Could Nintendo Have Purposefully Done This?

I think you've got a two fold problem here. Publishers by and large are conservative. Some more so than others. I'd be interested to look at the number of GC titles that Ubisoft published next to others. I'd also be curious about Ubisoft and riskier titles. Nintendo was probably interested in talking to publishers very carefully, because a couple of really bad (or conservative) launch titles could actually hurt the uptake of the Wii.

I'd be surprised to find out that this wasn't a strategic move. Award those who have been working with you all along. Repremand other publishers a bit. Ensure your launch titles meet your own desires. Sounds like a win for Nintendo. The question it begs of course is, will publishers retaliate. I think the answer to that question is the success rate of the Wii. If it is the big seller, can publishers afford to not embrace it?

GameDaily BIZ: Wii Success Bad for Publishers?

If publishers aren't able to cash in on Nintendo's new system this holiday it could be disappointing for investors as well. One hedge fund manager said, "No one's going to make money on the software except Ubisoft." Ubisoft's Red Steel impressed many at E3 and is expected to debut with the Wii. "Everyone got caught flat-footed," the hedge fund manager added.

Some publishers believe the problem actually stems from Nintendo itself because the company was so tight-lipped until E3. Miguel Iribarren, Midway's vice president of publishing, explained that Midway had basically nothing in the pipeline for Wii until recently. "We didn't have the information to work off of," Iribarren said. "I think everyone pushed [Wii development] to the back burner till they got the information on the machine itself and the business model."