Nintendo: Openness is key for WiiWare

Nintendo’s European boss Laurent Fischer has told Develop that the WiiWare service beats the likes of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network due to its open nature.

Speaking in an interview with Develop, he said the platform was built to remove barriers to entry for developers.

“When we were designing the WiiWare platform,” said Fischer, “the key area for us was an entry point with a very open door, and a real way for developers to take their concept through there.

“It is made to work like that,” he added, “and we’re happy that it is working as we wished.”

Fischer implied that the WiiWare service would not function properly without this degree of openness with developers.

“The low barrier for entry is the absolute priority for us,” he said. “If we were ever not able to keep that wish, all the work we did to allow developers to reach us would have been wasted.”

When questioned on how Nintendo was adjusting to the App Store’s commanding presence in the indie scene (with it’s strikingly low barriers of entry), Fischer explained that Nintendo was “constantly looking very carefully” at the space.

“There are a lot of opportunities to develop for us. We are in a very dynamic area, where we are always considering how to improve the system for developers.”

Said Fischer: “Already, we have many different people making these games for us. Developers with such varied profiles. We have veteran developers who have been creating games for many years, but we also have a student team making a game for us, which started as an end of year exercise. Something done at school is becoming a game.”