Top Five Third-Party Wii Publishers (by Carl B.)

October 28th, 2010, by Carl B. - Nintendo has always been the master of their own console -- almost every high profile game the company puts out is a guaranteed multi-million seller. Third parties have historically had difficulty selling games on Nintendo consoles, and as a result, many shy away from their platforms or put out half-hearted efforts. That trend has continued with the Wii, but there are a few third-party developers that show a great deal of support.


Electronic Arts

EA hasn't been afraid to drop support from a platform in the past -- the company didn't back Sega's Dreamcast during the console's short life span. Although they didn't develop Wii versions of popular shooters such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor, they have continued sports games including the Madden series and released a Dead Space rail-shooter.

Disney

Disney has shown support for the Wii with several family-oriented titled, including the recently released Guilty Party. Their huge pledge of support is with Epic Mickey, for which they brought famed developer Warren Spector on board for the ambitious title.

Activision

Unlike publishers such as EA who didn't take time to develop Wii versions of their popular shooters, Activision has done just the opposite: sans Modern Warfare 2, every Call of Duty title released this generation has a Wii version. To top it off, Activision and developer Eurocom are developing a re-imagining of the classic N64 shooter Goldeneye 007, exclusively for Wii.

Capcom

Despite not developing a Wii version of Resident Evil 5, Capcom has placed many of their flagship franchises on the Wii. Several entries in the Resident Evil series call the Wii their home, along with Monster Hunter Tri, a series that is very popular in Japan.

Sega

By far, Sega has been the most supportive Wii developer and publisher. They have taken chances on the platform with games like MadWorld and got burned, but still support Nintendo's current generation console. Sega continues to bring "hardcore" games to the Wii, with High Voltage Software's The Conduit last year and Conduit 2 in 2011. Sonic the Hedgehog has also found a home on Wii alongside Mario, with Sega and Nintendo developing sports games featuring the two videogame icons together. Sonic Colors, which looks to be the best 3D Sonic since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, is also a Wii exclusive.

What are your favorite third-party Wii developers and publishers?