Games such as Pikmin 3 delayed and understaffed as developers shifted attentions to priority titles
Nintendo miscalculated the development resources required for its Wii U launch titles, the company’s president has admitted.
Speaking in a financial briefing Q&A, Satoru Iwata said development of some of its titles had required more resources than it had previously expected, and it was then forced to take developers working on other projects in an effort to complete them in time for the console’s launch.
He added that as a result, development of titles such as Pikmin 3 and other titles to be released in future were “understaffed” during this period as the company rushed to finish its games in time for the Wii U’s launch, causing subsequent delays.
To date, Nintendo has developed titles such as Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land the Wii U, as well as a number of 3DS titles in the past year such as Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Super Mario Bros 2.
“The reason for the delayed release of our first-party titles was the fact that completing the games released at the same time as the launch of Wii U required more development resources than expected, so some staff members from development teams working on other titles had to help complete them,” said Iwata.