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[TreasureHunterG]

...I'm still looking for this proof that the Nintendo of today resonates strongly with "family friendly" audiences outside of pure I'm going to say this because it sounds right. If that were true, the family friendly games by 3rd parties should have been successful on Wii U, but they really haven't been.

So far, the only audience Nintendo is resonating strongly with is the Nintendo audience.

They actually tried that with WiiU. No wonder why Nintendo Land was advertised to be the system's killer app title targeting the casual/family crowd. Too bad that didn't worked, because casuals/family audience weren't willing to buy a 300$ machine to play a mini-game collection.

Porting costs money. Not even family oriented titles sell too well on those platforms. Why port something when it will not recoup the costs?

Those games aren't really expensive to port, not even to produce. And yes, family/casual games were the best sellers on WiiU (not saying too much, yes), there are an audience for such titles there.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Why waste money on projects when you yield a higher return on other platforms?

Gotta chase dat PS2 moneys

 

[Shiggy]

Gotta chase dat PS2 moneys

Easy to make with sales being better than on Wii U. So what's your point? That EA made a rational decision?

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Easy to make with sales being better than on Wii U. So what's your point? That EA made a rational decision?

You're saying you believe the PS2 is a more viable software platform than the WiiU in 2014?

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Easy to make with sales being better than on Wii U. So what's your point? That EA made a rational decision?

Oh, please stop. It's bad, but not really THIS bad to be lower than PS2 in 2014.

 

[flatearthpandas]

From a business perspective, it doesn't make sense to create games for Wii U when there are more viable platforms. Why waste money on projects when you yield a higher return on other platforms? Of course, they could try building an audience on Nintendo platforms - but that's a much more risky endeavour than creating the next Battlefield, and thus potential future cashflows were discounted with a risk premium.

I'd suggest you read a bit about investment decisions and you will easily understand why EA did not really try with Wii U. Their market research must have been pretty accurate about the prospects of the console.

I missed the part where I was apparently baffled about why EA isn't making games for the Wii U. All I've said is that there would be benefits to having an audience on Nintendo platforms (naturally there is risk involved in making that audience) and that they share part of the blame for that audience not existing.

I also doubt any amount of investment research will explain the Wii U SKU for Mass Effect 3.

 

[Shiggy]

You're saying you believe the PS2 is a more viable software platform than the WiiU in 2014?

For that particular game, yes. Then again, nothing but Mario games sell to well on Wii U, so it's not really surprising.

 

[jroc74]

So I'll ask again;

If EAs almost immediate cessation of support for the WiiU was entirely business driven, why did they cancel all titles, not just 'core' titles they would not sell to family friendly audiences?

Where is PvZ2 for 3DS? Where is PvZ: Garden warfare for WiiU? where is Peggle 2 for both?

Someone mentioned this already....maybe this plays a part:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/ea_outlines_its_reasons_for_lack_of_wii_u_support

Many EA games use the Frostbite 3 engine, which has apparently tested poorly on the Wii U, leaving Nintendo fans without games like Battlefield 4, the new Mirror's Edge and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. EA did initially support the Wii U, with ports of FIFA 13, Madden NFL 13, Need For Speed: Most Wanted U and Mass Effect 3; each version had shortcomings, arguably, in areas such as DLC and in-game features.

The lack of Frostbite engine support was baffling to gamers, since in 2010 EA had previously gushed about the possibilities of Battlefield on the Wii U thanks to the console's technical abilities. Battlefield series Executive Producer John Bach admits that, while there was some trouble getting Frostbite 2 working on the Wii U, the situation could be a little different if sales were better:

If the Wii U was immensely popular we would probably put more focus into seeing how we could mitigate this, because it is a technical problem. It is a technical problem at its core because the Frostbite engine is not designed to run on that hardware, and the hardware is quite different from the next-gen consoles and the previous gen consoles
...

So, we made the decision to say, no, let's not take away the focus from the PlayStations and the Xboxes and the PCs to do this. At the end of the day it's about focus and priorities. If we could press a button to move it over to Wii U, of course we could make a Wii U SKU, but it would take some substantial time to do it. I know some fans get very upset when we say that, but it's true. There's a reason why not all games are on the Wii U platform.

 

[Shiggy]

Oh, please stop. It's bad, but not really THIS bad to be lower than PS2 in 2014.

I'd suggest you buy an account to access sales data from some European countries, where FIFA games traditionally perform best. Then you will understand my statement related to that particular game.

Sales for FIFA on Wii U were atrocious.

 

[King_Moc]

I guess

Well, he could always prove it by announcing Boom Blox 3. Surely that'd be profitable? The Wii games (while good) looked like they only cost £5 to make. Or at least a HD combined version of 1+2.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

I'd suggest you buy an account to access sales data from some European countries, where FIFA games traditionally perform best. Then you will understand my statement related to that particular game.

Sales for FIFA on Wii U were atrocious.

Ok, if you have access to these numbers, then could you provide them here and made a comparison between all FIFA version among all platforms then we can make a better analysis.

 

[King_Moc]

I'd suggest you buy an account to access sales data from some European countries, where FIFA games traditionally perform best. Then you will understand my statement related to that particular game.

Sales for FIFA on Wii U were atrocious.

Worth bearing in mind that the Wii U version of 13 was released after the 360 and PS3 versions had been discounted to £20 (Wii U was £40 and up) and was missing features. There was no reason to buy it.

 

[Shiggy]

Ok, if you have access to these numbers, then could you provide them here and made a comparison between all FIFA version among all platforms then we can make a better analysis.

Nice try.

Worth bearing in mind that the Wii U version of 13 was released after the 360 and PS3 versions had been discounted to £20 (Wii U was £40 and up) and was missing features. There was no reason to buy it.

I don't think these kind of excuses are really helping. Why do shitty and late ports on other platforms still sell?

Even if it had been a great port and on time, does anyone really think it would have been viable? Wii U is a dead platform for third parties. Just look at the leaked sales numbers in the NPD thread, which are still significantly better than sales in Europe.

 

[shinra-bansho]

You guys know stuff like Skylanders and Just Dance are massively successful, right? You might as well say Battlefield 4 sells less than Minecraft so it's a failure.

And? Madden is huge franchise. Call of Duty is a huge franchise. Assassin's Creed 3 is a huge franchise.
Skylanders and Just Dance are/were huge franchises primarily on the Wii. 62% of the sales of JD2014 came from the Wii this most recent December.

PS4 in 2013:
Call of Duty: Ghosts >800K
Battlefield 4 - between 550K and 600K
Assassin's Creed 4 - between 500K and 550K
NBA 2K14 - between 400K and 450K
Madden NFL 25 - between 350K and 400K
Need for Speed - between 250K and 300K
FIFA 14 - between 200K and 250K

All of these selling more than Just Dance 2014 on the PS4.

Xbox One
Call of Duty: Ghosts - between 800K and 900K
Battlefield 4 - between 550K and 650K
Madden NFL 25 - between 350K and 400K
Assassin's Creed 4 - between 350K and 400K
NBA 2K14 - between 200K and 350K
FIFA 14 - between 150K and 200K
Need for Speed - between 100K and 150K

All of these selling more than JD2014 on the XB1, which sold more than JD2014 on the Wii U.

Why? Audience.

 

[Phades]

I guess

You do have a particular talent for snagging and delivering this stuff.

Well done.
/bow

 

[Here For The Free Feed]

what 'shortcomings' did need for speed most wanted u have?

 

[Delio]

EA are beholden to shareholders who are already asking hard questions about their strategy to the extent they have taken out a lawsuit against them for insider trading.

Ignoring business opportunities based on spite is not going to impress them.

EA also have business partners who are not going to be thrilled to hear about how EA make 'real games', and not kiddy shit. Partners like Disney. Partners who also have good working relationships with Nintendo.

But looking at the release list for this year they are already ignoring it so what would Disney even say?

 

[Replicant]

heh

Hot damn lol

I guess

 

[Mithos]

I don't think these kind of excuses are really helping. Why do shitty and late ports on other platforms still sell?

They have low standards/expectations/demands/requirements?

 

[Apophis2036]

Ea didn't cancel only 'core' titles though. They cancelled everything.

Even if you accept the premise only kids games sell on the WiiU you're still left wondering why a Peggle 2 or a PvZ: Garden warfare don't merit ports.

That's a good point, I also find it strange that EA arent at least putting out their yearly big sports titles like Fifa, Madden and Tiger Woods on WiiU. Didn't those games sell pretty well on Wii ?.

Also interesting tweets, I suppose it's good Peter Moore commented at all although it could well have been an agry phone call from Reggie that promoted it.

 

[flatearthpandas]

what 'shortcomings' did need for speed most wanted u have?

If I understand correctly, something like: 4 months late to the party, no DLC support, twice as expensive as other SKUs, no retail presence.

 

[MisterHero]

Was the really Peter Moore? What a tweest.

See, now this is that shit that I don't like.

EA, you're not fooling anyone. All one has to do is take a look at the software EA has planned for the Wii U to know that the company doesn't give even the most diarrhea of shits about Nintendo or the Wii U. So why even bother logging into to twitter to spout bullshit nobody believes? I understand that EA is never going to come out and publicly diss the Wii U as a company, but in that case why not just keep quiet?

It's one thing to disagree about things and not percieve a viable partnership in the present time, and another to declare a relationship entirely dead.

Although anonymous, an employee spoke out of turn. That's "tolerable". Implying "Nintendo = dead to us" as if it's actual policy isn't.

 

[jroc74]

Nice try.




I don't think these kind of excuses are really helping. Why do shitty and late ports on other platforms still sell?

Even if it had been a great port and on time, does anyone really think it would have been viable? Wii U is a dead platform for third parties. Just look at the leaked sales numbers in the NPD thread, which are still significantly better than sales in Europe.

I dont get it either. I am trying to think of an example as to why its crazy and I just cant. You mean ppl are actively not buying certain Wii U games....even if thats their only system....because its cheaper elsewhere or is a shitty port?

You mean to tell me all the games thats on all 3 consoles....are late or shitty ports? That Wii U chart says it all......

Missing features makes sense...if I have other platforms. Wii u only users are such a small number that it effect sales that much? If thats the case the Wii 100 million consoles sold doesnt look all that great now if many sales went to PS3, PC and 360 owners.

I think this is part of what I wanted to know software sales by platform:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/call-it-a-comeback-2013-in-numbers/0127108

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/uk-2009-software-charts/01707

The Wii software marketshare hasnt been great the entire time since it launched....thats amazing for selling 100 million consoles. It sold the most consoles....but was 3rd behind the 360 and PS3 in overall game sales since 2010, started dropping in 2009 and dropped to 5th in 2013. The PS3 and 360 has steadily been going up, probably dropped a year or 2 after the Wii launched.

I know its the UK, cant really find charts like this for the US.

Selling lots of Wii's was great for Nintendo....software sales dropping since 2009 wasnt great for 3rd parties or Nintendo...Wii I can understand cuz the Wii versions kinda sucked. Wii U might be hurt by having the Wii name....Nintendo's next console needs an entire new name.

 

[Kouriozan]

Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of event