EA chief: The Wii is 'weaker than anticipated'
The Wii isn't living up to its expectations.
(Credit: Nintendo)Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello didn't pull any punches when he spoke at a quarterly earnings call earlier this week. As he discussed some of the issues his company faces in today's gaming market, he singled out Nintendo and its Wii as contributing factors.
According to Riccitiello, third-party games on the Wii just aren't performing nearly as well as EA had expected. And as the Wii's sales start to slip, it doesn't seem likely that that will be changing anytime soon.
"To be honest with you, I think the Wii platform has been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated," Riccitiello said, according to a transcript of the call published by Seeking Alpha on Monday. "And there is no lack of frustration (about this coming out) at precisely the time where we have the strongest third-party share."
But Riccitiello didn't stop there. He said EA is "reaching out to Nintendo to find ways to partner to push third-party software harder." He contended that in order for the Wii to perform up to Nintendo's own expectations, the platform needs help from third parties.
Riccitiello continued on that theme. He said his company is providing high-quality titles for the Wii, but it's Nintendo that needs to do more.
"Wii is where we are missing it," Riccitiello said on the call. "And so I really do think that the opportunity exists to find different ways to partner with (Nintendo) in this case, to sort of help establish in the minds of the consumer legitimacy of some of these other brands, when they are going out multiplatform."
But it was Riccitiello's next statement that might send the most shockwaves through the Nintendo world. The EA chief said "very, very few multiplatform titles are succeeding on the Wii so far, and collectively, Electronic Arts and Nintendo need to tackle that."
Perhaps now the question is, then, how will those two major forces in the gaming industry achieve what Riccitiello wants? Nintendo's platform has enjoyed strong sales since its debut, but the Wii is slipping. Worst of all, during the most successful periods for Nintendo, it was first-party titles, not third-party games that performed best at retail. Whether Nintendo can help change that, making it more profitable for third parties to develop games for the Wii, is very much in doubt.
What do you think? Is Nintendo really in bad shape? Is Riccitiello overstating the Wii's shortcomings? Let us know in the comments below.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
People who buy Madden and Call of Duty don't buy Wiis. They buy 360's. And probably PS3's, too, now that the price has dropped. If EA wants to make inroads on the Wii, they need to make games that appeal to casual gamers. And no, EA, that doesn't mean "Slap a license on a minigame collection and rush it out the door in 2 months."
You know, I've been reading up on Dragon Age, and got to thinking, you know, BioWare could make some great RPG's for the Wii. I haven't played their Sonic RPG for the DS, but it got good reviews; a Wii RPG featuring Mario or Sonic might get some people interested. And I don't expect we'll see The Old Republic on the Wii (given that Nintendo's online support, to put it mildly, sucks), but I'm betting a tie-in game to that series would sell decently as well.
A Mass Effect side-story for Wii probably wouldn't sell very well, for the same demographic reasons I've already mentioned, but hell, I'd buy it.
EA was deluding themselves if they expected different resuts.
That being said, EA, the company that pretty much crippled the US gaming industry, probably shouldn't be the guys trying to fix this. Pretty much everything they touch, they destroy. I've lost count of how many game companies I used to like starting to turn out crap - or just plain die, after EA took them over.
At the time of its release I felt it was way underpowered and the third party games that were multi platform had to be watered down to work on the wii. I really thought Nintendo lost their minds going with a weaker device... but when I played many of the games they were actually FUN and I think that is how they have been surviving this whole time. But as time goes on and newer games are pushing the xbox 360 and ps3 technology to its limits the wii is still stuck with a gamecube chip and can no longer keep up.
I agree with Tad Boyd. Its not the Wii's fault. EA knew what the Wii was capable of from day one. If they make games that are more suited for the wii and not watered down ports of other console games they would have more success
Long story short [too late] is that maybe Wii isn't the right system for the game-mad, but it's the right one for folks like us - short on time, have kids to entertain, and want to use it for things like exercise, etc. So, maybe Wii and their partners should focus on that in their marketing moving forward.
With the Wii it's even worse because everyone was focused on it not being HD, and not the revolutionary experience that could be had. One game that DEFINITELY got it right was The Godfather: Blackhand Edition. The storyline was great, the controls were amazing, and it was a pretty immersive experience. But, because the Wii is an afterthought for them, it wasn't marketed well and a game that could have satisfied GTA-styled game fans was passed over. I would love to see Rockstar release a GTA for the Wii, but I know that won't happen because it's a "weak platform". Maybe the third party developers need to have a team focused on the Wii so the games can feel like they are made with care for it, and market it as if it is a top title.
Further, the Wii is a unique platform--so why would you expect cross-platform games to do as well on it? The Wii needs games designed for it, not for any old console.
Way to cop out, EA.
The Wii appears to be slipping... Sure, but giving the height which it's slipping FROM, I say it's still in good shape. Nevertheless, what Nintendo says about not forgetting "gamers" is crap. Gamers are lost to the Wii, they have been almost since the beginning (Zelda, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid... that's it ? yes, that's it...). That's not a "bad" thing, it's just that way, both Nintendo and EA should accept it and live on. Stop trying to make "real" games for the Wii. Stop claiming the Wii is for gamers. Both these statements are dumb. Even if they are defendable to some extent (hey there's a Dead Space on Wii !!!), what does it matter if no one pays attention ? The gamers are playing Dead Space on other machines, and the other Wii players are not interested in Dead Space. The end. Lesson learned: don't try selling to people something they won't buy (whatever the reason for that may be).
What I mean about that is...look at the Madden series on the Wii. The game is foolishly easy next to the other platforms. The most they make out of the wireless controllers is you wave your arms around like an idiot after a touchdown or other big play. Wow. How *NOT* exciting. EA doesn't seem to know the animal they are training when it comes to the Wii. Enter the new Tiger Woods with the motion plus and you have something different. That is a great game.
Game development seems to be a challenge for the Wii. It seems Nintendo is the only entity that understands this process. EA can only blame themselves by putting out stinker after stinker. It's not the Wii. I can fully attest that the Wii has serious limitations. EA needs to accept that they have serious limitations to accepting what the Wii still has to offer.
Nintendo needs to upgrade the Wii in the same fashion that XBox has recently upgraded/retooled. Of course you won't see the level of difference you would in the XBox, but at least you would have a revamped system that EA still would't know what to do with...............
As we all know the Wii is meant for a casual audience. Cnet has already previously run articles that showed us that the Wii's best chance for game purchases is when the system is first purchased. The families, aunts, uncles and/or grandparents that are buying the system for themselves are not "gamers" and do not usually come back to make additional game purchases. So, while the Wii has enjoyed high initial game attach sales, the lifetime attach rate falls drastically. The other systems, or more specifically the more gamer-centric demographic buys the system to play the yet-released games (Halo 4, Uncharted 3, etc.) - meaning they'll buy a current game then return later to buy a game in the future.
The problem is, as Nintendo already stated last week, is that initial sales for Wii hardware has gotten very soft. With that initial number falling, all software vendors attachment sales are also falling. Add your natural comment about the economy and of course Nintendo is putting it reduced marketing money behind it's own 1st party titles.
Yes, it is also true that the software developers have largely tried to take the easy way out of developing for the Wii by simply doing ports rather than original development. It's a game of numbers. Yes, the Wii has a massive install base to try to sell an game that was originally developed for the platform, but going back to the initial attachment comment, the majority of those casual gamers are not going to come back to buy that game. <<I could insert additional comments about the problems with marketing to casual gamers - your older casual gamer isn't likely to even hear about new games releases let alone know they should care about The Sim 100>>
So, the problem is way more complex than just what's been presented here or even discussed in the user comments. But, I'm sure Riccitiello's comments have merit. Nintendo probably could be doing a lot more to help 3rd party publishers. But, without those publishers willing to produce platform exclusive titles that would help Nintendo sell more hardware, the financial justification to hep them is probably thin. At least the way Nintendo sees it - especially if they are making any decent margin on the hardware sell (which I'm not sure about anymore).
I'll email you the address you can send my check to.
As people have said above, you need to make games that play to the Wii's strengths.
And if you ask me all of their games are over priced.
- by Inconnux November 17, 2009 8:07 AM PST
- lol @EA... excuses, excuses...
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (25 Comments)EA's standard yearly update shovelware might sell on the 360 or PS3, but the Wii is a different machine. Design a game for the Wii instead of porting over a game not designed for the Wii mote.