When WiiWare was announced, Nintendo presented it as an opportunity for any developer - no matter how small - to get involved in making games for the service.

Indeed, a recent summit in London to celebrate the then-imminent launch of the service saw Nintendo of Europe reiterate their message of support for those game-makers without the vast resources of multi-billion-selling publishers.

Yet apparently that support hasn’t materialised for some small developers. An unnamed developer for Xiotex Studios has written a piece on the company’s blog, quoting a letter from Nintendo rejecting his application to create a title for WiiWare.

Apparently, ”Nintendo exercises a very high level of discretion in approving only a select number of applicants” - hardly the welcoming nature presented to developers attending the summit. And the reason for the rigidity of the selection process? “Nintendo provides Authorized Developers with highly confidential information and many of Nintendo’s Licensees rely on recommendations and referrals by Nintendo to Authorized Developers.”

Perhaps what rankles most of all is the suggestion that “in evaluating developers, Nintendo looks for relevant game development experience. In addition, Nintendo looks for secure business facilities, sufficient equipment and staffing, financial stability and other attributes that would distinguish the developer.”

So, in other words, Nintendo is only willing to process applications for developers of a certain size, and with a degree of past experience. Meaning it’s well out of the reach of any bedroom programmers hoping to get their first titles on the market. Again, hardly in line with the rhetoric from Nintendo.

Click on the link below and have a read - it’s very interesting stuff, even if it makes you shake your head in dismay, as it did me. As the developer sarcastically says, ”best bit is - when I made the application I was already working as a contractor on a Wii title and before that I had worked on GameCube titles - apparently that doesn’t count as relevant experience”. A real shame for those with a great idea who were looking forward to seeing it realised on Nintendo’s console.

Xiotex Studios Blog - WiiWare Is A Lie

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am by Chris Schilling
WiiWare.