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First-Party Nintendo Sales Present Challenge for EA

Chief exec says "two-thirds" of Wii software unit sales go to Nintendo while third parties divvy up the difference.

Electronic Arts continues to struggle to capitalize on the massive success of the Wii console.

EA CEO John Riccitiello said during a Tuesday conference call that "two-thirds" of Wii software unit sales go to Nintendo. "It's a really unusual thing [for that many sales to go to a first-party console maker]. We haven't seen that since prior to PlayStation 1.

"For those of us making console games, that's a challenge that we certainly have to contend with."

EA continues to fully support the Wii with console-specific iterations of major sports franchises, the newly-announced EA Sports Active and and titles such as Boom Blox and MySims, which Riccitiello said were performing well on the console

But the publisher is still more comfortable with more standard-style consoles, the exec admitted. "Home territory to us is PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and the remainder of PS2, we're doing very well there. We've got work to do on the Wii."