EA CEO Frustrated With Poor Performance on the Wii

[John Funk]

EA CEO Frustrated With Poor Performance on the Wii

Electronic Arts chieftain John Riccitiello is fed up with poor software sales on the Wii, and thinks Nintendo isn't doing enough to support the family-friendly console.

During yesterday's earnings call with investors - the same one in which it was revealed that EA would be doing the same for over a dozen unannounced projects [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95994-EA-Heavily-Cuts-Jobs-at-Mythic-Tiburon-Black-Box-and-Redwood] - Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello expressed frustration with how his company's software performs on the Nintendo Wii.

The problem is exacerbated because Riccitiello believes EA produces the best third-party software for the platform: "To be honest with you, I think the Wii platform has been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated. And there is no lack of frustration to be doing that at precisely the time where we have the strongest third-party share," he told investors.

Nintendo hasn't been doing enough to spur interest in the console, he said, and could stand to release more first-party titles in order to renew consumers' interest in the Wii as a platform for things other than Wii Fit and Wii Sports: "Frankly, I think they need more beats in the year than they get out of a first-party slate - to be able to have the Wii software platform perform as well as they would like. We are building the products that I think [are] the most highly rated on the platform and at this point in time, generating the most revenue of any third-party platform."

Nor is Nintendo doing its part to push third-party games as much as it ought to be, argued a frustrated Riccitiello, which is an incentive for the major third-party publishers to simply go elsewhere, "because very, very few multiplatform titles are succeeding on the Wii."

It's not hard to see where he's coming from, and I can't imagine that Nintendo wouldn't benefit from helping third-party developers push their content when sales are drying up, but I'm not convinced that the solution is to simply ask Nintendo to release more Zelda and Mario games. Those big-name titles might drive people to play their Wii, but they'd probably just end up playing the first-party Nintendo titles and not anything from EA.

(GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/riccitiello-frustrated-at-lack-of-wii-success])

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[Tales of Golden Sun]

So basically he's saying that NINTENDO should make more games, so that more people will buy HIS games. How about HE makes some awesome games, so that people buy THOSE.

 

[DrDeath3191]

Hey Mr Riccitiello, I have an idea! How about you, oh, advertise your games a little, hmm? The only place I've seen an ad for Dead Space Extraction is on IGN (Great game by the way, guys!). If you want to penetrate that great 'casual' market, let them know about your game. Hell, you did it for the original Dead Space. As for the multi-platform games, ads tend to show the XBox 360 or PS3 versions of the game. Try letting people know that it's on the Wii as well.

 

[Simalacrum]

So basically he's saying that NINTENDO should make more games, so that more people will buy HIS games. How about HE makes some awesome games, so that people buy THOSE.

Caaaause everytime EA makes an awesome game, nobody seems interested...

OT, I do see where he's comming from - he can't push Nintendo's franchise without Nintendo doing something themselves. Honestly, they're being very laid back these days... the console war has only just begun, soon they might find the competition catching up if they don't keep the momentum.

 

[Russ Pitts]

I agree that he has a point. Still, it's hard not to read this as sour grapes coming from the man who just had to publicly acknowledge defeat by laying off a double-digit percentage of his staff.

Here's the thing, when a company's CEO is in the news more frequently than its products, they're losing. Winners let their success speak for itself. Losers have to get out in front and spin.

EA laid off 1,500 employees and is closing entire studios and canceling dozens of titles. Riccitiello calls this "playing offense." Bullshit. It's called "sucking wind." I fully expect one of the next press releases containing Riccitiello's name to also contain the words "stepping" and "down." And frankly, I'm not sure how to feel about that. I was cheering the man's name a year ago when he was espousing the "visionary" philosophy of encouraging IP creation and third-party development, while Activision was cutting titles that lacked "franchise potential." A year later, here we are. Sucks, but there it is.

 

[grimsprice]

I actually haven't heard about an anticipated wii title since.... madworld? Does that console even have games coming out for it?

 

[DrDeath3191]

I have an even better idea. STOP MAKING GAMES FOR IT. It's a black hole of finances, and any retard can see that. Look at the 360/PS3. They are making tons of cash. Leave the dead end console and come back where you belong.

Actually, the 360 and PS3 are bleeding money. Nintendo is the only company that actually profits on console sales.

Plus, look at how Nintendo markets their games. They know the 'hardcore' will buy them, no question. What do they do about the 'casuals'? They make TV ads. And wouldn't you know it, they have the best selling games of this generation!

 

[DrDeath3191]

I actually haven't heard about an anticipated wii title since.... madworld? Does that console even have games coming out for it?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be released in 5 days.

 

[ohgodalex]

I can see the headlines now:
"Man Disappointed with Wii."

That'll make national headlines for sure.

 

[Quadtrix]

Yeah, he's got a point. Nintendo put a lot of time and effort into their big titles, and thus they're unable to release said games on a frequent basis like other devs and their titles. Nintendo NEEDS to push 3rd-party titles more than they're doing.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Riccitiello believes EA produces the best third-party software for the platform:

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. He doesn't have any depth perception though.

 

[Tharticus]

I'm not surprised. See what happens if you didn't do your homework CEO of EA?

 

[tk1989]

I have an even better idea. STOP MAKING GAMES FOR IT. It's a black hole of finances, and any retard can see that. Look at the 360/PS3. They are making tons of cash. Leave the dead end console and come back where you belong.

Games on the PS3/Xbox cost an extortionate amount of money to make compared to the Wii. Less costs mean less copies of a game have to be sold to break even. Only games on the Xbox/PS3 that sell past a million or so have any real chance to make large profits, whilst the same game on the Wii would only need to sell a fraction of that to make a similar profit.

With the current costs of gaming, i doubt very very few game make "tons of cash" anyway...

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

-snip-

EA laid off 1,500 employees and is closing entire studios and canceling dozens of titles. Riccitiello calls this "playing offense." Bullshit. It's called "sucking wind." I fully expect one of the next press releases containing Riccitiello's name to also contain the words "stepping" and "down." And frankly, I'm not sure how to feel about that. I was cheering the man's name a year ago when he was espousing the "visionary" philosophy of encouraging IP creation and third-party development, while Activision was cutting titles that lacked "franchise potential." A year later, here we are. Sucks, but there it is.

I think Riccitiello realized he only needs a handful of meatheads capable of crunching code to churn out a Madden game every year.

 

[Casual Shinji]

He looks bummed that's for sure.

Like he's all out of peanut butter.

 

[grimsprice]

I actually haven't heard about an anticipated wii title since.... madworld? Does that console even have games coming out for it?

New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be released in 5 days.

I tend to ignore Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games. Simply because they're basically nintendo's heartbeat and breathing.

 

[dekkarax]

Nintendo have never really been good with 3rd parties, they much prefer to do their own thing.
He does have a point.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Well of course multi-platformers are failing.

For $60 (in the U.S. at least) you can get a new game on a PS3 or 360. Or for $50 you can get it on the Wii or PC.

But it's typically only the Wii version that needs to be heavily reworked, and to me $10 isn't all that unreasonable a difference.

 

[Graustein]

What's this? Nintendo should release more games for the Wii?

I'm pretty sure that in the three years the Wii's been out it's gotten more first-party games than the Gamecube had in its six years. I'm not even counting Wii Sports et al, just games made for the same demographic as the Gamecube. And they're showing no signs of stopping. And this guy wants MORE first-party Nintendo games to "revitalise" it?

It's a black hole of finances

Spoiler: Absolutely