have Breath of the Wild and it's the only game I'll have for some time, I'm mostly interested in Nintendo exclusives because 99% of my time I'll be playing on my TV so I prefer my PS4 for everything else.
I didn't have much time to play (I hate when things I buy arrive on mondays) but I want to share my super early impression of BOTW:
The game feels with a lot of soul right of the bat, there's a desolation that's super relaxing, it's like apocalypse happened quite a time ago and you are one of the first to come back to this land. I expect to meet other people (I mean seeing more populated areas) but I like that it started this way, it reminds me to Shadow of the Colossus, it evokes that feeling.
Gameplay is cool, I'm still getting used to controls but I don't like running with B and jumping with X.
I gotta say that my least favourite part so far is when the game tries to be a generic one, main quests that feels like fetch quest (go get me a treasure and I'll give you this, now go get me three treasures, etc), climb towers to reveal the map (I did like that I had to manually select points of interest with the scope). It's weird because the game feels unique and they tell you to go and do stuff you do in other games but I've only played so little.
Another gripe is that my inventory is already maxed out and I have to constantly drop stuff to get new things, I know that I've gathered useless junk (like 4 clubs) but I'm at a point where I already got rid of everything and my inventory is maxed out again.
I expect to play way more this weekend.
Oh, my next purchase is probably gonna be Mario Odissey or Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but I don't know when.
It doesn't warrant its own thread yet so I'll just say it here:
I bought a Switch this week, this is my first Nintendo console since the original NES (which was a second hand copy called "Family Game" in my country). I also bought a SNES Classic last year but that doesn't count imo.
Anyway, I only have Breath of the Wild and it's the only game I'll have for some time, I'm mostly interested in Nintendo exclusives because 99% of my time I'll be playing on my TV so I prefer my PS4 for everything else.
I didn't have much time to play (I hate when things I buy arrive on mondays) but I want to share my super early impression of BOTW:
The game feels with a lot of soul right of the bat, there's a desolation that's super relaxing, it's like apocalypse happened quite a time ago and you are one of the first to come back to this land. I expect to meet other people (I mean seeing more populated areas) but I like that it started this way, it reminds me to Shadow of the Colossus, it evokes that feeling.
Gameplay is cool, I'm still getting used to controls but I don't like running with B and jumping with X.
I gotta say that my least favourite part so far is when the game tries to be a generic one, main quests that feels like fetch quest (go get me a treasure and I'll give you this, now go get me three treasures, etc), climb towers to reveal the map (I did like that I had to manually select points of interest with the scope). It's weird because the game feels unique and they tell you to go and do stuff you do in other games but I've only played so little.
Another gripe is that my inventory is already maxed out and I have to constantly drop stuff to get new things, I know that I've gathered useless junk (like 4 clubs) but I'm at a point where I already got rid of everything and my inventory is maxed out again.
I expect to play way more this weekend.
Oh, my next purchase is probably gonna be Mario Odissey or Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but I don't know when.
OP
OP
The more appropriate threads for that would be:
Nintendo Community Thread |OT| *This Space for Rent*
NintendoEra Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/rEXr9tC Welcome to the NintendoEra Community thread! The focus of this thread will be to serve as an archive for the important Nintendo related threads on ResetEra, as well as just a general hangout space for Nintendo fans. Primarily...
www.resetera.com
The more appropriate threads for that would be:
or even https://www.resetera.com/threads/th...ild-ot-i-did-not-know-you-could-do-this.6918/Nintendo Community Thread |OT| *This Space for Rent*
NintendoEra Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/rEXr9tC Welcome to the NintendoEra Community thread! The focus of this thread will be to serve as an archive for the important Nintendo related threads on ResetEra, as well as just a general hangout space for Nintendo fans. Primarily...
Thx! I looked Nintendo OT and hoped for the best actually, there's quite a few threads!
found this, a set of staff numbers for the Xenoblade games
the catagories:
the catagories:
- Cast
- Program
- Level Design
- Battle System Design
- Cut-scenes
- 2D Design
- 3D Model
- Animation
- Visual Effect
- Debugging
- Number of other companies involved
Nintendo hiring project positions for 3D terrain designer and level designer at Kyoto for BotW2.
First EPD Zelda recruitment (Level Designer / Dungeon / Enemy Planner - May 2018 - Legend of Zelda series)
Second EPD Zelda recruitment (Level Designer & 3D CG Terrain / Topography Designer - Nov 2018 - Legend of Zelda series)
Third EPD Zelda recruitment (Contract Work for Level Designer / 3D CG Terrain / Topography Designer - July 2019 - Legend of Zelda: BOTW sequel)
Second EPD Zelda recruitment (Level Designer & 3D CG Terrain / Topography Designer - Nov 2018 - Legend of Zelda series)
Third EPD Zelda recruitment (Contract Work for Level Designer / 3D CG Terrain / Topography Designer - July 2019 - Legend of Zelda: BOTW sequel)
Contract workers are hired at a much later stage of the production cycle actually. Q4 2020-2021 is highly doable.
They were there last year as well, very cool :)
Also, technically Nintendo related, all-time Treehouse favourite Sam got a promotion:
Two staff number updates, for HAL and Good Feel:
EPD: 850 ~ 900 (700ish in Kyoto, 150-200 in Tokyo)
Monolith Soft: 209 (as of end of April 2019) - > 215 (as of end of June 219)
Retro: ~130 (according to LinkedIn)
Nd Cube: 100 (linked pamphlet is from early 2018 - after Pocket Camp, but before SMP - the 2019 pamphlet doesn't mention staff numbers :( )
1UP Studio: 52 (May 2019) - as big as they've ever been as far as I can tell, even when they were Brownie Brown.
NST: 36~40
HAL: 153 (July 2018) -> 169 (July 2019)
Intelligent Systems: 151 (Dec 2018)
Game Freak: 143 (2018)
SRD: 140 (April 2019(planned) - incl. web development group)
Good Feel: 122 (January 2019, incl. mobile division) -> 131 (April 2019, incl. mobile division)
Next Level: 115 (according to LinkedIn)
Grezzo: 62 (2018)
Alpha Dream: 46 (2018)
Camelot: 44 (2010, probably more now)
Genius Sonority: 22
(Threadmark post has been updated too)
EPD: 850 ~ 900 (700ish in Kyoto, 150-200 in Tokyo)
Monolith Soft: 209 (as of end of April 2019) - > 215 (as of end of June 219)
Retro: ~130 (according to LinkedIn)
Nd Cube: 100 (linked pamphlet is from early 2018 - after Pocket Camp, but before SMP - the 2019 pamphlet doesn't mention staff numbers :( )
1UP Studio: 52 (May 2019) - as big as they've ever been as far as I can tell, even when they were Brownie Brown.
NST: 36~40
HAL: 153 (July 2018) -> 169 (July 2019)
Intelligent Systems: 151 (Dec 2018)
Game Freak: 143 (2018)
SRD: 140 (April 2019(planned) - incl. web development group)
Good Feel: 122 (January 2019, incl. mobile division) -> 131 (April 2019, incl. mobile division)
Next Level: 115 (according to LinkedIn)
Grezzo: 62 (2018)
Alpha Dream: 46 (2018)
Camelot: 44 (2010, probably more now)
Genius Sonority: 22
(Threadmark post has been updated too)
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It looks like Creatures Inc. might also have 110 employees as of June 2017 according to their website? I don't speak Japanese, though, so I can't confirm it myself.
That being said, I'm not sure how many people at the company specifically focus on the Pokemon Trading Card Game instead of video game projects.
That's correct; the only reason they're not on the list is that they are involved in other things, like the Pokmeon Card Game, app creation, licensed good design, and so on. I know SRD, Good-Feel, IS, and HAL all have non-gaming/mobile divisions, but Creatrues felt like they were more non-gaming than gaming, but I am open to being corrected
NST was a 100 people in 2000. Puts things into perspective.
Project Hammer fucked them over big time
a shame, since I want Nintendo to invest more into them
Their fate was sealed regardless of what. After all they were reporting directly to NCL producers.
I can't believe they fucked NST over. Only 2 western development teams and Nintendo mishandled both of them.
We don't know who is responsible for Retro's lack of production, them or NCL. It's premature to blame Nintendo for mishandling Retro when we don't even know what has happened there.
I mean the fact that nintendo handed them the keys to a scrapped long awaited multi million dollar aaa sequel shows things can't be too bad.
I don't see it that way. I would say after several[?] failed attempts at other projects NCL said - you know what you guys should be able to make a sequel to a game some of you have experience making.
Exactly my thoughts. They have a big studio that needs work and they decide to give them Metroid because it's a decision that will at least momentarily divert the vocal fan base anger (due to Retro getting the job) and gives the studio a chance to get their groove on.
I still believe there was Star Fox GP but it fell through the cracks for a reason or another.
Star Fox never existed and was a big troll to the insular Nintendo insider community.
The idea that Retro was given MP4 after a number of failed ideas doesn't fill me with confidence. I still think they have some game they worked of to be released beforehand
Genius Sonority might be one of the bigger missed opportunities but it seems they are fine with beeing a small studio now. They could have been at a similar position to Monolithsoft by now. The idea to have a small Square like studuo with Monolithsoft and an Enix like studio with Genius Sonority was an appealing one, but the latter really doesn't seem to have neither bigger ambitions nor Nintendos unconditioned backing anymore.
I don't think it's that dire of a situation for Retro. They're doing a lot of hiring for positions that never existed. They have a HR Manager now and a new Senior Recruiter. I believe what imran said that Retro showed Nintendo they could develop MP4.
Maybe they still have a game coming, but I've basically given up on that.
Maybe they still have a game coming, but I've basically given up on that.
Nintendo still owns a stake in them, and they actually re-listed them in their affiliates section a few months ago. I'm not sure what the future holds - whether they become another production assist studio for Nintendo, a niche small budget Pokémon project developer for TPC/Nintendo, or if they continue flying under the radar doing whatever they can to keep the lights on.
A lot of staff moved from GS to Game Freak (including James Turner). That was probably the studio's death knell. They were primarily funded to make console pokemon RPGs and that ended after 2 games
Genius Sonority like Alpha Dream were spawned from Nintendo's Q-Fund. Which was essentially Yamauchi funding a lot of RPG centered developers to make games for the Nintendo brand. This was probably an answer to the loss of final fantasy and dragon quest. GS got additional stakes bought by Nintendo and TPC which turned into them being a Pokémon and Nintendo developer. Unfortunately none of their projects ever found the expected critical or commercial success. So here we are now.
I know Turner moved over, but I didn't think it was some sort of exodus or anything. I don't see a lot of crossover comparing the PBR and BW credits.
It feels like something happened before Turner's arrival at GF, as he didn't join until late 2009, which was well after PBR and Dragon Quest Swords were released.
Comparing the staff numbers available:
October 2006 (2 months before the JP release of PBR): 58
June 2007 (shortly before the JP release of DQS): No numbers on this page, but there's an ad looking for more staff to work with "powerful clients"
1st November 2007(3.5 months after the JP release of DQS): 43 (GS only did planning on DQS, Eighting did most of the actual development)
April 2008: 60 (looks like they were building up staff for their new project, but future titles never refelected this increase)
November 2016: 22 (hasn't really changed since)
2008 onward is when GS' priorities changed and started to make smaller titles.
That makes sense. If their projects weren't very successful commercial-wise, I see why Nintendo didn't just bail them out like what happened with the Mario Party devs from Hudson Soft moving over to NDCube.
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Do we have other histories from the rest of the second party developers? Facsinating to read sometimes.
The underwhelming start sadly compromised their potential. Pokémon on consoles was really a great chance but suffered from the idea that JRPGs on GameCube needed to be different, what often ended to their detriment. Be it Phantasy Star Online 3, Lost Kingdom, Baten Kaitos and Final Fantasy (CC). The character designs for the Pokémon games was really off putting and really lead to lukewarm receptions. This really sounds very simplistic, but charakter designs that resembled previous games (even spinoffs like Snap and Stadium) or the anime, with a more traditional catching system would have done wonders.
OP
OP
Like, which ones?
And, let's please bury that "second party" label in the past where it belongs.
OP
OP
Kids Club.
The same you'd use for any other developer. Anything that isn't first party is a third party developer. Some have varying degrees of first party affiliation. For the question that brought this up, just say partners or affiliates.
Still wondering: which ones?
they did have their studios make games that had to pay licensing fees to nintendo
This isn't really for this thread. While Nintendo is publishing it in the West, they're not involved in the production and development at all, which is what the first party thread is predominantly concerned with.
Some more appropriate threads for DxM talk:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/nintendo-switch-ot-now-youre-playing-with-power-hybrid-power.3241/
Nintendo Community Thread |OT| *This Space for Rent*
NintendoEra Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/rEXr9tC Welcome to the NintendoEra Community thread! The focus of this thread will be to serve as an archive for the important Nintendo related threads on ResetEra, as well as just a general hangout space for Nintendo fans. Primarily...
I actually don't know that NCL isn't involved at all. I don't know if they're partially funding development or if they just paid for publishing rights but it seems unlikely that Nintendo agreed to Western publication of a new IP over 1 year before its release without having some kind of involvement, especially since they let it open E3 last year. Namco, iirc, has some sway over Dark Souls even though they "only" publish it in the West.
(I am pretty sure that NCL is involved in Western publication deals for Japanese games because I am sure they do not trust to leave this sort of thing solely up to NoE/NoA.)
I still believe there is DKCR3. DKCTF was quite successful on wiiu and switch so it would be logical to make one one switch.
Probably more accurately the second party is the player, as in the console manufacturer and the player are in a long term relationship and third parties to that relationship may deliver games on it.
I was referencing Nintendo paying licensing fees to publish their games on mobile platforms.
Even in the cases where Nintendo affiliated studios make games for third party publishers, it's always the publisher who pays the licensing fees. Not the commissioned developer.