Nintendo doesn't have to worry about running out of big existing franchises. Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, Brain Training and Mario Kart are all a lot bigger than Metroid, for example, and at least as big as Smash. I think Nintendo wants to have a ton of heavy hitters for every Xmas. If they keep coming up with great ideas for Wii-brand games, and reinvent the Zelda franchise like they've said they would for the next iteration, and don't mess up conversions from the handheld world, they should be okay. By 2009 and certainly 2010, third parties ought to have big properties on the system too, so they'll fill in the gaps later in the cycle. Games like Wii Sports, Mario, Smash, Nintendogs, Animal Crossing, Mario Kart and Brain Training are all the type that can keep selling systems for years, too. Its really astonishing how many huge franchises Nintendo has.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
