Speaking at an invite-only press lunch at GDC, Sony's Phil Harrison downplayed the success of Nintendo's Wii, remarking that the console's "addressable market is only 40% of the installed base."
By addressable market, Harrison is implying that when a third party releases a Wii title, that title will only reach 40 percent of the Wii's audience.
How many Wii consoles are out there right now? Around 21 million or so right? Forty percent of that is 8.4 million. Sounds pretty good to me. Fact is, no game release is ever going to reach the entire install base of any console. Not even Nintendo's own games will. Even reaching half is unlikely.
Plus, I'd say third party games are doing quite well on Wii. Just take a look at Guitar Hero III, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, and Red Steel. All million+ sellers.
Sony's Harrison: You Can't Get Wii's Whole Audience [Gamasutra]