I found the statement I think you're referring to. I also included some interesting tidbits about third parties as well.
Here it is:
After reading this, I'm not so sure about us getting a lot of third parties. I'd specifically count out indie characters, as Sakurai seems to go for
global appeal, which most indies lack, the only exception to this being Minecraft and possibly Shovel Knight considering how Nintendo is covering it in Japan. Travis Touchdown also has a chance as Sakurai and Suda51 are buddies, just like Sakurai and Kojima are. Mortal Kombat is a pipe dream as well because Japan doesn't like it at all.
Sakurai's statement about long-time gamers having all the characters they could want also might not bode well for Simon Belmont, but he says there
might not be anyone else, so besides Simon I wouldn't expect anymore primarily retro third parties, except
maybe Ryu Hayabusa (that's a hard maybe though) or Banjo & Kazooie, unless they're popular in Japan (I don't know if they are so don't quote me).
My only question is what are the remaining "the major globally-recognized franchises" that aren't represented in Smash?
I'd say that Kingdom Hearts is very likely one, considering it's worldwide popularity and the fact that it's had an Orchestra Tour for the last two years. Other than that, I don't know. There's definitely an argument for Crash Bandicoot and the Castlevania series as well. Series like Dragon Quest, Puyo Puyo, Tekken, Shin Megami Tensei/Persona, and Rayman (as he's being covered in Nintendo in Japan as well) could maybe be counted as well.
What third parties do you guys think are "globally-recognized" enough for Smash Bros?