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Acclaim - GameCube Not Worth Publishing For?

Posted by simoniker on from the maybe-no-great-loss? dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a GamePro report claiming that Acclaim Entertainment is dropping support for the Gamecube. The article quotes UK trade magazine MCV's interview with new Acclaim CEO Rod Cousens, who says "Why should we develop for platforms that don't deliver profits for us? We will still support the PS2 and Xbox, but Nintendo? No, not in the foreseeable future." Reportedly, this won't be true for the handful of in-development GameCube conversions at the troubled publisher, but these harsh words seem to imply that further Burnout sequels, amongst others, will not be coming to GameCube. Update: 06/23 22:08 GMT by S : Planet GameCube got an official comment from the publisher which says "Acclaim will now evaluate each title and decide which system(s) it best fits", but it's clear the CEO is still very down on GameCube.

13 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. The trouble with the cube by lightspawn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The gamecube's curse is the quality of Nintendo's first-party games.

    With the PS2 and that other console, one company makes the hardware and maybe a handful of game titles, and the rest of the sales are divided between all other publishers.

    With Nintendo, the quality and brand recognition of the flagship titles (Metroid, Zelda, Mario, etc) are so irresistable many first-party games are considered must-have purchases, leaving cube owners little time and money for third-party titles.

    Quality kills.

    1. Re:The trouble with the cube by leifm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or maybe there are a lot of people in my situation. I bought a Gamecube for the first party titles, and also have a PS2 as well. For a lot of games (Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy things) I feel the PS2 controller is better because it has more buttons. So I buy that kind of stuff for the PS2, and the Gamecube just gets used for first party Nintendo stuff.

      --

      "Windows Me offers tremendous reliability and stability improvements..." -- Paul Thurott
    2. Re:The trouble with the cube by jpkazarian · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Most of the crap produced by Acclaim is just fuel for the teenage dorks that make up most of the the XBox buyers anyway ...

      Acclaim is not known for games targeted at youngsters, which is the Cube's market. Same for the other third party developers: no drive to market quality E rated games. Which means Nintendo has been given a monopoly by default.

      PS Referencing a previous /. post, wasn't Acclaim listed for breaking contracts in the 25 dumbest moments in gaming? Point is the company DOES have a history of substituting marketing for quality, so perhaps their pulling out doesn't mean much other then such an approach does not work in Cubeland.

  2. Re:Prediction by lightspawn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    what about Gameboy Advance? Will Acclaim be making games for that still?

    Yes.

    The Sony handhald gaming unit it still far off, and its doubtful it will be able to dethrone the GBA. Stopping GBA development right now is effectively stopping handheld game development. Why leave a market where development time and budget are much smaller and the payout almost the same?

  3. Re:Good riddance ... by lightspawn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We're in a recession. Gamers are educating themselves more, and are spending their dollars on games that will give them the most bang for the buck.

    We wish.

    How many games are purchased after reading reviews? 5%? 10%? How many are purchased on a whim, or by parents who figure if the kids like superman they gotta like the game, or just because it's got a 2-player mode and you kids can play together and quit kicking your brother and leave me the hell alone I'm trying to drink?

  4. So let's see by Schnapple · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The same place that gave use Turok sequel after Turok sequel, the crap that was BMX XXX and apparently isn't above suggesting that tombstones are fodder for advertising and that speeding tickets are fine so long as they're on the way to buy Burnout 2 is maybe leaving the GameCube. Big whoop. Nintendo's better off without their about-to-go-out-of-business ass.

    On a more important note, anyone notice how it's always places like 3DO that make statements like this? Everyone focuses on one message "see! the GameCube sucks!" instead of the real message "we're reducing our platforms by one to see if we can stay in business".

    --

    Schnapple

  5. Not the end... at all... by Iscariot_ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't think that this spells the end, or the begining of the end, for the GameCube. The GameCube is kinda like a Mac in my opinion. It has a very defined nitche, but it is still very profitable. Many people are addicted to it. Just like you can only run OSX on a Mac (at a resonable speed), you can only play Nintendo's games on GCN.

    I will always buy Nintendo systems as long as the big N is creating super-high quality games for their systems. I own all three systems, and somehow I end up playing GameCube the most. I guess I'm still addicted to the ZMM (Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc.) universes.

    I'm anxious to see how Nintendo changes their direction with their next-gen console to solve some of these problems. These are tough times, and three consoles creates a saturated market.

    --

    Go here for teh [sic] funny.
    1. Re:Not the end... at all... by liquidzero4 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I couldn't agree with you more. I own all three systems as well and find myself playing GameCube the most. I would have to say out of the three systems the one that's barely used is my PS2. GameCube definitely has a niche; I loved your analogy of the GameCube and a MAC. What the GameCube has going for it is the uniqueness of the games on the system. In my opinion the PS2 and Xbox games are very similar, but the GameCube titles are so different. I see no reason in owning an Xbox and a PS2, there basically the same (of course the Xbox is better). In short I love my gamecube. There are titles for it that will never be available to for Xbox or PS2.

    2. Re:Not the end... at all... by August_zero · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The GameCube is kinda like a Mac in my opinion.

      Good example, I have thought the same thing myself for some time now. You don't need to be #1, you just need to be strong enough to make a profit, keep your share holders happy, and continue to innovate circles around the work of most other developers.

      If MS would get of their lazy bums and get some better games out for Live I might be more endeared to the console, but as it is, I only own a few games for it and only a couple that I actually still play
      I own all 3 myself, and I think that the Cube has my favoritest games (Metroid, Zelda, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star Online, Mario) and has some strong titles on the way as well (mario Kart anybody?) FOr me the x-box is the weak link, It's just like the PS2 IMHO but it doesn't have some of the support of the better 3rd party developers. PS2 at least has Metal Gear, Ratchet and Clank, Dynasty Warriors and a few other really strong franchises amid a flowing ocean of crap.

      --
      On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  6. My vote by Daetrin · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I'm anxious to see how Nintendo changes their direction with their next-gen console to solve some of these problems. These are tough times, and three consoles creates a saturated market.

    Backwards compatibility (must have.) A second left shoulder button (must have.) Perhaps a better second analog stick. Some people have complained about the d-pad, but i don't have any complaints there. Develop a better online gaming presence, regardless of how important or not it is to the average gamer the lack is a PR killer. Get out just before or soon after the PS3/XBox2.

    And most important, find a way to kick the (undeserved) just for kids image.

    --
    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  7. What's really going on by Fammy2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just pulling back, not stopping all together. Sometimes it helps to gather all the facts than to take a single quote out of context.

    http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item &id=4469

    --
    If I had something intelligent to say, I would have said it.
  8. here's the problem... by xxxj03yxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If Acclaim would stop making games that completely suck, maybe they'd see their profits go up.

  9. The countdown... by M3wThr33 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    *sigh*
    Sega Sports, Acclaim, who else?

    The only reason they leave it is because they can't compete with Nintendo's games.

    You develop on the PS2 because it'll sell no matter what. There's enough saturation to support crap.

    You port it to the XBox, because it's DirectX and easy to do, so it takes MUCH less to sell to profit, BUT sells more sense XBox owners are hungry for anything.

    You ignore the GameCube because no matter what you do you're competing with the best game developers on the planet and make up poor excuses as to why your games suck.