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Riccitiello: We Should Have Bet On Wii
By Kris Graft
July 28, 2008
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"We made the wrong call there [by betting on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360], which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be."
EA CEO John Riccitiello said that his company made a misstep in putting most of its resources towards PS3 and Xbox 360 instead of Wii, according to The San Jose Mercury News.
Asked how this console generation has compared to previous ones, he replied, "One thing that's different is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform.
"We made the wrong call there [by betting on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360], which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be. But now we're catching up, and I think we're fine.
"We've got some incredibly innovative Wii titles, incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue's sort of behind us."
Some of EA's Wii titles include the critically-acclaimed Boom Blox, quiz game Smarty Pants and Ninja Reflex.
Since the launch of the Wii, companies such as EA and Ubisoft have found it fitting to establish Wii-centric or casual-focused divisions. Activision recently announced a publishing label focused solely on Wii.
Riccitiello said despite the fact that Wii is the market leader, for the first time in a console generation, second and third place consoles are still meaningful profit-drivers.
"Right now, you're seeing an increased emphasis on Wii and DS titles, so we can drive a market on Wii and DS that's similar to what we have on the Xbox 360 and PS3," he said. "If we are successful there - and we will be - over the course of this and next year, it doesn't matter to me which platform prevails."
This isn't the first time that Riccitiello has admitted that EA should have focused more on Wii development. During a 2007 earnings call, he said that EA had "backed the wrong horse" when betting against Nintendo's console, saying Wii's success caught the company "flat-footed."
While the WII is supposedly winning the console sales battle, I would be very interested to see the sales for software. Since the wii comes with a game, and it has virtual console games, there could be people who buy the console, but don't invest much on games.
I would be willing to bet that although it has apparently sold more systems, it is far behind in the software sales...which is how companies make their money.
I purchased a wii first. It was cheaper, it had the allure of "oohh I found one", and it had the fun gimmicky controls. Since I purchased an xbox though, I haven't played it hardly at all. The controls can be pretty cool, but requiring people to use them is a minus for me. Sometimes I want to sit on my butt and play a game.
So yeah maybe EA should have bet on the WII, but I don't think they would sell as much software on the wii as they do on the PS/XBOX. Sure Nintendo says their software sells are through the roof, but I would like to see a detailed breakdown of what they are reporting in these figures. If the majority of the sells are virtual console titles, then the numbers are seriously skewed.
I could completely be talking out of my butt, but I don't see any games comming that I'm saying to myself "i can't wait to buy that" on the wii. In fact, I don't have any games on my radar for the wii after I played mario cart for a week rental.
A surprisingly humble admission. EA has treated the Wii better than any other western 3rd party, but they still leave a lot to be desired. It will be interesting to see if he intends on putting all of their money where EA's mouth is...or only the casual dollars.
I remain unconvinced that Nintendo has done anything but segment the market further than the previous generation, a far cry from what they would have wished. However, with serious EA support for both sides of the gaming divide (mass market/broad appeal vs. hardcore/niche appeal), the Wii could make serious strides to becoming the best selling console in world history. Without serious support for both types of games, I'm not sure if its possible.
Here's an article on why I believe that western 3rd parties WILL NOT be changing their minds regarding hardcore/niche support in the near term, but Japanese 3rd parties may change their minds soon:
http://lotuscharts.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-wii-will-be-getting-japanese...
http://lotuscharts.blogspot.com/
Expect more developers to follow suit. It was only a matter of time before 3rd parties would be forced to respect the Wii's position in the marketplace.