Yes. My business-minded approach assumes these two businesses operate as businesses function. The way that publisher-oriented development works is that the party that holds the money and invests in the development of the product ultimately gets the final say on it. The people hired to make the product usually get a say in how it turns out, have a variable amount of creative freedom on a per case basis, and if they aren't owned by the investors or bound by a contract, can opt against making the product. It is a collaborative process determined by the parties involved and the contracts signed.And THAT'S your key problem right there N3ON. You're assuming that NINTENDO is the one that asks for any game that Camelot makes. You're assuming that Camelot is at Nintendo's every whim for whatever projects to develop. You're assuming that Camelot MUST just want to make whatever they want, it's Nintendo that wants all of these sports spinoffs! Talk to me about assumptions all you want, but you're the one assuming the most here.
Nintendo is the one that actually wanted Golden Sun 3 to happen in 2003. Camelot is the one that didn't want to make it then. What does this tell us?
What Nintendo wants Camelot to make does not bloody matter whatsoever. They do not take such an active interest in outside companies to where they will expressly deny anything that they don't want to further their brand. Camelot chooses every single project they take on. Nintendo has no role in deciding what Camelot does or doesn't do even remotely, and this holds true for every company that Nintendo works with. The only thing they have say in is how the IP is used and represented. That's it. They are NOT going to say no to a Golden Sun game just because "a Mario sports game would be safer." That's Camelot's decision through and through.
And if you'll look at the sales data I posted earlier, look at where Mario Golf sits. In the history of the entire series, Mario Golf has broken 1 million sales one time. Is that your definition of a "safe" game? This is the reason that Golf hasn't gotten a new entry.
Your business minded approach towards Nintendo's interactions with their related developers is incredibly misguided and riddled with the most assumptions out of any argument on this thread.
So it absolutely does matter completely what Nintendo wants if Camelot is working for them. If Camelot wants to make a Mario sports game, they can't without Nintendo's approval. If Camelot wants to make a Golden Sun, they can't without Nintendo's approval. Not only does Nintendo co-own these properties (maybe fully own the sports ones), and thus it would be illegal to make them without Nintendo's contractual approval, but Nintendo provides the funds. They can decide against developing whatever they want. Camelot is not self-sufficient, they rely on investment; they can't make those games without some means of financial backing.
Nintendo provides the money for development. Perhaps the idea of the game does not begin with them, but it absolutely ends with them, and suggesting otherwise demonstrates a blatant lack of understanding of just how the developer/publisher dynamic works. Nintendo and Camelot both have to be on board for the project to materialize.
Your idea, seemingly, is that if Camelot wants to make a game that Nintendo is against, Nintendo would be fine pouring money into a product that they believe to be a poor investment, or may even lose them money. That has absolutely no sense whatsoever for a business. Which Nintendo is.