No, Nintendo is not appealing to crowdfunding for upcoming Wii U title Game & Wario. It is, however, quite comfortable with poking fun at the practice in the game's new promotional video, shown above.
The video depicts flatulent ne'er-do-well Wario taking to "crowdfarter.com" (a URL that in fact redirects to the game's official page on Nintendo's website) to encourage fans to fund the game's development. "Why should I pay for everything when other people will do it for me?" Wario asks in the video's voiceover. "Waho! I'm-a gonna be rich!"
Crowdfunding game development has shot up dramatically in the last year. Kickstarter reported over $83 million raised for game projects in 2012, with flagship entries like the working titled Double Fine Adventure (now Broken Age) and Project Eternity both bringing in more than $3 million apiece.
Kickstarter and other crowdfunding services like IndieGoGo are not without their critics, of course, and more than a few projects have failed. But it's probably pretty unlikely that Nintendo will be going the crowdfunding route any time soon.
Game & Wario will be arriving on Wii U on June 23rd.
It may be satirical and in character with Wario, but maybe now is not the best time for them to be lampooning say indies and crowdfunding with the recent ire they're earning from the Let's Play stuff and the current state of Wii U sales. Hell it kind of rubs me the wrong way.
Without intending to diminish or belittle your reaction at all (because how you feel is how you feel) I'm not seeing the connection between the subject matter here and the LP fiasco. Nobody is alleging they were trying to fund a game by monetizing LPs of Nintendo titles, were they?
If anything, this ad could even be construed as a jab at those who use crowdfunding not because it's their only option, but because they don't feel like spending any of their own money. "Why should I pay for everything when other people will do it for me?"
Why doesn't Nintendo do voice acting in its games again? This is better voice acting than any game they've ever done. I would love to hear Wario cracking jokes rather than stupid squeaks and moans from their characters.
Also, spot on with the crowd funding jabs. The Kickstarter stuff has turned into Beggar's Alley. Start ups are one thing, but now you have established artists asking for money that clearly have the bank or name recognition to fund whatever it is themselves, or get the funding from independent investors that would expect a return. Sure, you can just ignore and not contribute. But the fact that they asked in the first place is shameless.
Every time they've tried full voice acting, it's never ended well for them.
Well, some of the recent Fire Emblem games have small amounts of passable voice acting. But Other M is probably the strongest argument for Nintendo keeping its main characters silent.
If anything, this ad could even be construed as a jab at those who use crowdfunding not because it's their only option, but because they don't feel like spending any of their own money. "Why should I pay for everything when other people will do it for me?"
Also, spot on with the crowd funding jabs. The Kickstarter stuff has turned into Beggar's Alley. Start ups are one thing, but now you have established artists asking for money that clearly have the bank or name recognition to fund whatever it is themselves, or get the funding from independent investors that would expect a return. Sure, you can just ignore and not contribute. But the fact that they asked in the first place is shameless.
Every time they've tried full voice acting, it's never ended well for them.
Well, some of the recent Fire Emblem games have small amounts of passable voice acting. But Other M is probably the strongest argument for Nintendo keeping its main characters silent.