Aside from Retro and NST, Nintendo will leave western development to western publishers.
Asked by Wired News about whether Nintendo was looking to develop more American games, Nintendo Senior Vice President George Harrison confessed, “I’m not aware of any plans for more software development here in the U.S." Harrison went on to explain that the question of what to make and where to make it lay in the hands of people like Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto in Japan.
In the past, western development studios tied to Nintendo have helped to round out Nintendo’s Japanese-developed line-up by offering games of a markedly different style, like Retro Studios’ Metroid Prime series. These games supposedly helped Nintendo appeal specifically to western audiences. However, the DS and Wii’s current success seems to be continuing in spite of a lack of these titles from Nintendo, as NST’s Project H.A.M.M.E.R. hasn’t been heard from in a long while and is presumed delayed.
Instead, Nintendo is content to leave these games to third parties. "They're doing a great job both on DS and on Wii," explains Harrison. “They tend to provide product in categories that we aren't particularly good at doing, like sports or other genres. And since they're western publishers, they tend to be more in tune with western tastes."