New WiiWare info: of file sizes and limitations

We’ve got some interesting news today, courtesy of an IGN’s “Wii-k in Review” podcast. They’ve given out some prime bits of information about Nintendo’s WiiWare initiative, focusing on the limitations developers will have to contend with if they want to get their products on the service, such as file sizes, budgets, and the number of releases a developer can make each month.

File sizes, budgets, and limitations after the jump!

We’ve got some interesting news today, courtesy of an IGN’s “Wii-k in Review” podcast. They’ve given out some prime bits of information about Nintendo’s WiiWare initiative, focusing on the limitations developers will have to contend with if they want to get their products on the service, such as file sizes, budgets, and the number of releases a developer can make each month.

According to the podcast, developers will have to contend with a rather small file size for their games: 40 MB. This is 10 MB less than the original specifications for Xbox Live Arcade games, which is 50 MB.

Developers are also contending with relatively small budgets. According to the podcast, budgets for Wiiware titles fall between US$ 50,000 and US$150,000, with most budgets falling in the US$ 100,000 average. In contrast, high profile game titles have development costs ranging in the millions of dollars.

Lastly, developers are also constrained on the actual number of games they can offer up for WiiWare. Devs are allowed to release only one game a month for WiiWare, presumably to keep the quality of individual games high.

On the bright side, developing companies do get to keep most of the profits, with a 65:35 ratio in favor of the developers. One thing we can say about the initiative is that it certainly gives independent developers the chance to show off their talent and continue making games. We certainly hope the first batch of indie games for WiiWare goes well, as it could usher in a new age of gaming for the Wii.