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Pachter doesn't hate Nintendo, Wii U needs 3rd parties, doesn't 'get' the GamePad

by rawmeatcowboy
08 April 2013
GN Version 4.0
A portion of a Nintendo Life interview with Michael Pachter...

Nintendo Life: Firstly, let’s clear up a major misunderstanding - you don’t actually hate Nintendo, do you?

Michael Pachter: No, I don’t hate Nintendo at all. I think that they have missed several opportunities on the hardware side, waited too long to provide multiplayer options and generally have alienated third party publishers across the board. Each of those missteps is likely to cost them in the next console generation.

NL: You’ve had a lot to say about the Wii U lately. What specific challenges do you feel it faces during its lifespan in order to achieve success?

MP: I don’t think that the Wii U can succeed without a lot of third party software support, and don’t see third parties supporting it until it grows its installed base. Those things are correlated: a small installed base means less third party support, and the installed base can’t grow without third party support. If Nintendo can somehow convince third parties to develop exclusives and to develop cross platform games for Wii U, it has a chance. However, with games like Battlefield and GTA coming out without Wii U versions, it doesn’t appear that the third party support will be forthcoming any time this year.

NL: From a purely gaming perspective, what are your thoughts on the Wii U itself, and the software you’ve seen so far?

MP: Nintendo first party games are really fun. I don’t particularly “get” the GamePad controller, and it seems like the lower half of the DS to me. I’m not a huge player of DS titles, so the controls are largely lost on me. I don’t understand games like ZombiU, for example, as I think they would be more fun with conventional controls. I understand the features of games like Call of Duty — which really does use two screens — but I think that we’re unlikely to see much support from third parties going forward. As a console, I don’t really think that the Wii U is anything special.

Full interview here