With a marketplace that's rife with several pieces of hardware, surely the concept of installation base is going to play into the minds of publishers when it comes time to put out games. Iwata feels that way, anyway.

According to Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, the economic downturn is going to force publishers to consider the amount of consumer presence when it comes to platform choice.

"To the third party software manufacturers, the surprise must be bigger...Some are reportedly saying that they bet on the wrong horse or that they need to change course. I recognise that each one of the third parties is trying to develop software that can be appealing on DS and Wii systems which have significantly increased the installed bases, while narrowing the overall number of software to develop." -- Satoru Iwata via GI.biz

The lack of epic third party presence on the Wii, as I've griped about tons of times, is exactly what keeps me from sitting down with the console more frequently. There are good games out there, of course, but it might take something like an economic crisis in order to flood Nintendo's catalogue.

I'm not saying that companies will flock to the Wii and DS. Sure, their installation bases are gigantic, but they're having problems when it comes to moving software. We reported on that earlier today. According to that source, Nintendo knows they're having trouble selling games. It might be up to the third party companies to get software moving, and I believe that's what Iwata's hoping for.

Do I think that's going to happen? Ehhhhh, I don't know. I do, certainly, see companies less willing to release games with a high risk of not selling. But that seems to be common sense.