EA: "We're currently not making any games for the WiiU"

[FourCartridge]

I found this article which might be relevant(and on the front page of that website too):

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-17-nintendo-wii-u-death-by-apathy

This line is really striking:

But EA has pulled out of the Wii U because sales of both hardware and software are dreadful. We're not officially allowed to report sales numbers from Chart Track in the UK but everyone in the publishing business can see them quite clearly. There's no need for pretence. When you can get to number one in the Wii U charts by selling less than 1000 units it's no longer a tragedy, it's an actual farce.

If that's true... Holy ****. 0_0 Make of that what you will, but I don't see any positive in that.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I found this article which might be relevant(and on the front page of that website too):

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-17-nintendo-wii-u-death-by-apathy

This line is really striking:

But EA has pulled out of the Wii U because sales of both hardware and software are dreadful. We're not officially allowed to report sales numbers from Chart Track in the UK but everyone in the publishing business can see them quite clearly. There's no need for pretence. When you can get to number one in the Wii U charts by selling less than 1000 units it's no longer a tragedy, it's an actual farce.

If that's true... Holy ****. 0_0 Make of that what you will, but I don't see any positive in that.

Yes yes, I've read that article too. No one is arguing that the WiiU is doing horrendous right now. I'm not arguing that. But there are two things we are arguing about:

1: That the WiiU Cannot do better. A lot of people are simply saying that the WiiU is a doomed console and it can't do any better. Me and people like Jeffers are arguing that while the WiiU is doing poorly right now, that does not mean it cannot do better. We think that this is just like the 3DS, which also had a horrendous start, but just look at it now. According to VGCharts (Not a reliable source, but just role with it), The 3DS is dominating the Hardware and Software charts in North America and Japan. Software is also dominating in Europe. [http://www.vgchartz.com/] We feel that the WiiU will be a repeat of the 3DS; maybe not as big, but it certainly will not remain a disaster like everyone else thinks it is.

2: Why EA has dropped it's support. A lot of people think that EA dropped support because the WiiU isn't selling. I would be inclined to believe them, if they [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImzCgwdPIAw] simply said so. [http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/no-madden-nfl-football-from-ea-sports-on-wii-u-in-2013/] But even when they're canceling games, and announcing no games in development for the WiiU, they still say "We have a very good relationship with Nintendo." That doesn't make sense, if they're abandoning the WiiU, they should simply say so, but they aren't. On top of that, you have people working at EA who say things like this:

It's obvious to people like me and Jeffers that EA wants the WiiU to fry. The reason is unknown, although a lot of people think it's because Nintendo didn't make their console rely on Origins. It simply makes no sense for a company to say "We Support a Console", and they support it by doing nothing with it! And before your say "Oh, It's all PR stuff", other companies have no problem simply saying "We are not making stuff for the WiiU". [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/405021/just-cause-2-developer-wii-u-dev-kits-are-collecting-dust/]

It's not like we loose anything of substance though, because they've cut support to Nintendo Consoles, like the Gamecube and the 64, and even the Wii, before. [http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2013/03/25/the-sexual-history-between-nintendo-and-electronic-arts/]

 

[FourCartridge]

-snip-

Oh, thanks for clearing that up. =P When I read that, I thought EA dropping support was a simple open & shut case; no games are selling, so there's no return of investment, therefore the Wii U is not profitable thing. On 3rd parties saying they arn't makin games, I'd respond with "they didn't make any games for Ninty anyway", but we know Avalanche tried to talk with 'em(I really want that steampunk game now).

Then again, this is EA we're talking about. They ALWAYS have ulterior motives for every deal, and dumping online passes aren't enough to make me change my mind about that IMO.

As for if the Wii U can recover, I say Nintendo's lucky if they can get Gamecube levels. The usual stable doesn't sell consoles anymore and is far off, and to boot it's selling at Dreamcast levels; this E3 is their big(and likely only) chance to turn things around.

 

['Record Stops.']

Nothing EA are making these days really appeals to me that much so I don't care. What I want from the Wii U is some big hitting Nintendo games and some good JRPGS.

Whether or not you care about EA games personally, this is a massive hit to the Wii U. EA games are big sellers, particularly the sports games, and not having these is really going to hurt Nintendo.

I think this could be yet another sign Nintendo is going the way of Sega. Personally, I don't really have a problem if they make games for other consoles because it will give me access to the few Nintendo franchises I love without having to buy a console I otherwise don't want.

That said, I'd be really sad if Nintendo went under. The first few consoles I owned were made by Nintendo, and to see what I still consider my favourite gaming company lose their position as a major player would just be bizarre to me.

I'm quite sure Nintendo will manage to make more money than either Sony or Microsoft this go, even if they only manage to put out first party titles. Their business model is more sound, even if the customers aren't big fans.

How does that work exactly. The Wii was an anomaly and all signs point to the WiiU NOT being a repeat.

Profit isn't just a matter of units shipped, but also profit margins. This is even more true with consoles, consoles cost the manufacturer more money than they cost the consumer. The WiiU is on a very slight loss, and is already bringing Nintendo money thanks to only needing one game sale per customer to make a profit. In comparison, I expect the PS4 and Durango to be in the red for 2-3 years, then spend years more making back the losses of the initial launch (based on previous steep subsidies, and that I can't see any way for them to fix the hole they dug for themselves by making gamers expect to pay far less than the system is worth).

Except it has already been reported the both the next xbox and PS4 are using much more standard off the shelf components, basically just x86 APU's from AMD, and that AMD is highly motivated to provide at a competitive price due to their financial situation, the net effect being that these next gen consoles will be cheaper for Sony and Microsoft to make than ever.

More importantly Nintendo isn't even selling many units. It does not matter if Nintendo is only taking a small loss on the hardware if they don't sell any. The reason almost no one is developing or releasing WiiU titles is because of those low sales numbers. Even Nintendo can't make from its in house games if there aren't a good number of people with WiiU's to buy their games.

The WiiU might just be Nintendo's Dreamcast.

Ah, once again people forget about how SEGA failed so badly, odd since so many people love SEGA and like to proclaim their hate on Nintendo because the big meanies don't make games for computers anymore. Here's the run down skippy on why SEGA failed and why Nintendo Won't. SEGA died due to a LONG string of very badly thought out consoles, the SEGA Saturn, SEGA Neptune, SEGA everything after the Genesis, Nintendo has had ONE bad console, the Wii, and the WiiU will not be the Dreamcast, because the Dreamcast came out at a TERRIBLE time in gaming history. Why was that? THE PS2. Tell me if there has EVER been a better console that came out at a better time than the PS2, and no, your PC doesn't count. The PS2 is a monster, was a monster, will always BE a monster. IT tore the Dreamcast apart so fast, so hard, and did EVERYTHING it could do but better, faster, and safer. The WiiU has nothing on it right now, but wanna know what it will have? Earthbound. And if they release a NEW Earthbound game for the WiiU? Then sales will RACK up like ducks in a shooting gallery, once again we have to say to idiots like you, who are so embittered about Nintendo like they held your dog down and shot it in front of it, WAIT until their BIG games come out, then decry them for being a repeat of SEGA you frakkin' lemming.

 

[Little Gray]

Nothing outside of Nintendo's games really sold well on the Wii. There are obviously a few exceptions but none of the major publishers really had much success with it. As stated in the article Ubisoft is really the only one with Just Dance.

Number of games that sold over 1 million copies:

PS3
25 different games sold over 1 million copies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#PlayStation_3

Xbox 360
~54 different games sold over 1 million copies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Xbox_360_video_games

Wii
103 Wii games sold over 1 million copies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games

You really want to tell me that out of those 103 games, almost all non are 3rd party games? The Wii did ridiculously good in software sales.

I did not say that the wii did not do good in software sales. I said Nintendo was the only one who really did well in the software department with the wii which if you looked at that list would show you. Yes it is an incomplete list but its almost all games that Nintendo made.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Nothing EA are making these days really appeals to me that much so I don't care. What I want from the Wii U is some big hitting Nintendo games and some good JRPGS.

Whether or not you care about EA games personally, this is a massive hit to the Wii U. EA games are big sellers, particularly the sports games, and not having these is really going to hurt Nintendo.

I think this could be yet another sign Nintendo is going the way of Sega. Personally, I don't really have a problem if they make games for other consoles because it will give me access to the few Nintendo franchises I love without having to buy a console I otherwise don't want.

That said, I'd be really sad if Nintendo went under. The first few consoles I owned were made by Nintendo, and to see what I still consider my favourite gaming company lose their position as a major player would just be bizarre to me.

I'm quite sure Nintendo will manage to make more money than either Sony or Microsoft this go, even if they only manage to put out first party titles. Their business model is more sound, even if the customers aren't big fans.

How does that work exactly. The Wii was an anomaly and all signs point to the WiiU NOT being a repeat.

Profit isn't just a matter of units shipped, but also profit margins. This is even more true with consoles, consoles cost the manufacturer more money than they cost the consumer. The WiiU is on a very slight loss, and is already bringing Nintendo money thanks to only needing one game sale per customer to make a profit. In comparison, I expect the PS4 and Durango to be in the red for 2-3 years, then spend years more making back the losses of the initial launch (based on previous steep subsidies, and that I can't see any way for them to fix the hole they dug for themselves by making gamers expect to pay far less than the system is worth).

Except it has already been reported the both the next xbox and PS4 are using much more standard off the shelf components, basically just x86 APU's from AMD, and that AMD is highly motivated to provide at a competitive price due to their financial situation, the net effect being that these next gen consoles will be cheaper for Sony and Microsoft to make than ever.

More importantly Nintendo isn't even selling many units. It does not matter if Nintendo is only taking a small loss on the hardware if they don't sell any. The reason almost no one is developing or releasing WiiU titles is because of those low sales numbers. Even Nintendo can't make from its in house games if there aren't a good number of people with WiiU's to buy their games.

The WiiU might just be Nintendo's Dreamcast.

Ah, once again people forget about how SEGA failed so badly, odd since so many people love SEGA and like to proclaim their hate on Nintendo because the big meanies don't make games for computers anymore. Here's the run down skippy on why SEGA failed and why Nintendo Won't. SEGA died due to a LONG string of very badly thought out consoles, the SEGA Saturn, SEGA Neptune, SEGA everything after the Genesis, Nintendo has had ONE bad console, the Wii, and the WiiU will not be the Dreamcast, because the Dreamcast came out at a TERRIBLE time in gaming history. Why was that? THE PS2. Tell me if there has EVER been a better console that came out at a better time than the PS2, and no, your PC doesn't count. The PS2 is a monster, was a monster, will always BE a monster. IT tore the Dreamcast apart so fast, so hard, and did EVERYTHING it could do but better, faster, and safer. The WiiU has nothing on it right now, but wanna know what it will have? Earthbound. And if they release a NEW Earthbound game for the WiiU? Then sales will RACK up like ducks in a shooting gallery, once again we have to say to idiots like you, who are so embittered about Nintendo like they held your dog down and shot it in front of it, WAIT until their BIG games come out, then decry them for being a repeat of SEGA you frakkin' lemming.

The only person who sounds "embittered" here is you, I don't play on consoles and haven't since the PS2 era. I still have a Dreamcast in my closet and the Dreamcast was actually a great console that game out at a bad time. You know what that is similar to? The WiiU.
The Dreamcast came out, going just on my memory here, about a year or so before the PS2 and xbox. It ended up being in the unfortunate position of being more powerful than what came before it, namely the PS1 and N64, but woefully underpowered to what came after, namely the PS2 and xbox. While the Dreamcast did enjoy some limited success after it came out many gamers knew that the PS2 was on the way and held off, and once the PS2 was available everyone rushed to buy that and the Dreamcast was left an also ran.
So why is that like the WiiU? Well the WiiU launched early, again about a year ahead of the PS4 and the Nextbox. In terms of hardware it is only just a little more powerful than what it is replacing, the PS3 and xbox360, and will be woefully underpowered compared to what is coming after, the PS4 and Nextbox.
If you look at the sales they have pitiful. I don't care how you try and spin it but they are waaay off projections and very low compared to the original Wii, and most successful console launches in the recent past. Developers are only going to develop for consoles that have a significant installed user base. EA was developing for the Wii starting from the first year. It is not developing for the WiiU at all and has no plans to start. The same for almost all the major third party developers.
Nintendo made a major misstep with the WiiU. They sought to replicate the success of the Wii and in so doing sowed the seed of their destruction. No one wants to develop a multiplaform title for a platform that has a significantly different controller type than the other platforms. No one wants to develop a multiplatform title for a platform that is significantly less powerful than the other platforms. That all adds major costs to development at a time when all the developers are crying about how much development costs!
Sony is focusing on developer outreach this go around. I don't know what Microsoft's approach there will be. But Nintendo's WiiU is an anemic offering that was released with the wrong hardware at the wrong time. Personally I believe it will be there last home console. I could definitely be wrong, but in the end that might be better for all gamers, as it would mean more people could play Mario and Zelda games when they go multiplatform.

EDIT: forgot to mention, there will be NO Earthbound for the WiiU, the creator has already said the series is finished and there will not be a sequel

 

[bug_of_war]

Here's what I don't understand: Disney have given the Star Wars contract to EA. With that comes the understanding, I'm sure, that EA will develop Star Wars games on all major platforms. Disney will want every last bit of money they can get out of that gaming pie.

Now, Star Wars games have always sold well on Nintendo systems: Rogue Squadron, Lego Star Wars, the film tie-in games, Pod Racer... there's a good history there of sales. Even more importantly, the Wii U is currently crying out for a lightsaber game that uses Motion+. It's a recipe so simple, and yet they would make so much money from it.

More importantly, Disney themselves feel that the Wii U is a valid platform, given that they're supporting it with their biggest title this year, Infinity. In fact, there's a chance that with the console's built in NFC, Infinity may take off better on the Wii U than on other platforms where an add-on will need to be bought.

So why on earth are Disney letting EA's dick-swinging contest get in the way of business? If EA are developing Star Wars games, they should be developing them for every major platform. EA's spite isn't just screwing themselves over, it's actively costing Disney revenue and marketshare they could be seeing on Nintendo consoles. Why haven't Disney stepped in and slapped EA with "You do what you want with your own properties, but you get our Star Wars games on every platform". Either EA are in for a very rude letter from Disney, or something's going on behind the scenes.

EA owns more rights to other games than just Star Wars, and seeing as how the Wii U isn't selling so great it's likely that they would make a loss making a game for the Wii U. Also EA has simply said that they're not currently developing games for the Wii U, so it's not as though they have totally cut the string. And another point, seeing as how the PS4 and Xbox 'whatever the hell you want to call it' are coming out soon it's much more likely that they would want their developers focusing on better hardware.

The Wii U isn't bad, but it's just the wrong fit with the next generation. It's hardware will pale in comparison to Sony's and Xbox's next consoles, it's really just an upgraded Wii, and it has yet to have any games on it that a majority of people are excited for. They're saying the Wii U is capable of competing with the next gen but it's barely any competition to current gen.

Nintendo, I've never had issues with you, and I enjoy most of your products, but you either gotta make a console that uses better hardware, or be just as innovative as the lead from Gamecube to Wii was.