Makes me wonder, as well, why XSeed hasn't been bringing other titles to the WiiU... just looking at their roster of games, Wii occupies almost all of their top-seller slots. (And two of those Wii titles came in well after the Wii had fallen out of relevance with any but the core of gamers and Nintendo fans.)

As for the rest, I suppose you're right. The question is unanswerable and we don't (and can never) have enough info to really build any sort of reliable annalysis. The wording of the bosses of the publishers say one thing, but we have the peculiar case of Benjamin Button Pandora's Tower popping in out of nowhere as an obscure title that just-so-happens to coincide with an obscure title given widespread recognition (of some level) from Rainfall.

Are there any significant Japan-only Wii U games around? I haven't heard any big hubbub from Wii U owners about anything, other than Fatal Frame I suppose, which is only just now releasing. I think it has to be the right game at the right time. It's not as though XSeed will localize any old game stuck in Japan.

XSeed might be better off looking at the 3DS.

They have already been doing 3DS (Rune Factory 4 and a couple more TBA), but I suppose you're right on the lack of actual JP-only WiiU titles... since most everything is Nintendo published at this point. Perhaps XSeed will jump on Fatal Frame V and try their luck at the Western WiiU market for the title.

I should revise my statement with why more companies aren't making games for WiiU. :P

This is the unfortunate truth now. It's pretty easy to see why many publishers aren't willing to take a chance on exclusives or costly ports on Wii U. But it's pretty baffling that certain remakes and multiplatform games that would be right at home on a Nintendo console aren't there -- Soul Calibur 2 HD and Resident Evil Revelations 2 stand out.

As for XSeed taking Fatal Frame V, I doubt it just because I'm pretty sure Nintendo is already planning on it.

Well on the Japanese front and outside of 1st Party Studios, I am pretty sure there is a large amount of backdoor dealing going on between Sony and many developer studios. Not that I mean that in a negative connotation, but that Sony has been either cutting royalties or sending engineering help (basically moneyhatting without exchase of money, just manhours) everywhere it can to secure titles despite the fact that its own console is woefully struggling and, even if the WiiU is a dead bird in freefall, still behind the WiiU by a sizable margin and for the forseable future.

Outside of Japan, I think its an oroborous loop. Developers don't expect titles to sell so don't release anything so titles don't sell so developers don't expect..., etc; let's call its the Watch_Dog Effect. At some point, I think Nintendo and its fans got entirely cut out of the equation as a whole (I don't doubt that W_D would have sold sell than the other two platforms had it launched same day, but then would it have actually been unprofitable? At some point, it seems that games development in the west transitioned from "profitable" to "gangbuster" as being the definition of a worthwhile endevour. Also consolidation, three consoles means three development cycles. The WiiU is an oddball PPC architecture on top. Cutting out the WiiU and focusing only on two consoles that are nigh-identical not only cuts down development but centralizes fanbases to make release ventures risk-free. No doubt, western AAA would prefer one platform and nothing more and outright monopoly.). It will remain like this unless Nintendo starts throwing fistfuls of dollars into hats and bending over backwards for the AAA-conglomerate at the top of the western dev world but they seem more keen on throwing said money into reviving dead franchises and making a new EAD studio and their Garage program.

That went off tangent.

Anyway, I can see Nintendo localizing Fatal Frame. It helps them plump up their already seemingly plump 2015 with another decent title and one that isn't in their normal portfolio.

Congratulations on getting me into the Fatal Frame 5 localization campaign. Yuri 5ever.

It costs money to do so.

Which they will make back with profit. And even if they don't profit and just break even, they lose nothing and the game still gets exposure.

Hence why I encourage people to write personalized emails on top of miiverse campaigning.

Give Nintendo a call by phone! Tell them you want to play Fatal Frame, a game that is currently Japan only.