Developers of Unravel and Ori and the Blind Forest complain online that Nintendo is purposefully keeping Nintendo NX dev kits from third party studios.

Nintendo has a history of not being cooperative with third party developers, and a result their consoles have typically had weak third party support, with the Wii and Wii U especially being ignored by many major game developers. While some Nintendo fans may have hoped that the company has learned its lesson from the Wii U's sparse library of games, it seems as though the Big N is repeating the same mistakes it has made in the past.

This is according to Martin Sahlin, known for developing Unravel (check out our Unravel review), as well as Thomas Mahler of Moon Studios, who released Ori and the Blind Forest last year to widespread critical acclaim. The claims started yesterday, with Sahlin beginning the discussion by expressing disappointment that Nintendo is keeping Nintendo NX dev kits out of the hands of some third party developers.

Mahler echoed Sahlin's claims, but did so with a bit more profanity. Mahler expressed frustration that Nintendo, and other console manufacturers, are too secretive about their consoles, making it virtually impossible for developers to create games for the systems before launch.

The complaints from Mahler and Sahlin potentially conflict with previous reports that Nintendo has already sent out NX dev kits to studios around the world. Of course, it's possible that Nintendo is being selective with which third party studios it has sent NX dev kits to, or the company may be looking to have a launch primarily comprised of first-party games.

It seems unreasonable to keep Nintendo NX dev kits away from all third party studios, even when considering Nintendo's reputation. That being said, with big companies like EA and Capcom expressing interest in Nintendo NX development, it's entirely possible that smaller developers like Coldwood Interactive (the Unravel studio) and Moon Studios are the only ones being ignored for the time being, for whatever reason.

Rumors indicate that the Nintendo NX will launch in 2016, so it would be foolish of Nintendo to keep NX dev kits from third party developers, assuming that release window is indeed accurate. Nintendo may have made some questionable decisions in the past regarding third parties, but hopefully the company is smart enough to realize that the NX can avoid the same pitfalls of the Wii U with strong third party support.

What do you think about Nintendo keeping the Nintendo NX dev kits from at least some third party developers? Do you think Nintendo should be selective when it comes to which companies are given early access to the NX, or would it be more beneficial for as many studios to be able to develop for it as possible?

Source: Crave Online