Re:Introduction to Apple Silicon
by BolexNOLA on Tuesday August 02, 2022 @04:32PM
(#32323915)
> Nintendo, rightly, knew they couldn’t let it happen again in America. They needed to show their console wouldn’t be full of complete trash, so they used the lockout chip to ensure all publishers had to through them.
It wasn’t just about protecting the brand, it was also every bit about collecting money at every single step of the production pipeline. They were able to not only have some better QC, but they were able to literally tell developers “no, you cannot make your game for anyone else. If you do, you’re not allowed to make it for the Nintendo, and that sucks for you because we have ~80% of the market.“
They did it so they could enforce what was functionally a monopoly on the games industry. Sega went to great lengths to undo Nintendo‘s grasp, and ultimately they weren’t even successful - they got a notable carve out of the market but it was still Nintendo’s industry.
It took Sony going on a revenge tour (touting their CD format and wildly generous/unsustainable licensing deals) after Nintendo backstabbed them to finally dethrone Nintendo and end the norm that was their walled garden/top down control of the console games world.
It wasn’t just about protecting the brand, it was also every bit about collecting money at every single step of the production pipeline. They were able to not only have some better QC, but they were able to literally tell developers “no, you cannot make your game for anyone else. If you do, you’re not allowed to make it for the Nintendo, and that sucks for you because we have ~80% of the market.“
They did it so they could enforce what was functionally a monopoly on the games industry. Sega went to great lengths to undo Nintendo‘s grasp, and ultimately they weren’t even successful - they got a notable carve out of the market but it was still Nintendo’s industry.
It took Sony going on a revenge tour (touting their CD format and wildly generous/unsustainable licensing deals) after Nintendo backstabbed them to finally dethrone Nintendo and end the norm that was their walled garden/top down control of the console games world.