Topic: Why are there so few DSiWare games?

As of today, there are only 55 DSiWare titles available, and only 18 of those by developers other than Nintendo!

The promise of the store was that it would open up the NDS to more innovative games by smaller publishers. But that doesn't appear to be happening much. At very least, I would expect established publishers to cut up or adapt their backlists to make some extra money on the new platform. But there's not much of that either.

Does anyone have any theories about why there aren't more DSiWare games?

There aren't more DSiware games because the service is still in its infancy. By this time next year, we should have at least 100 total DSiware titles.

Well, Japan obviously has the advantage because DSi has been around in their market for a year compared to 7 months for the regions outside....

Triple the number of titles is still rediculous reguardless of their 5 month head start.

plus, they get like 5 or 6 dsiware titles in an update while we get, if we are lucky, 2 or 3 in an update

Japan gets more updates because Miyomoto whatever his name is called is based there, he lives there, that's where Nintendo got its start so obviously he is very partial to that market, the U.S. market is probably just lost on him. I think that's where Nintendo will see its future downfall, by not knowing its market, which is a shame since that's how Nintendo overtook Atari in the mid 80's, too. Atari passed on Super Mario Brothers. Go figure!

Japan also has very picky players. Tech savvy players that know about this stuff.

Over in the west, we're generally A LOT stupider when it comes to game content. Not us on these boards per say, but a lot of Wii owners know nothing about quality gaming, thus we're more susceptible to more crap.

I thought the DSiWare was less for independent developers, and more for smaller games that wouldn't be fit for retail release, but would be convenient to always have available on a portable. I think that's part of the reason why there's a larger Ninty presence. Of course, these type of games are easier for indies to produce, so it's a win-win, but it's not the main focus like it is for WW I think.

You know, worst case scenario, if DSiWare petered out, they could always add a VC...

So true, which is why I think it's time Virtual Console for the DSi became a reality. Not only would it add more value to the system overall, but it would keep its players happy with games available to play (games, that, imho, were much better than the DS counterpart games we know and love so much today. They were better back then, that's all.) ;=)