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Satoru Iwata gave a keynote at GDC in which he explained Nintendo's current philosophy and strategy around "garage developers". It basically comes down to this

Satoru Iwata gave a keynote at GDC in which he explained Nintendo's current philosophy and strategy around "garage developers". It basically comes down to this: Nintendo wants to protect the traditional videogame market because it views it as a market of craftsmanship. By that they mean that when you invest in the development of a game, you price it accordingly, and that has led to the current market, which to some extent is healthy (certainly on Nintendo platforms). Compare that to the App Store market where prices are low and, on other mobile platforms like Android, sometimes free, developers have less incentive to invest much as the expected return on investment is less stable. Sure, there are huge hits, but the long tail of the market is full of low-cost, low-investment stuff. Or as you called it, "shovelware". I for one see Iwata's point of view and although it differs substantially from Apple's, I think both companies serve different markets, with different goals and ideals, and both can exist. That's why Reggie says they're not currently interested in serving that market. It's a different market.

Tiktaalik 16y ago
I think keeping shovelware out is a fair concept, but they should give interested parties more freedom to play around with their platform and make demos. As it stands many of the rules for being a Nintendo developer are arbitrary and it keeps out talented folks. For example you must have an office and you can't work out of your home. That alone could be enough to drive a startup into working on the iOS instead of the 3DS. I'd like to see Nintendo have some sort of arrangement for hobbyists to poke at the platform and make neat stuff, and for Nintendo to partner with them to publish a quality title if something of quality is present. This is similar to how Argonaut and Nintendo started working together and how Nintendo came to produce Star Fox.
- 9999 16y ago
  I don't think keeping shovelware out is a valid explanation for this blanket rule. Apple's ToS have quite a few provisions that could be used to exclude a large amount of shovelware from the app store, but they tend to be rather lax on enforcement unless it competes directly with their business interests. Thus you get 50 fart apps and only a couple of web browsers. Nintendo could easily adapt similar ToS, strictly enforce them and keep out the shovelware. Their decision to exclude this possibility entirely indicates something else is at work in their thinking. If you look at the controversy surrounding Bob's Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Game), it seems pretty obvious that their issues with the "garage developer" have little to do with keeping out mediocre titles. I would suggest that the blanket rule has more to do with their long term business interests--keeping prices up and preventing competition with their own first party games.

Tiktaalik 16y ago

I think keeping shovelware out is a fair concept, but they should give interested parties more freedom to play around with their platform and make demos. As it stands many of the rules for being a Nintendo developer are arbitrary and it keeps out talented folks. For example you must have an office and you can't work out of your home. That alone could be enough to drive a startup into working on the iOS instead of the 3DS. I'd like to see Nintendo have some sort of arrangement for hobbyists to poke at the platform and make neat stuff, and for Nintendo to partner with them to publish a quality title if something of quality is present. This is similar to how Argonaut and Nintendo started working together and how Nintendo came to produce Star Fox.

9999 16y ago
I don't think keeping shovelware out is a valid explanation for this blanket rule. Apple's ToS have quite a few provisions that could be used to exclude a large amount of shovelware from the app store, but they tend to be rather lax on enforcement unless it competes directly with their business interests. Thus you get 50 fart apps and only a couple of web browsers. Nintendo could easily adapt similar ToS, strictly enforce them and keep out the shovelware. Their decision to exclude this possibility entirely indicates something else is at work in their thinking. If you look at the controversy surrounding Bob's Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Game), it seems pretty obvious that their issues with the "garage developer" have little to do with keeping out mediocre titles. I would suggest that the blanket rule has more to do with their long term business interests--keeping prices up and preventing competition with their own first party games.