iD CEO: “Show Me What Makes Such a Compelling Case for the Wii”

It’s no secret that iD CEO Todd Hollenshead (who looks like he could be a dead ringer for a young Kurt Russell from this angle) doesn’t exactly have a soft spot for developing titles for the Wii. He’s not entirely against the idea, but no one has yet made a solid case for it to him.

The reason being, in his eyes, is quite simply that the Wii is Nintendo, and then everyone else. And among the latter, you have your licensed properties, then everything else, which is what companies lose money on.

“So, for a really original, game-centric IP,” he tells GameSpot in a recent interview, “if you’re a third-party developer, I would say, ‘Show me what makes such a compelling case for the Wii.’ I’m not saying that it’s not out there, but there hasn’t been anything that’s been demonstrated to be a really huge success.”

He goes on to note that game-centric properties released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC tend to flourish, particularly when there is a combined launch, but they don’t find themselves as successful on the Wii. I wonder where something such as Guitar Hero factors in.

He adds that if you’re already doing those others, then one might add the Wii as a fourth platform. “But if you look at the numbers, independent Wii-centric development is not really justified yet.”

However, he’s not out to cut down Nintendo or the Wii — perhaps there’s just something to be said about third-party efforts not knowing how to exploit the system, something Nintendo would know from the outset, having made it. Or, to borrow from Triple H, maybe Nintendo really is just “that damn good.”

“Their games are awesome — I’m a fan, too. But as a company that doesn’t make Nintendo-type games, the Wii is less of a compelling platform for us to really sink a lot of resources into.”

So what’s the answer? To Hollenshead, it’s for someone to show that yes, there will actually be buyers who show up to buy the kind of product they’re peddling on the Wii and justify their investment. “I mean, if you look at the market, the type of games we traditionally make, those games are selling record numbers on non-Wii platforms. But despite the success of the Wii, and the fact that it’s the largest-selling console out there, games like we make are still doing bigger numbers than they’ve ever done before.”

Hollenshead doesn’t feel there’s really any need to worry about the Wii, though. “We celebrate it, we love the Wii, but it’s not for the type of games we make. I think that sometimes people lose sight of the fact that almost every company doesn’t try to be all things to all people. Nintendo isn’t trying to be all things to all people either. They have a great console with the Wii, they make great games. But they’re really not trying to push the graphics envelope. They’re doing other things.”

You can read the entire interview, in which he also talks a bit about the upcoming iD title Rage, at GameSpot.

So far, the likes of No More Heroes and MadWorld seem to have only set the world on fire for those who have actually played them. It leaves one to wonder how The Conduit will stack up, or if indeed any third-party is going to find a way to bridge the gap between what traditional gamers say they want on Wii, and what they’ll actually buy on Wii.