EA: Wii U's lack of Madden, FIFA a 'rational' business decision

[Bald Bouncer]

Nintendo's Wii U is struggling in sales and support. During an interview this week at E3 with Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America's head of corporate communications, we noted that the Wii U's lack of Madden this year puts it in the company of Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast. EA currently has no games in development for Wii U. "You'd have to ask EA about their future development plans. EA is a great partner of ours, they've had games on our platforms before. They want what all third parties want and what we want: for the install base to grow," said Scibetta. "We're confident that once some of these games come out that we have planned between now and the holiday and into 2014, that it will help drive the install base and when that happens the platforms will look more enticing to third parties."



So, we asked Electronic Arts Labels President Frank Gibeau about what Nintendo can do to bring EA back to the Wii U.

"Look, the only thing they can do to fix it is to sell more boxes. We're a rational company, we go where the audience is. We publish games where we think we can make a great game and hit a big audience, and make money," said Gibeau. "That's why we're here, that's why we have an industry."

He pointed out that EA has tried to support the Wii U, but it hasn't made financial sense, "The Wii U, we shipped four games. We shipped Madden, FIFA, Need for Speed and Mass Effect. In fact, the last Need for Speed shipped 60 days ago had a pretty good Metacritic. It was a good game. It wasn't a schlocky port, we actually put extra effort into getting everything to work. And it's just not selling because there's no boxes."

Gibeau obviously isn't closing the door on the House of Mario, "Nintendo is a good partner and never count 'em out and all that. Never count them out, but right now we're focused on PS4 and Xbox One and from our perspective we'll look at the Wii U, we'll continue to observe it. If it becomes a viable platform from an audience standpoint, we'll jump back in."

Source: Rheena.com

[Goldberg]

What came first, the chicken or the egg..

With big games like FIFA etc.. missing it is going to prevent many sales of the Wii U as some people do buy a machine simply for one game.

Mass Effect 3 was released in March 2012
Madden was released August 2012
FIFA 2103 was released in Europe on 28th September.

The Wii U was released in Europe on 30th November.

For FIFA that is two whole months for hardcore gamers to make a very very easy decision.. Buy the game on a console they already own... I think EA should have given the Wii U another crack with the 2014 titles.

This is just an example for FIFA though which applies to Europe mainly. Madden is what the Yanks would buy it for and that game was out many many months before.

Should the Wii U's sales pick up and EA want to jump back into bed with Mario, I would certainly be asking for some exclusives/early release dates etc... But that will never happen.

The PS4 and Xbox One release could see a jump in Wii U sales as it is nearly half the cost of them. A lot of people will have been waiting and holding off for the two new consoles as they cannot justify more than one.

I reckon Nintendo will be seriously considering their hardware future after Xmas 2013 if sales do not pick up, but they should hold out until then at least.

[Bald Bouncer]

I think the only people failing to accept the Wii-U is doomed is Nintendo, they had a year on the others and that was the time to make it a success and they failed I can't see any way back now as more and more games are giving the Wii-U a miss on release.

Reminds me of the Sony vs Microsoft in the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war only Microsoft failed to realise or maybe just admit the war was lost.

[Goldberg]

Agree.. The games they announced at E3 should have all been launch titles.

Nintendo had 2 of their own 'big' titles at launch:

New Super Mario Bros U
Nintendo Land

Really... Where is Zelda... Where is a proper New Mario game... Where is Mario Kart...

The 3 above could have made a difference, probably not a massive one but they could have released some of the pressure.

[{{909}}]

If the knock the RRP down, have 2 or 3 1st party games out and advertise this Christmas time, they may have a chance but unless they actually do something I cant see how they are going to turn the tide. The best thing to happen to the WiiU so far as been the price of the competitors and the BS surrounding the always on internet services.
If the wii was a clean half price of the competition it would surely become a similar Christmas seller than the original wii was.

[Mystical_2K]

if the Wii Deluxe was priced at £149.99 and included a half decent game then i would think that most would snap them up

[Goldberg]

It's £225 through a company on Play.com - This is considerably less than the PS4 and Xbox One already. Take away all the stuff you do not need from those consoles and you have the Wii U pretty much.

IF it had the same big titles (it will have COD Ghosts) then why does it need to be even less to be snapped up? Sometimes when you price something too cheaply people think 'It must be shite then, I think I will give it a miss'.

[{{909}}]

its still 300+ in the high streets though, once you add a proper game, which is where they should be focusing their sales as that's where most people will see the price and consider buying one.
In my opinion they need to get rid of multiple versions of the console, the premium, in stores with a first party title such as smash bros, mario kart or mario whatever 3d for 250 and it would surely sell like shit off a shovel, I know I'd buy without a second thought but at the mo, the price is too high and theres none of those first party games available (although I think Warioware is out now)