EA will resume Wii U support when it's 'a viable platform'.

[Nathan Drake]

I'm sure it will, but their argument is that Nintendo hasn't sold enough units yet. They started out with tons of support for the PS4 and X1, before they even know how well the systems will sell.

As a response to your general "well the Wii U has at least sold consoles" argument:
According to Wikipedia, as of March 31st, the Wii U has managed to sell 3.45 million units. The system has been out for almost seven months now in NA, and about six months everywhere else. That is approximately 862,500 units worldwide per month up to that point using a division of four months, ignoring the extra couple of weeks NA has over the rest of the world. Now, this would be decent if not for the following information:

According to that same Wii U Wikipedia article, in the first 41 days in the US, 890k consoles were sold. In Japan, over 600k were sold through December. In the UK, 40k were sold in the first weekend. That means through December, 1.53 million of those 3.45 million systems had already been sold. That means that there have only been approximately 640k systems moved per month since then all over the world through March. Assuming those sales are primarily in Japan, which is a plausible conclusion considering that in January, only 57k Wii U's were sold in the US, that would mean that much of the western market is not willing to get involved with the system. With that in mind, even if EA's games aren't the greatest that they've released, dropping sales numbers that already were much lower than the presented projected numbers don't provide good incentive to continue.

As further idea of why EA might bow out, just look at these sales comparisons between the Wii U and current (or I guess now last) gen hardware. The source links back to Neogaf, if you're curious, and those numbers clearly speak for themselves. When in the US, consoles over six years old are still selling more units each month than what should be a brand new, appealing console, it gives cause for worry to developers.

When it comes to new systems, companies always gamble if it was a big name previously and has the chance to sell. I assure you, if the Xbox One does poorly, they'll likely bow out there early as well. I'd say if the PS4 does poorly, but any smart game company would be considering the PS4 above any other console right now with the incredibly positive response across the board. At this point in time, the PS4 is a smart gamble, and the Xbox One had the releases lined up prior to the bad rep the One has received, likely meaning there are contracts in place so that games have to be finished and released, even if it no longer seems worth it.

Your argument of "well one exists and the other two doesn't" is just silly though. When was the last time a game developer didn't gamble on an unreleased system until seeing how well it did?

 

[ForteGospel]

As a response to your general "well the Wii U has at least sold consoles" argument:
According to Wikipedia, as of March 31st, the Wii U has managed to sell 3.45 million units. The system has been out for almost seven months now in NA, and about six months everywhere else. That is approximately 862,500 units worldwide per month up to that point using a division of four months, ignoring the extra couple of weeks NA has over the rest of the world. Now, this would be decent if not for the following information:

According to that same Wii U Wikipedia article, in the first 41 days in the US, 890k consoles were sold. In Japan, over 600k were sold through December. In the UK, 40k were sold in the first weekend. That means through December, 1.53 million of those 3.45 million systems had already been sold. That means that there have only been approximately 640k systems moved per month since then all over the world through March. Assuming those sales are primarily in Japan, which is a plausible conclusion considering that in January, only 57k Wii U's were sold in the US, that would mean that much of the western market is not willing to get involved with the system. With that in mind, even if EA's games aren't the greatest that they've released, dropping sales numbers that already were much lower than the presented projected numbers don't provide good incentive to continue.

As further idea of why EA might bow out, just look at these sales comparisons between the Wii U and current (or I guess now last) gen hardware. The source links back to Neogaf, if you're curious, and those numbers clearly speak for themselves. When in the US, consoles over six years old are still selling more units each month than what should be a brand new, appealing console, it gives cause for worry to developers.

When it comes to new systems, companies always gamble if it was a big name previously and has the chance to sell. I assure you, if the Xbox One does poorly, they'll likely bow out there early as well. I'd say if the PS4 does poorly, but any smart game company would be considering the PS4 above any other console right now with the incredibly positive response across the board. At this point in time, the PS4 is a smart gamble, and the Xbox One had the releases lined up prior to the bad rep the One has received, likely meaning there are contracts in place so that games have to be finished and released, even if it no longer seems worth it.

Your argument of "well one exists and the other two doesn't" is just silly though. When was the last time a game developer didn't gamble on an unreleased system until seeing how well it did?

Are you seriously comparing last gen consoles sales with the newborn gen consoles sales? I don't even need to check for it but I know the ps2 out sold the ps3 at first, and the xbox outsold the xbox 360 in the firsts months, the nds out sold the 3ds at first and the psp outsold the psvita for more than half a year

Also saying they put effort on the new need for speed mw, do I need to remind you that we are talking about a port of a remake of a port of a game from 7 years ago?

 

[FAST6191]

sounds like a chicken and egg scenario

Not necessarily -- in modern electronics/web type scenarios such problems (new product into a well established and highly competitive market) are traditionally solved by massive investment in lots of things including content, advertising and assurances. Either Nintendo has not done enough or has screwed up what they did (I am going with a mixture of both).

 

[Nathan Drake]

Are you seriously comparing last gen consoles sales with the newborn gen consoles sales? I don't even need to check for it but I know the ps2 out sold the ps3 at first, and the xbox outsold the xbox 360 in the firsts months, the nds out sold the 3ds at first and the psp outsold the psvita for more than half a year

Also saying they put effort on the new need for speed mw, do I need to remind you that we are talking about a port of a remake of a port of a game from 7 years ago?

To hit your last point first, I never even personally brought that game up. Perhaps talk to the correct people about that one. You know, not me.

The Wii U was entered into the market as a direct competitor to the PS3 and 360 both by time and by hardware. As all three are actively being produced and sold with no other major market competition, sales can and will be compared without issue. With games being released on the Wii U that were released on the aforementioned systems, direct comparisons of sales even by the game can be drawn quite easily to see where the worthwhile market is for a developer. As games generally sell by the hundreds of thousands while breaking into the millions here or there, theoretically, the Wii U should be able to match current gen hardware game sales. If the Wii U only wanted to be compared to the PS4 and the Xbox One, it should have entered the market at the same time as them instead of thinking that an extra year would do any good. Nintendo decided to play against two established systems with far more comprehensive libraries for the sake of getting a leg up in the next gen. Clearly, that is hurting them since the Wii U is on the shelf with old hardware that still sells substantially better.

And sure, most previous iterations of a system outsell the next gen hardware at first because a next gen release usually leads to price drops. Price drops mean all those who waited for the next gen to adopt due to an established library are suddenly purchasing. Price drops mean some people can finally afford to buy. You basically just stated that when prices go low, people buy. Welcome to every first world economy.

What needs to be noted is how astoundingly low Wii U sales are in comparison to other, currently released consoles, it's current competition, and I'm sure even in comparison to sales that next gen systems normally gain within the first year. They aren't just low; they're so low Nintendo is worried and developers are bowing out. Are you really going to tell me that their sales numbers aren't a problem now? That clearly not having an alluring console will just fix itself as the current gen is phased out for good and the next gen fully establishes itself? Do you understand how much of a non-argument you even put forward? The Wii U is going to be swamped by further competition in the holiday season, and unless it finally gains a firm foothold, it may find itself outsold on more than two fronts.

 

[ForteGospel]

To hit your last point first, I never even personally brought that game up. Perhaps talk to the correct people about that one. You know, not me.

The Wii U was entered into the market as a direct competitor to the PS3 and 360 both by time and by hardware. As all three are actively being produced and sold with no other major market competition, sales can and will be compared without issue. With games being released on the Wii U that were released on the aforementioned systems, direct comparisons of sales even by the game can be drawn quite easily to see where the worthwhile market is for a developer. As games generally sell by the hundreds of thousands while breaking into the millions here or there, theoretically, the Wii U should be able to match current gen hardware game sales. If the Wii U only wanted to be compared to the PS4 and the Xbox One, it should have entered the market at the same time as them instead of thinking that an extra year would do any good. Nintendo decided to play against two established systems with far more comprehensive libraries for the sake of getting a leg up in the next gen. Clearly, that is hurting them since the Wii U is on the shelf with old hardware that still sells substantially better.

And sure, most previous iterations of a system outsell the next gen hardware at first because a next gen release usually leads to price drops. Price drops mean all those who waited for the next gen to adopt due to an established library are suddenly purchasing. Price drops mean some people can finally afford to buy. You basically just stated that when prices go low, people buy. Welcome to every first world economy.

What needs to be noted is how astoundingly low Wii U sales are in comparison to other, currently released consoles, it's current competition, and I'm sure even in comparison to sales that next gen systems normally gain within the first year. They aren't just low; they're so low Nintendo is worried and developers are bowing out. Are you really going to tell me that their sales numbers aren't a problem now? That clearly not having an alluring console will just fix itself as the current gen is phased out for good and the next gen fully establishes itself? Do you understand how much of a non-argument you even put forward? The Wii U is going to be swamped by further competition in the holiday season, and unless it finally gains a firm foothold, it may find itself outsold on more than two fronts.

the last statement wasn't for you, but if you want to reply to it be my guest.

also going by your logic the 360 is gen 6 rather gen 7, as it was released a year before the wii and the ps3 and competed against the gamecube and the ps2. even so I am sure the ps2 outsold the xbox 360 for that whole year (not going to compare the gamecube as it sold crap)

moreover, you are saying that theoretically the wii u (3,4 million unit sold) should outsell software from the xbox 360 (77 million unit sold) or the ps3 (also about 77 unit million sold) because fuck logic?

 

[Gahars]

also going by your logic the 360 is gen 6 rather gen 7, as it was released a year before the wii and the ps3 and competed against the gamecube and the ps2. even so I am sure the ps2 outsold the xbox 360 for that whole year (not going to compare the gamecube as it sold crap)

lrn2readingcomprehension

moreover, you are saying that theoretically the wii u (3,4 million unit sold) should outsell software from the xbox 360 (77 million unit sold) or the ps3 (also about 77 unit million sold) because fuck logic?

On a month-by-month basis? Yes, or at the very least, it should be competitive with the other hardware. But it isn't. It's getting absolutely shutout by its last gen competitors and that is worrying.

I see a lot of people trying to deny this and I don't understand why. The Wii U is seriously underperforming in the market and the system's in a precarious state - that's a fact. Denying the reality of the situation won't change anything.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Lol I love how people are going "Well they're supporting the Xbox One/PS4 and they have ZERO sales!" Like seriously do we not know how industry works at all.

EA offered some games when the Wii U was first starting off. They gave us ME3, NFS, etc. In return they got very little back. And seriously, why are we always criticizing them for the poor sales? God forbid we say it's because it's a poorly selling system with a limited install base. Nope, blame the publisher because Ninten-do no wrong.

What they're saying here is perfectly reasonable, it's certainly not their job to sell the system and it's certainly not their responsibility to take a loss (it's not even a "risk" at this point on whether the EA games would sell well) just so Nintendo can say "third parties!"

 

[JoostinOnline]

EA offered some games when the Wii U was first starting off. They gave us ME3, NFS, etc. In return they got very little back. And seriously, why are we always criticizing them for the poor sales? God forbid we say it's because it's a poorly selling system with a limited install base. Nope, blame the publisher because Ninten-do no wrong.

Nintendo isn't blameless, but EA played a big part in the poor sales if you look at their choices following the Wii U release, especially concerning Mass Effect 3. Read this:

With the exception of NFS (based on what I've heard, haven't played it), the ports they released for the Wii U weren't done very well. With ME3, they wouldn't release any of the DLC, and released the whole trilogy for other consoles with a total price lower than that of the Wii U version. You can't expect something to sell well when you give a much better deal for another system.

When you offer 3 games with more features (mainly DLC), all bundled for less money than just one game, which do you think people will buy?

 

[the_randomizer]

EA makes crappy ports, they get poor sales, and they have the balls to ask why? Seems legit.

 

[Taleweaver]

As it stands, I'd rather wait until those other consoles are released and see how they sell. And I think EA is doing exactly that, even though they're currently claiming to support them (didn't they said the exact same thing about the wiiu a year ago?).

With all the negativity on the xbone, people tend to forget that the PS4 will have you pay for online as well. That, the fact that the graphics leap isn't that big this time and that the current gens of those consoles are still well supported, will lead to "lower sales than expected" on the next gens as well.

Hard to say if wiiu sales will increase because of that. But I think their track record won't be much different than the other consoles.

...which leads me back to this point: if EA decides to make games for the wiiu again, it'll be because it'll be not a worse-selling console than the competition.

I just hope they learn that you can't pull off this "ME trilogy for lower price than wiiu ME3"-bullshit without it biting you in the ass at the end.

 

[rafaelluik]

I say boycott EA, we don't need their crappy games anyway!

 

[JoostinOnline]

I say boycott EA, we don't need their crappy games anyway!

That's what I said, then they stopped making games for the Wii U, and I realized just how many games they made.

 

[Nathan Drake]

That's what I said, then they stopped making games for the Wii U, and I realized just how many games they made.

People do seem to forget that EA is a major player in the third party world.

I mean, look at all of these series:

As well as this rather long list of studios and subsidiaries.

Even if people don't like their practices, nobody can ignore that they make a lot of games that people like to play.

 

[Kayot]

Regarding the low NA sales. It may have something to do with the NA economy.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

To anyone who thinks EA games are irrelevant, you do know they're making Battlefront III right?

 

[EzekielRage]

To anyone who thinks EA games are irrelevant, you do know they're making Battlefront III right?

Fixed. The remaining comment is about the general topic and not about you though

Once again, EA is right about what they are doing in this regard. It only makes sense from a business point of view. However i don't understand why they don't port their PS3/X360 Multiplatform titles over, since porting is considered easy, even for an indie studio. They could sell a few copies and pretty much don't spend anything by doing this. I udnerstand that their games haven't sold well on the system, but the fact of the matter is four out of five times (in 4 out of all 5 EA games on the system) customers had a better option on the competing system (i.e. Mass Effect Trilogy for the same price as Mass Effect 3).

People should just stop complaining and buy Need for Speed for Wii U. It is a VERY good game, has great production values and is visually AHEAD of the other versions. It is a very good example of how to do a port right and the fact that people are not buying this game is enough reason for EA to call it quits. You have to buy quality software if you want a system to exceed and a publisher to note that quality sells.

I own that game. I don't own a lot EA games since the games they make are not really my taste but I do own Need for Speed on Wii U. As a matter of fact I only own three Wii U games - Zombi U, Sonic & All Star Racing transformed and Need for Speed Most Wanted U. Funny how all three of them are third party titles. I bought them since they are good games and I want to support third partys on the console. Apparently I am the only one.

So instead of bitching about EA (or Ubisoft for that matter) why don't all of you just go out and buy their games to show support? Sure, more expensive than bitching and hoping for a way to pirate them but also much more productive...

 

[Gahars]

Regarding the low NA sales. It may have something to do with the NA economy.

Wii U sales, to the best of my knowledge, are weak on a global scale. The console isn't fairing all the much better in Europe or Japan. Besides, the NA economy is still the strongest in the world and we're out of the worst of the Recession. Plus, economic troubles haven't stopped the Wii U's competitors from beating it by quite a large margin each month.