Wii U: multiple unannounced third-party titles inbound, says Iwata

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said there are more games coming to Wii U than the public currently knows about.

"Admittedly, there are currently a small number of announcements of new games by third-party software developers for Wii U," Iwata said in a Q&A with investors.

"I am not in a position to discuss the software to be launched by the third-party developers in detail, but there are more key titles to be announced by them."

Iwata ackowledged that some western publishers, like EA, have gone publicly cold on the Wii U, and said that Nintendo has two plans to help the console lure them back.

"Naturally, it is desirable that many developers support Wii U and release a lot of games for the platform as soon as possible, and we think there are two things we must do right away. One is to seamlessly release our first-party titles starting from next month to improve the momentum of Wii U," he said.

"As third-party software developers do business for their own profits, they tend to avoid investing in a platform with little presence. We would therefore like them to see Wii U as a platform with which they feel they can make profits from an economical perspective. However, if we tried to do nothing but buying our way to create such a good condition for developers, our own business could collapse. Accordingly, we will give more momentum to Wii U through our software. This is one thing we need to do."

The second thing is to promote the console actively enough that one of these mysterious upcoming third-party games is a hit, proving that Nintendo's not the only company who can make money on the console.

"There were so many games released by third party publishers for Wii U during the launch period, but most of them were converted from other platforms and therefore could not enjoy brisk sales," Iwata acknowledged.

"As a result, some software developers have become pessimistic about Wii U. However, the time will come when some third-party games for Wii U and for other platforms are released at the same time this year. It is important to have given much momentum to Wii U around that period."

Iwata said an increase in the number of consumers who enjoy the Wii U's unique features - notably off-screen play - will help the console gain momentum.

"Even if these publishers did not have any concrete plans to develop Wii U software, they will swiftly change their minds when they see the successful examples from others. By giving sales momentum to Wii U through our first-party software in the short run and seeing success from third-party software within this year, we would like to dramatically change the situation of Wii U next year and beyond," he concluded.

Thanks, NintendoLife.