John Riccitiello on the fact that Nintendo totally owns the Wii market:
“For those of us making console games, that’s a challenge that we certainly have to contend with,” the EA CEO said during today’s investor call.
Riccitiello said that a handful of EA’s Wii releases, like Boom Blox and the My Sims series, are performing well, “but there’s no question that having the lead platform be a platform with two thirds of the unit sales occurring to the first-party owner is a really unusual thing. We haven’t seen that since prior to the [original] PlayStation.”
Riccitiello said that EA’s “home territory” is still the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360, admitting “We’ve got work to do on the Wii.”
via EA: “We’ve Got Work To Do On The Wii”.
I am mildly surprised that EA isn’t doing better on the Wii, I thought Madden Football and Tiger Woods Golf would be big sellers. I guess perception doesn’t match up to reality.
And now that you mention it, a quick look through my Wii game library reveals… no EA games. Hmm.
The Wii has two major differences from the other gaming consoles that game makers will have to fully understand before they will do well, and even then, they have to market their games properly (cf. Zack and Wiki, a truly remarkable Wii game by Capcom that almost no one bought).
The first is that the Wii is not as graphically or computationally advanced as its competitors. Developers must work within those limitations, and still deliver a game that looks amazing. This is not easy to do.
The second is the unique control set of the Wiimote and Nunchuck. The game must utilize these controls beyond just shaking them, or most gamers over the age of 7 will tire quickly of the unimaginative nature of the controls and the game degenerates into one big ‘waggle-fest’.
I am old enough to remember the very first games that EA put out on personal computers, like Archon, and Pinball Construction Set. Many hours were spent on my Apple II playing these amazing creative games. I believe it is that same spirit of creativity that is required if EA, or any developer for that matter, wants to surpass Nintendo for Wii dominance.
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