Recently I was searching Winter on Wikipedia. Under some of the options of what you may have wanted was a game called Winter for the Wii. Out of curiosity I clicked on it and saw that it was developed a few years back but has yet to find a publisher. After following some links and searching on a few websites such as IGN and Destructoid, I found video footage showing how it looked in game and played. It was like taking the horror of Silent Hill as well as the lighting effects of SH: Shattered Memories and suspense all kinds of horror movies available on the market today and wrapped them up into a promising fear-fest on the Wii. I sat there wondering and searching why the developers couldn't find any publishers to put the game out there on the market. The reason that n-Space, inc. gave was that nobody seemed willing to put a new IP (Intellectual Property) in the survival-horror genre on the Wii; which was perceived as a console geared more towards children then the adults that a horror game would target.
The game looked pretty good, something I would enjoy for sure, but why isn't it available? The sad and true answer to that is because of what it is... new. Developers look at games that can be produced and gear more towards sequels, prequels, spinn-offs and remakes because of a familiar name, place or cast because it guarantees the minimum of the dedicated fans of said games will buy it. For something like Winter the game is completely new, yet looks a lot like Silent Hill, so why is it still in "development limbo"? Companies are not willing to take a risk on games that are new, no matter how familiar they may be on the inside of them. The reason for that is because of the cost is to high, a video game in development by the big brand studios is in the millions of dollars. The easiest way I think I can sum this up is the card shop example.
Young man walks into the local card shop with a baseball card worth $500. He walks to the counter and the man says he can buy it for $300. The young man is crushed and asks, "Sir, no disrespect, but why so low?" The man replies "Son, look out that window at all those closed businesses and people out of work. I'm not trying to cheat you son, but I have to make money too and with the way things are, it'll take time for the card to sell, which in the meantime, I have to pay my overhead fees and operate my business. If I pay you $500 for a card worth $500, I'll not make money, at $300 I might make about $50 if it sells at $500 after I figure in my costs and until then what I pay you is wrapped up in the card and can't be used."
So you see, even if a game like Winter would be the hit I think it could be, the game developers right now are having to play it safer, because even with guaranteed things like the sequels, those millions budgeted are wrapped up in the game until it starts selling. What's worse is when a game comes out and may be perfectly good, but marketing or bugs or something else could come up and land it in the budget bins quickly. So next time you get frustrated due to great games like Winter being in limbo right now, look at it from the publishers' perspective and ask if you too would want to risk that kind of money with no guarantee half of it can come back due to lack of sales. In the meantime, all of us that wanted to play Winter will just have to wait and hope it'll make it on the market eventually. Good Luck n-Space, Inc. hopefully your game will reach the homes of gamers around the world and start your own Silent Hill Franchise.
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