Nintendo Not Planning To Increase Western Game Development

According to Nintendo of America senior vice president George Harrison, the company is not planning to ramp up first-party game development in the U.S., despite the decisive success of the Wii in the region. In a recent interview with Wired News, Harrison clarified that software production decisions are made by Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata and the management team, which includes Nintendo EAD director Shigeru Miyamoto. The Nintendo of America exec added, "I'm not aware of any plans to push for more software development here in the U.S." Nintendo relies on third-party publishers in the U.S. to develop games that target Western cultural sensibilities. Said Harrison, "They're doing a great job both on DS and on Wii. They tend to provide product in categories that we aren't particularly good at doing, like sports or other genres. And since they're Western publishers, they tend to be more in tune with Western tastes." According to the article, aside from Texas-based Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the only other first-party Wii title in development in America is Project Hammer -- announced at E3 2006, but currently "on hold."