Research: Wii Has Most Original IP, But Also Most 'Congestion'

Not only does Nintendo's Wii have a bigger slate of packaged releases than either Xbox 360 or PS3 -- a gap it stands to widen in the second half of the year -- but it has more original IP, too. According to a new Screen Digest report, some 40 titles based on new IP will release in the third quarter, and more than half of those will be Wii games. Part of this, the report asserts, is that Wii's controller, the tastes of its audience and low development cost make Wii exclusives far more likely than on other platforms. In fact, since the present console generation began, the report says Wii has "more than doubled" its number of titles based on new IP compared to PlayStation 3, and it offers a third more than Xbox 360. Namco Bandai's Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, The Sky Crawlers and Wii Cheer, Marvelous' Little King's Story and Take-Two's Carnival Games: Minigolf are just a few of the new IPs on tap for the third quarter. "Wii’s unique interface and market-leading hardware sales rates have convinced publishers to deepen support levels for the platform," says Screen Digest. "Cheap development costs have also enabled a number of smaller publishers." But with developers ramping up releases across all platforms (led by Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard) for the busy Christmas section, the report concludes that Wii software could end up "the most competitive and congested" sector. And with supply lines "generous," according to Screen Digest, it remains to be seen whether demand will match the supply.