Nintendo taking quiet approach with indie plans

Nintendo has taken a less-public approach with courting indie developers, a method that some indies are praising.

Ozzie Mejia

July 26, 2013 2:30 PM

3

Nintendo hasn't been quite as public about their plans for indie developers as Sony or, more recently, Microsoft. That doesn't mean they aren't actively courting indie developers for their platforms. Several indie devs have responded positively to Nintendo's growing outreach to their sector, noting that the company simply isn't as public about it as its competition.

Rhodri Broadbent of Dakko Dakko (Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails) lauds Nintendo's lowkey approach. "Certainly in our experience Nintendo has been every bit as helpful as the other platform holders," he told Edge. "They don’t shout very loudly about it, but they are working hard behind the scenes to make their platforms as welcoming as possible."

Lau Korgaard of Knapnok Games (Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party) echoes this sentiment. "Nintendo is just doing the right thing without making a big fuss about it. They work on establishing genuine human relationships with the indies," he added. "They are working on making their tools easily accessible and free and provide equipment for you and are super encouraging in general."

The 3DS and Wii U indie library is quietly growing, with Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party, Tengami, Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey, Cloudberry Kingdom, and Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails among those titles set to arrive on the eShop in the future.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?