Nintendo promises closer 3rd party ties

The impressive E3 software line-up for 3DS proved that Nintendo’s new platform is one that publishers clearly believe in – and Saturo Iwata has pledged to ensure that remains the case.

The Nintendo president has repeatedly had to reassure third party publishers about the market viability of non-Nintendo titles on its hardware. It’s a situation Iwata told investors that he intends to change.

We need to decrease the concern that only software from Nintendo can sell well on Nintendo platforms and third parties’ software cannot sell in the same volume,” he stated.

Nintendo is trying to expand the installed base of our hardware with our own software so that each platform can have a solid base for third-party software companies to make lucrative businesses. We were tackling this mission as our responsibility as the platform holder.

For the Japanese launch of Nintendo 3DS, so that we will not make a trend similar to the one found for Wii in Japan now, we feel a need to have closer ties with our third-party developers from the beginning.

A host of impressive third party games have already been confirmed for the device, including: Super Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil Revelations and Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom); Metal Gear Solid 3D and Pro Evolution Soccer (Konami); The Sims and FIFA (EA); Batman and LEGO (Warner); Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest (Square Enix); DJ Hero (Activision); Dragon ball Z and Mobile Suit Gundam (Namco Bandai); Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo Koei); Super Monkey Ball (Sega); Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft); De Blob and Saints Row (THQ).

First party hits on the way include Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart 3DS, Professor Layton, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs+Cats, Pilotwings and Paper Mario.