Posted July 28, 2007 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14107 EA Admits To Focusing Development On The Wrong Console EA says it was "on the wrong horse" when it came to next generation game development, promises development of new IPs to promote growth. Yesterday at its quarterly investor's meeting, EA's CEO John Riccitiello told investors that 2007 was the toughest fiscal year ever for the company. “[The last transition] was tough because we typically have two to three platforms and a five year period… One of the biggest challenges, of course, was that not a lot of people anticipated the success of Nintendo that they’ve shown with their wand controller and their Wii. That got ahead of us a little more than our expectations." He said. “Our stock hasn’t moved as much as we’d like," Riccitiello told a concerned investor during the Q&A session of the meeting. He also promised that EA would allocate more resources to developing Wii games, admitting that the company had been "on the wrong horse" during the console transition, having concentrated on PS3 and 360 instead, saying that the PS3 was the focus of game development in the last fiscal year, a console on which EA had seven titles. He then optimistically told investors that EA had the second-largest market share on Wii as of March with 19 percent, thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf. He then pointed out EA’s push to create new IP. He said that there is a “strong investment in [new] intellectual property", with games such as Army of Two, Rock Band, Crysis, a Stephen Spielberg Wii game and Playground. He told them that this change in company strategy, in conjunction with a company-wide reorganization would help jump start EA's financial growth and also promised them that it would make the company, and its investors money. EA's stock closed at $50.65 that day, down 1.96 percent. EA are doing a great job on the Wii so far, especially when it comes to utilising the Wii-mote. And when you consider that alot of these early EA Wii games are rushed efforts (because the industry suddenly saw the success of the console and had to start getting games out for it), it bodes well for future EA games on Wii, especially combined with their new focus on new IP's! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 can you believe it? i thought EA never made any mistakes... oh hang on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 Considering EA's support has been far from bad compared to other publishers, I say yay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 Crysis on Wii?! He actually suggested that, now didn't he?! : Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 No, he gave examples of new IPs from other companies, to back up his statement that new IPs are being invested on in the world. Can you people not read right? This is how stupid rumours begin... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 To be fair I think the majority of 3rd parties and the public underestimated the Wii, its nice to see such a big company admit it though. Do you think Ubisoft saw the potential in the Wii straight away or just thought that if no one else is putting games on the machine if we do we will clean house? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 No, he gave examples of new IPs from other companies, to back up his statement that new IPs are being invested on in the world. Can you people not read right? This is how stupid rumours begin... Erhm... I read between the lines. Every game he mentioned is EA-(co)published, with the last two being Wii-exclusives, so it seemed within reason to assume they'd all have some connection to the Wii. Can't you vent your wrongfully attributed anger with the average forumposter some other way? This is how stupid arguements begin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 Good to see a major company accepting that the Wii is a success and should have been backed up rather than just the gimmick everyone thought it would be. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 I have to say until the Wii, I hated EA for all their yearly sports updates, almost monthly Sims expansion releases, etc. But SSX Blur and EA's general attitude to the Wii has made EA gain alot more respect from me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 28, 2007 And teh revolution beginneth. Hopefully they will make some CORE games aswell. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 *crosses fingers for an NHL 08* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Hopefully they will make some CORE games aswell. Hopefully people will stop whining about core and casual games and just sit down and enjoy the games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Could we change the thread title to "EA admit they could have made more money", because lets face it, that's all they care about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 *crosses fingers for an NHL 08* Lets hope , although surely it would have been announced by now. Maybe 2009 instead. Could we change the thread title to "EA admit they could have made more money", because lets face it, that's all they care about. And what company doesn't. Me , defending EA , how times have changed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Have to admit, although I can't say I respect them like I did in the mid 90s, they have gone back up again, as long as they stop hashing out James Bond games it will remain that way too, their only good one was The World Is Not Enough on the N64, and even that weren't no Goldeneye. Have to admit I enjoyed MoH Vanguard on the Wii and looking forward to the Zapper game as well as Airborne on the 360. At least they're not hashing MoH like they used to and are taking their time, unlike the CoD series these days. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 This is great news, the PS3 is the 'wrong horse'! Awesome. I really hope they follow this up with much better support and follow some of the Japanese developers who have actually canned PS3 projects. I would love to see the PS3 sink. Personally if the Wii overtakes the 360 before Christmas and there are two systems with over 12 million consoles and the PS3 is stuck on around 6, then it'll be good bye developer support for that over priced monstrosity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Like most people here I'm actually quite surprised by this announcement. I think that although they've not fully committed resources to the Wii (or seemingly not anyway), they've actually not done too bad a job of it so far. From what I gather the Wii version of Madden is the biz, with the motion sensing really put to good use. And although the Wii FIFA08 looks a bit similar to last years Xbox version, I still think it'll be a great game. NFS: Carbon was a let down though. The news that they're going to create more new IP for Wii is tremendous however. I only hope that doesn't result in mis-reading what Wii players want, and we end up with mini-game extravaganzas. I have a feeling they'll make a good show of it though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Great that EA are being so upfront but why oh why is Tiger Woods 08 not online I refused to buy the last one for this reason - ah well guess theres always Tiger Woods 09!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Great that EA are being so upfront but why oh why is Tiger Woods 08 not online I refused to buy the last one for this reason - ah well guess theres always Tiger Woods 09!!!! I'm curious.... What exactly is the point in an online golf game? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 Hopefully people will stop whining about core and casual games and just sit down and enjoy the games. Hear hear. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 I was not trying to be sarcastic. I think that in the future there will be more casual games and less core games. Meaning Nintendo was right calling it a "Revolution". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 29, 2007 I'm curious.... What exactly is the point in an online golf game? I'd imagine that the point is to play it over the internet! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted July 31, 2007 I was not trying to be sarcastic. I think that in the future there will be more casual games and less core games. Meaning Nintendo was right calling it a "Revolution". Well, it's time the public were engaged in games and gaming. The problem with the 360 and PS3 is that they are 'boys toys' and they focus on lengthy heavy games that are full of robots, swords, soldiers and fantasy worlds. These don;t appeal to everyone, infact they do little to appeal to anyone but the standard gamer. I for one think it's good that the public are embracing gaming, it's about time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
