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Jetsetter: Capcom comes home and the last of the Wii exclusives

Anthony John Agnello
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Monster Hunter Online jetsetterAfter the last week in the video game industry, it’s hard not to focus almost entirely on Japan and its most iconic developer, Nintendo. After three years of sales declines and heavy losses, the company is widening its stance, hunkering down like a sumo wrestler on the defensive. While Wii U fights to survive, Nintendo is pumping games out of its Japanese studios for Nintendo 3DS, many of them an explicit attempt to recapture the company’s Super Nintendo glory days. Sequels to 1990s classics were announced in droves, from a brand new Yoshi’s Island to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 (not the official title in the US, but that number sits prominently in the Japanese title.)

Japan is heavy on Jetsetter’s mind as well this week. Digital Trends’ weekly column devoted to import gaming and the international game development world makes stops in India and Australia this week but our other stories concern the land of the rising sun.

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Capcom brings its biggest series to China, while recommitting to Japanese development

IndiaCapcom, a Japanese publisher and developer almost as iconic as Nintendo, announced a dramatic shift in its business plans this week when it said it was cancelling a large number of games and reorganizing the company. For the past six years, Capcom has invested heavily in outsourced development, hiring mostly Western studios to make games like DmC, Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 3, and many more. Those days are over. As a result of the “decline in quality of titles outsourced to overseas developers,” Capcom is refocusing on its internal Japanese studios going forward. This may be bad news for Capcom diehards. The company already releases many games, like Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2, that never leave Japan.

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Meanwhile, Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, fresh off it worldwide success on Wii U with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, is travelling to far off lands. Chinese gaming giant Tencent has teamed up with Capcom for Monster Hunter Online, a brand new, full scale MMO made only for China. It opens for beta in June. Online gaming is an $8 billion business in China. Maybe this bit of Asian outsourcing will yield much needed profits for the old Street Fighter developer.

Indian gaming industry blooms in 2012

Jetsetter likes to regularly check in on India. One of the gaming industry’s fastest growing market is a fascinating place. The PlayStation 2, for example, is still a going concern in the country. Games were a turbulent business in 2012, though, as prices raised on big international releases and in-country mobile development ramped up. Overall, the industry grew significantly, 16 percent year-on-year to $277 million overall. That’s a fraction of the $50 billion global gaming industry, but it’s a start, with projects estimating India will be worth $776 million by 2017 according to the FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and Entertainment Industry 2013 report. Thanks as always to MCV India’s Sameer Desai for his insight into the region.

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Image used with permission by copyright holder

Before Kinectimals, Britain’s Frontier Developments was hard at work on Microsoft Zoo

K-Pop Dance FestivalEurogamer reported on Thursday that Frontier Developments, Elite developer David Braben’s intrepid studio, was once upon a time hard at work on another Microsoft exclusive that ultimately lead to the Kinect pet simulator Kinectimals. Microsoft Zoo was in development long before Kinectimals and was meant to score the Xbox company some of that sweet, sweet Zoo Tycoon money. The senior graphics user interface designer on the game posted old screenshots online, but those have since been taken down. Fans of the PC sim series will just have to content themselves with the above screenshot and fantasize about the lost UK game that could have been.

Korea gets one last Wii exclusive

Pandora’s Tower, a Castelvania inspired Wii action RPG, came out in the US this past week and that may be the very last for Nintendo’s old motion control machine. It won’t be the last Wii game around, though. Wii owners looking for something unique this year will have to go to Korea and check out the local brand of Just Dance-style games. Developer Skonec is working on the Korean exclusive K-Pop Dance Festival. It is exactly what it sounds like, a dance game with tracks from Korean pop stars like JYP and, yes, “Gangnam Style”’s Psy.

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Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Nintendo is ending Wii U and 3DS eShop service
Photos of the 3DS eShops

Nintendo has announced the end of its eShop service for the Wii U console and 3DS handheld. The eShop will stay live on those devices until late March 2023, after which players will no longer be able to purchase games or download eShop apps and services for those devices.

After the closure, players will still be able to redownload games and DLC that they already own, use online play, and download software updates.

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Latest Nintendo Direct ushers in an age of Wii nostalgia
The player throws a bowling ball in Nintendo Switch Sports.

If 2021 was the year of the Game Boy Advance renaissance, then 2022 is the year of the Wii. At this point, the Nintendo Switch has outsold the Wii, but it still doesn’t feel like the Switch is as ubiquitous with casual gamers as the Wii was. Meanwhile, the Wii is getting just old enough that it’s starting to feel nostalgic and retro.
If Nintendo wants to continue to grow the Switch’s userbase, these yearnful Wii fans need to be its next target. Perhaps that’s why the latest Nintendo Direct felt like a love letter to the Wii era by featuring games like Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers: Battle League, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. 
Nintendo Direct - 2.9.2022
Let’s go bowling
At this point, most hardcore gaming fans who want a Nintendo Switch likely already own one. While those 100+ million players will continue to buy new video games, Nintendo still wants to sell 23 million more units this year alone. If it’s going to accomplish that, it needs to entice people who might not usually play video games or spend hundreds of dollars on a new system. 
Nintendo was the most successful at doing this during the Wii era but moved away from this casual focus after the Wii U flopped. Focusing on its hardcore fans is what made the Nintendo Switch a runaway success right at launch, but we’re now almost five years in, and Nintendo is looking to maintain a growing audience. 
Making the Nintendo Switch even more appealing to casuals and non-gamers seems to be the company’s next goal. Nintendo Switch Sports recapturing some of that Wii magic is the spearhead of this strategy.
Its predecessor Wii Sports is one of the most successful games of all time. Even people who’ve never played a video game might remember the game from the Wii’s heyday. Nintendo wants a Switch in every nursing home, school, or daycare if it isn’t all ready, and first-party titles like Nintendo Switch Sports make that a possibility.
If the game catches on with casual gamers and Nintendo makes it a bundled Switch game, there’s a chance that this could be the Switch’s next Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Animal Crossing: New Horizons from a sales perspective.

Wii Remember
Believe it or not, the Wii is over 15 years old. Young kids who played games on the Wii with their parents are now adults and likely have nostalgia for those experiences. Some may even consider it to be a retro console at this point. As such, it’s not surprising that Nintendo and other companies would dip back into the well of Wii-era IPs. It started with the Skyward Sword remaster last year, but several Wii-related announcements were in this Nintendo Direct too, which made it a real trip for those of us that grew up with these games on Wii.
Mario Strikers’ last great outing was on the Wii, and the sports spin-off series has been dormant for just long enough to where Nintendo fans are delighted that it’s making a grand return. Even Nintendo Switch Sports will trigger nostalgia for the millions of people who enjoyed it over 15 years ago.
Third parties are even taking notice. Aspyr decided to specifically remaster the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which is an odd choice considering that a more polished version of the game existed for Xbox 360 and PS3. Still, the Switch is the only console capable of preserving that Wii experience, and Aspyr ensures that the Wii port doesn’t get lost to time. For players who enjoyed the Wii but don’t want to dig out their system, sensor bar, and some Wii Remotes, releases like this will allow them to satiate their nostalgia. While games like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 indicate that Nintendo isn’t abandoning its hardcore audience, it’s clear that the casual market is the Switch’s next great frontier. Many of the games featured in the February 9 Direct capitalize on a new wave of nostalgia for the Wii. Embracing that market and those causal players with these games might be the key to the Nintendo Switch’s continued success. 

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Nintendo Switch Sports has a major Wii Sports vibe
A bowler takes the top spot in Nintendo Switch Sports bowling.

Nintendo has announced Nintendo Switch Sports, a Switch sequel to the breakout Wii Sports series. The game will once again allow players to assume a character and play a variety of sports using the Joy-Cons' built-in motion controls. Tennis, bowling, and chambara are returning from previous Wii Sports titles. The game will also include new sports such as volleyball, soccer, and badminton.

Nintendo Switch Sports will launch on April 29, 2022.

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