About this whole EA/Nintendo thing... does Nintendo need EA?

krizzx said:
The soul game Namco has announced for this year is Mario Kart Arcade GP DX.

Namco-Bandai already released Tekken Tag 2 on the Wii U, they released Tank! Tank! Tank! earlier this year and they are working on the next Smash Brothers. They have a LOT of 3DS games coming out.
Major 3rd party support 1

Capcom is releasing DuckTales Remastered, Resident Evil: Revelations HD and a ton of 3DS games. They released Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate for the Wii U earlier this year and said it is a "Smash Hit!" http://gimmegimmegames.com/2013/02/monster-hunter-tri-g-is-a-smash-hit-on-wii-u/ On a side note, they have no plans for a Vita version. http://www.vg247.com/2013/04/27/monster-hunter-capcom-has-no-plans-for-a-vita-version-at-the-moment/
Major 3rd party support 2

Atlus isn't releasing much of anything this year(they are having major financial problems so its to be expected), but most of the games that they are releasing are going to be on the 3DS. They still have Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei as well.
Major 3rd party support 3

Do I need to bring up SEGA?
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I don't understand, are you agreeing with me? What does 3DS support matter? How do Namco's two released titles outweigh EA's four (particularly tanktanktank)?

I even accounted for Revelations, which comes out next week, so I hope you're not banking on Ducktales as evidence of strong support.
 
Grampa Simpson said:
Reposting myself from another thread. I think EA thinks that they're better off without Nintendo in the picture. What they're doing is not a very aggressive move.
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I agree with your quoted post, but I do think it's an aggressive move. EA turning openly dismissive of Nintendo, not even porting the games that would make sense, or even the middleware to sell on to other devs, seems to be EA hoping that Nintendo crash and burn. Kicking them now they're down and they feel that they don't need them.

The reason is that Nintendo's approach of low cost games and hardware, not pursuing the blockbuster model, is harming their interests. If the Wii U would be a success like the Wii, that would be another huge portion of the market lost to their cause. People that buy into the notion that gameplay, originality > graphics, yearly iterations are a serious problem for EA.
 
GoddyofAus said:
EA and Nintendo are done with each other. Plain and simple.

The difference between them is EA can live without Nintendo.
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Since when has Nintendo relied on EA? I'm not saying they wouldn't benefit from having EA games (of course they would) but I wouldn't say the need them. Never have before anyway.
 
Pancakes R Us said:
Exactly. If that we're the case, Wii U wouldn't be in the state it is now.
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Psst... Remind me again which of the big Nintendo brands are out right now on Wii U?

New Super Mario Bros U and... umm... :p yeah.

Nintendo can fully survive on it's first party products, look at the 3DS. A price drop and a 3d mario and mario kart and suddenly they start really moving software and hardware. That said, they need to fix their price point and they need to actually get their software out.
 
Plinko said:
I would argue that either Sony or MS losing EA would be a MUCH bigger blow than Nintendo losing them. Somebody in the other thread posted the MCV quote about how poor EA sales were on the Wii as well.
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Yep, as that article said, even on the 100m selling Wii, no Fifa or Madden game ever broke 1m copies. Don't get me wrong, this is bad PR, especially with all the negative attention EA seem hell bent on bringing to the console, but it really isn't the big loss some are claiming.
 
Thinking about sports, EA may be fucking themselves with this one. They are leaving a big open for TT or WB or Konami. The 800lb gorilla has left the room. How hard would a spit and polish of a PS2 or even early 360 era game be?
 
Beetleking11 said:
Nintendo does not need anybody..
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Nintendo makes money off of licenses. They need 3rd parties. They can manage being without EA but it will be pretty bad that there is a hole in their sports portfolio and EA locked up the Star Wars license.

Also people should consider smaller devs that eventually get published by EA. Any of their games won't come to Nintendo as well.
 
wildfire said:
Nintendo makes money off of licenses. They need 3rd parties. They can manage being without EA but it will be pretty bad that there is a hole in their sports portfolio and EA locked up the Star Wars license.

Also people should consider smaller devs that eventually get published by EA. Any of their games won't come to Nintendo as well.
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Another interesting question is about those licenses. Does EA have any contractual obligations that they're blowing by this? Did disney understand that going with EA meant they wouldn't grace Nintendo consoles?
 
Does Nintendo need third parties? Of course they do.

Do they need EA specifically? Hell no.
 
You're asking the wrong question. It's not an issue of whether or not Nintendo needs EA, though they clearly do.

The question is: How badly did Nintendo go off the tracks with the Wii U that not even a company as greedy as EA will publish games on it?

EA craps games out on EVERYTHING. It speaks volumes when they aren't putting something on your console.
 
Grampa Simpson said:
Thinking about sports, EA may be fucking themselves with this one. They are leaving a big open for TT or WB or Konami. The 800lb gorilla has left the room. How hard would a spit and polish of a PS2 or even early 360 era game be?
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This.

Actually this is what Nintendo should do. Support whatever company who shows competition to EA.

FIFA? Support Konami.
Madden? Help 2K to get the NFL franchise back.
NHL? Support 2K.
Dead Space? Support Capcom.
Battlefield? Support Activision and 2K (Spec Ops).
 
There is absolutely no way to dress up the complete withdrawal of any support for a console by a major publisher as good or even acceptable news.

There's a staggering amount of pretense and damage limitation taking place regarding this.
 
Nintendo should really just resurrect its own sports label. Work with some teams that have done ports in the past and push out a new NBA Courtside, Pennant Chase Baseball, Golf, Soccer, Hockey, Football game.
 
Looking at their sales on Wii is pointless.

The Wii U is competing directly with the (last-gen) HD twins. Look at the sales of EA games on those platforms to get a better idea of their importance.

And whether Nintendo need them or not is a bit of a simplification - no company 'needs' another to be successful. But EA are a pretty big entity so no support from them is rather damaging. Wii U will not get sports games (FIFA, Madden - massive sellers), Dead Space, Battlefield, Bioware games, Star Wars games, Sims games, and probably not Need for Speed unless Criterion beg for it. All of these properties are big multi-million sellers that people will miss.

The other problem is that it's not just EA who don't care about the Wii U. Many developers have expressed indifference, and other publishers like Deep Silver have also chosen to withhold support.
 
entrement said:
Ouch! I remember Criterion being hyped for that version. Month old ports don't really do well.
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Exceptionally late ports of BioShock, Mass Effect, and others did pretty well on PS3. The problem isn't really the timing, as if WiiU owners are the pickiest most elite of videogamers out there. Its just the audience either isnt there on WiiU, or the GamePad offers no value to consumers that would make them want to get the WiiU version instead.

In comparison, the PS4/Durango versions of cross-gen stuff will have noticeable leaps in graphic oomph.

And its really not so much a case of just EA not being on the system. This shit works like dominoes and when big ol blocks like Fifa and Madden aren't there, you better believe shit tumbles down the line. The message is WiiU is poisonous for third parties not having their shit published through Nintendo.
 
Personally, I think Nintendo can live without EA. However, with how slim the Wii U's lineup is, they certainly can't afford to lose the support of major third parties like them. Nintendo will live, but they'll have a hell of a hard time if other large publishers follow EA.
 
Lets be real here. Nintendo and EA know that the WiiU is at best destined to be everyones second console. No one was gonna buy EA games on it.
 
Ubisoft is stepping up big time, and will accordingly, continue to gain Market share on EA.

Nintendo is and always has been fine without EA. Having their support would be better than not, but any hole left by EA will be filled by people who see an opportunity and step up in the right way.

There's just not a large enough market on Nintendo platforms for Madden and Battlefield. There barely is on the other platforms. Especially BF, considering how much it costs to produce. I for one would prefer original types of EA games like Boom Blox if the Wii U gets them. But if they want to be butt hurt, and stay away, someone else will come up with such concepts and games.
 
shinra-bansho said:
I know people don't like to hear it but: Nintendo needs EA far more than EA needs Nintendo.
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This. Nintendo has always had that fall back besides there own first party titles a reason for a person or their kids to have one and that is sports games. In the USA especially EA and franchises like Madden and FIFA are sellers no matter where it's at and with Nintendo aiming at the child demographic sports is a big part of most kids lives so it will always make sales. The bigger hits like NFS series and such can be aimed at kids as well. I see this as an issue personally. Also 2K is not making WWE14 for the Wii U. Wresling that kids watch more than adults these days they won't even have a Wrestling game on there this year. That's telling you something.
 
Personally I don't really care if EA is making Wii U games or not. I literally can't remember the last EA game I bought.

For me, Nintendo has their priorities straight for third party games. Let's get some Sonic and Bayonetta up in here.
 
Pyscho_Mantis said:
Well Nintendo can survive without EA but they won't get far. Sales would probably be Gamecube levels rather than 360 or ps3 levels if EA withdrew all support.
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Didnt Nintendo make more money on gamecube than Sony did with the PS2? though that might be counting GBA/DS.
 
It always seemed like a demoting point to have them most of the time. They were often given the inferior port and received flack about it, now they aren't getting anything and will receive flack about it. What was the last legit game they released for Nintendo that didn't piss anyone off? They did Boom Blox right? That was a good one.

Actually, I wouldn't mind that one cleaned up and on the eShop. Won't be happening now, but it was a nice thought anyway.
 
That's a myth that's perpetuated, the GameBoy was bringing in massive profits during that era, and delineating them from whatever the GameCube was bringing in is impossible.
Gleethor said:
Anyone who denies this is delusional, but the question is how much do they need EA?
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If Nintendo's intent is to try and recapture the "casual" audience I can't see how they do so in absence of FIFA and Madden.

Third parties fill release voids, so that there's consistent a consistent software slate.

There's this idea that persists that Nintendo don't need third parties because of the strength of their first party brands. The reality is that no first party, not even one as strong as Nintendo's can sustain a system in itself.

They still have Ubisoft and Activision... for now. But losing EA is not something one just laughs off.
 
Grampa Simpson said:
Thinking about sports, EA may be fucking themselves with this one. They are leaving a big open for TT or WB or Konami. The 800lb gorilla has left the room. How hard would a spit and polish of a PS2 or even early 360 era game be?
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What difference does that make to EA? They arent on the platform so whatever sells on the WiiU isnt really a threat to them. And its not like sales or popularity of a Sports game on the WiiU will ever change anything on the PS4XboxInfinity.

At this point anyone who makes a sports game for the WiiU might as well be making boardgames as far as EA are concerned.
 
I don't think I've ever played a EA game on a Nintendo console, I doubt majority of people will care if EA does Wii U games.
 
EA's failure to develop Wii U ports of its games speaks volumes for the troubles Wii U is facing, but no, the Wii U's success doesn't hinge on EA.

Only Nintendo can make the games which will make people buy the Wii U, and only once people buy Wii Us will EA start making games for it. EA's support is a symptom, not a cause.
 
Grampa Simpson said:
Reposting myself from another thread. I think EA thinks that they're better off without Nintendo in the picture. What they're doing is not a very aggressive move.
Click to expand...

spekkeh said:
I agree with your quoted post, but I do think it's an aggressive move. EA turning openly dismissive of Nintendo, not even porting the games that would make sense, or even the middleware to sell on to other devs, seems to be EA hoping that Nintendo crash and burn. Kicking them now they're down and they feel that they don't need them.

The reason is that Nintendo's approach of low cost games and hardware, not pursuing the blockbuster model, is harming their interests. If the Wii U would be a success like the Wii, that would be another huge portion of the market lost to their cause. People that buy into the notion that gameplay, originality > graphics, yearly iterations are a serious problem for EA.
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The funny thing about the blockbuster model is that if we consider console gaming as we do film, the major video game publishers would end up being Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Take-Two, Microsoft and Sony in that order. Together, those seven companies own nearly 75% of the marketshare for 2012 and three of them create all the major gaming platforms outside of the mobile market. This is of course slightly less than the nearly 80% and nearly 90% which the six major film studios and three major record labels control respectfully. As for why I've stopped at seven? I wanted to include Microsoft and Sony because of their hardware maker status, and the eighth largest publisher in terms of market share this year was THQ and well, we can't really consider a bankrupt, defunct company as a major publisher now can we? However, if video games were to really consolidate, it would be around those seven companies most likely.

Even if video games adopt a studio system like film, Nintendo would likely be one of those studios, so EA will likely have to deal with Nintendo's continued existence in the market.
 
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