Electronic Arts: "Very Few Multi-Platform Titles Are Succeeding On Wii"

27 Comments Posted Last week - By Patrick Klepek

Madden NFL 10 Wii Review

Even though Electronic Arts says they're happy with their most recent financial performance, EA CEO John Riccitiello blamed struggles to succeed on the Wii as a continuing issue for the company. Riccitiello pointed to the disappointing sales of Madden NFL 2010, a game he called "very, very strong," as something EA needed to work on solving hand-in-hand with Nintendo themselves.

"To be honest," he said, "the Wii platform has a been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated and there's no lack of frustration to be doing that at precisely the time where we have the strongest third party share. We're reaching out to Nintendo to find ways to partner to push third-party software harder. I frankly think they [Nintendo] need more beats in the year than what they get out of a first party slate to be able to have the Wii software platform perform as well as they would like."

Such criticism comes not long after Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted Wii sales are "not healthy," especially in Japan, and much of the blame falls on software failing to excite users.

This wasn't a complaint EA had earlier this year, after seeing initial blockbuster sales for EA Sports Active, seen as a complement to Nintendo's own Wii Fit. EA Sports Active did well enough that EA actually moved development staff off Grand Slam Tennis on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to beef up the team working on the recently released expansion pack for EA Sports Active.

"Wii is where we're missing it," said Riccitiello, echoing previous statements. "I really do think that the opportunity exists to find different ways to partner with the first party [Nintendo] in this case to help establish in the minds of the consumer legitimacy of some of these other brands when they're going out multi-platform because very, very few multi-platform titles are succeeding on the Wii so far."

Riccitiello argued that Nintendo needs to take the lead on making consumers more aware of great games on their platform, games that aren't necessarily made by Nintendo. EA has remained one of the most bullish third-parties on Wii, but in addition to lower-than-expected sales for Madden NFL 2010, Dead Space: Extraction underperformed in its first month, too, selling just 9,000 copies.

"Collectively," he continued, "Electronic Arts and Nintendo need to tackle that."

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Tags: Videogames, Wii

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maiko6

nobody cares about wii right now! its all about MW2

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everall82

the wii is useless pretty much

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TehSkull

This just seems like a big DUH to me. You have to make games exclusive to the Wii. If I own a 360 and a Wii, and a game comes on both consoles that I want for the exact same price, I'd buy the 360 version because its more value for the money.

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UltraViolence74

I find it hard to believe the Wii is still selling like it is.

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jaespur21

if my 360 didnt stop reading disks, i wouldve never played madden 2010 on my wii. I was surprised, that after a while i was enjoying the game. Football and Basketball feel like completely different games on the wii than what i was use to. even though its fun and i enjoyed it, its not the same experience after playing live for so many years. damm my xbox for breaking now i have to wait till christmas for my girl to let me get a ps3

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spicypooptastic

Thats b/c people just buy the wii and then forget about it, or someone women may just buy it as a cheap alternative to a personal trainer. While people who buy 360/ps3 actually play games and they play a lot of them.

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sukTHEfacc

wow a little late to the news update eh EA?

i own a wii and the ONLY games I buy are first party. 3rd party companies SUCK and put little to no effort in their games...we're informed and educated gamers, so wtf did you expect?

the only 3rd party titles worth buying are Madworld, Zack and Wiki, Boom Blox, Pro Evo Soccer, Dead Space Extraction (if I am missing a few excuse me, but point is that there's not much)

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NinjaCrisis

For Multi-Plat people will go PS3/360 FTW.
No brainer lol

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GohanEgret

There have been 5 multiplatform, EA-published releases that include the Wii since the beginning of this year:

FIFA 10.
G.I. Joe.
Harry Potter.
Madden 10 (67,000 units sold in its debut month).
Tiger Woods 10 (272,400 units sold in its debut month).

Now, take a look at the Wii exclusive content from EA (again, all 2009 releases):

Boom Blox 2, Charm Girls Club, Dead Space: Extraction, Hasbro Family Game Night 2, Littlest Pet Shop, MySims Agent/Party/Racing, NASCAR Kart Racing, NFS: Nitro, Nerf: N-Strike Elite, SimAnimals 1 & 2, Spore Hero, and Trivial Pursuit.

How many of those does EA expect consumers to buy on day or week one, especially when many of these are surrounding by so many me-too titles? EA should be attacking holes in the library with fully-featured software rather than trying to follow the path everyone else has taken.

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vinny87

The problem with Wii software is simple. Most Wii owners really are not gamers at heart. Some girl who buys littlest pet shop is not going to turn around and buy Sim Animals. She'll stick with that game and move on from her Wii later. Most 360/PS3 owners are gamers at heart and will buy more games later. Also there is a general (and probably correct ) assumption that hardcore Wii games are inferior to hardcore PS3/360 games so why get a Wii game when you can get a PS3/360 game especially if you own all three systems.

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rolliebug

Wow......all EA needs to do is utilize the far more superior controls that the Wii has. I mean its why the Wii is outselling the other consoles. ITS THE Wii MOTE.............FOCUS on the Wii MOTE

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CNCOMICS

Well it's the fault of the developers, they need to stop trying to gimmick their games with WiiMote motion contols. It's funny how the Wii's most popular game SSB Brawl, doesn't even include motion controls, and you can use the Gamecube controler and the Classic Controler, no gimmic needed! And as for Deadspace, I think the fact it was on rails threw some people off, it certainly doesn't appeal to me after playing the first one on the 360 and PS3.

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Sephirex

Answer to the problem is one word: MARKETING!

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RockieOllie

I laughed when EA said they thought Madden 09 was very very strong, I could just look at that screen shot and tell it was going to flop. Of course Madden'09 sucked rat balls its because they make the Wii limitations more drastic then what it really is. There are PS2 Madden games that look 3 times as decent as Madden '09. They make their games directed towards the casual crowd that won't even look twice back at them. If they tried taking the wii seriously by sticking to their formula that has worked for the most part maybe it would turn out better.

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PD_questionmarkman

Dear EA,
Multiplatform games might be more successful if there weren't just lazy ports. ever think of that? no you didn't cuz you're dumb, and lazy.

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lizard64

I dont blame EA. I blame Nitendo and they lazy marketing ploys to only emphasize the name Wii and motion controls. THats it. THey just dont care about what games a eon their own platform. THe common thought process for developer sis that the WIi is an easy buck. Regardless of how you make it an what rating it is, itll sell well because its a Wii.

That is a common thought process. But they have to also see that the Wii is forever solidified as a game for kids, families, and casual gamers. Not core gamers like us that go and buy multiple titles at a time. In addition, its because of that audience that Dead Space Extraction Flopped. We've seen multiple examples of this this year with Madworld, The conduit, and GTA: CHinatown. That game is great but it will not sell well on the Wii because of its content. if it were on PS3/ 360, it would been very strong! Take a look at GTA: CHinatown wars. Rockstar bailed on the DS and went right away to PSP. And its doing tremendously better. Personally, I hope Dead Space gets remastered for the PS3 and 360 and PC.

Its ironic how we saw N64 have games like Turok, arnorines, and Perfect Dark. But if you so much as put a gun shooting anything on the Wii, it'll do terrible. Its all about first impressions and marketing. And Nintendo has utterly failed. THat has also lead to a huge stockpile of shovelware as well as lack of releases. Itll bite them in the ____ in the long run. If i were a third party developer, Id just Stay away from the Wii and focus on the others.

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Blue_Vortex

EA is better off making unique games made only for the wii instead of porting multiplatform games.

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Joe22

Not unexpected see as all those casual gamers nintendo wanted so much first sport game was Wii Sports, not much of a comparison to real sports games, so they won't go for it. Casual gamers don't play games they just stop by every so often for a look.

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Plasma_Cake

Took them long enough to figure out.... everyone is getting a real console now
MW2 FTW

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foxx278

Oh I have something to say about this. I see it this way. EA did a really good deed in giving us something such as Dead Space Extraction...something that is M-rated and something that people have been whining, complaining, and moaning about the Wii not having. Now that the Wii is starting to gain those titles, all of a sudden, it's like those same people have done nothing but ignore them like they don't exist. Well then why are you complaining then? I mean what is the point? You all wanted them so badly, now you have them, so go out and get them. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF WHINING, COMPLAINING, AND MOANING ABOUT BRINGING CORE GAMES TO THE WII IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GO OUT TO BUY THEM AND PLAY THEM? IT MAKES NO SENSE!

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