A recent Wii IGN podcast sheds new light on Nintendo's WiiWare digital game distribution service. Prospective WiiWare developers must first be officially licenced by Nintendo in order to release titles for download. They can then approach either Nintendo or a third party publisher in order market their title for production/release. In both cases the other party will stand to receive a cut in potential profit; IGN believes Nintendo's asking price is 35 percent for any WiiWare title they help publish. Developers estimate the average production budget for a WiiWare lies at under $100,000 USD.

Licensed WiiWare developers are limited to releasing one downloadable WiiWare title per month. Additionally, Nintendo is reportedly enforcing a filesize limit on downloadable WiiWare titles; the current maximum is 40MB, but this is not apparently set in stone. The company justifies these measures as a means to prevent the WiiWare market from being flooded with titles from big players in the early running. While we're getting dangerous vibes of Nintendo's 1980s third party publishing policies, the company stresses it wants to create a level playing field for WiiWare partners. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata claimed the initiative is already catching on with developers, so it remains to be seen whether or not third parties stand to have their wings clipped as a result of said restrictions. 

"While we are not discussing details at this time, we do want to make sure all developers, large or small, have an equal opportunity to participate therefore we will establish set rules for the Wii Software program. We are currently contemplating that developers will be able to release up to one game per month during the launch window, in order for us to address potential volume."