14 DAY TRIAL // Nintendo is a company that develops most of its big franchises in house and rarely works with Western development studios but it seems that more such cooperation might happen in the future, with a new The Legend of Zelda game a possible target.
Speaking to Wired, Shigeru Miyamoto stated, “As you know, we have already collaborated with Retro for the Metroid Prime series in the past. And I think when we talk about any other franchise, Zelda might be a possible franchise for that collaboration.”
The veteran developer says that Retro took care of the artwork and the course design for the game, with Nintendo working on the controls and on the actual core gameplay mechanics.
Miyamoto added, “People often say that videogames made by Western developers are somehow different in terms of taste for the players, in comparison with Japanese games. I think that means that the Western developers and Japanese developers, they are good at different fields.”
Working with Western developers also means that the final product might have a wider target audience and can use different styles to bring in different types of players.
Skyward Sword, the recent Legend of Zelda launch on the Nintendo Wii, has been a success both with critics and in terms of sales and at the moment Nintendo is widely thought to be working on a new title in the series which will be launched on the new Wii U platform that is set to be released during 2012.
Traditionally collaborations between Western and Japanese developers have not managed to perform well on the Japanese market and Nintendo will be careful to make sure that it satisfies its core fans first.
It’s not clear what Western developers would be ready to tackle such a big project as a new Legend of Zelda video game.