EA CFO Explains Why the Company Doesn't Make Wii U Games Anymore

I think cost of development is a bigger factor, otherwise with that argument they'd only be supporting PS4 right now. The fact that Xbox is basically the same thing means there's minimal effort involved in supporting it. I also suspect he's not going to speak openly about the political side of things, which may still be relevant. Probably be another fifteen years before we get the full story.

Welp if it's just about market share and number of consoles sold then where are my 3ds games ea. last I checked it has more units sold than the ps4, Xbox 1, and vita combined

I understand why they did and Ubisoft pretty much did the same too aside from Just Dance, but I wish they didn't just completely abandon it. There are some games that I've been interested in (I enjoyed the FIFA demo), but they are still the same price and haven't gone down or had any sales in forever. Ubisoft and other companies do price drops and have had sales which led me to get games like ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed IV and Splintercell Blacklist.
If they did some sales then I would be a little okay with the situation and I would have already owned at least a couple of their games.

Do they make games for the 3ds?

I doubt they'll support NX long term. Japanese third parties and indies are what Nintendo will get in the best case scenario, and are the games that will sell well on Nintendo.

It's unprecedented because they don't do anything with their partner! Your loss, EA! Now you'll have no seeded fanbase when the NX comes out.

@yokokazuo Didnt help EA sent their Wii U games to die. Announcing the Mass Effect Trillogy as the Wii U got a (rather nice) port of 3 obviously made Wii U owners "wait for trillogy" instead of buying 3.

The EA decided the future of Mass Effect on Wii U hinged on 3's sales

@faint : As far as i know, EA games sells badly on Nintendo handhelds even with 100 millions on the market.
Third parties sold bad on Wii even with 100 million consoles on the market. People don't buy a Nintendo console to play third parties.
Some third parties sells well on handheld, but not that many.

@faint
Well compared to mobile phones/tablets market, 3DS is fairly small. Not to mention it's difficult to port games into it.

Booo EA... No big loss anyway. Nearly everything they ever put out was crap.

In 20 years when all the documents between EA and Nintendo are leaked or mysteriously found, it will be a story for the ages.

Fact is, the third parties or indies that do well on Nintendo's hardware have a respect for the fans and Nintendo. If you show up with a halfassed port 2 years late or a piss poor eShop effort, the fans will reject you.

Too bad I guess that EA left the Wii U as a good Spore game (port?) could have sold fairly well if they took full advantage of the Gamepad's functionalities and had online multiplayer up to 4 people like Smash.

Or maybe EA could have created a good Mario sports game like Strikers or Sports mix in order to sell a lot if they do the game right .

I am sure they didn't even try to get a new game after launch, and they don't want to make anymore games for the Wii U AND 3DS because they are not paid. And that guy didn't say why they don't make 3DS, while saying that the market of a console with over 100.000 sales is not big enough is not really an excuse. They could have said that the console was outdated, last gen or anything like that. And Splatoon (along with others) proves that games can sell there.

@Sean_Aaron I'm guessing he means the market for EA games is not that good on Nintendo consoles, not the number of people that own WiiU's. If they thought that the games could sell a million plus copies on the WiiU, they would probably port the games, but it takes a lot of resources to port to the WiiU so it's not really worth it to them. I think a lot of that has to do with a lack of creativity on the part of 3rd party execs.. But ultimately if Nintendo wants their games on their systems, it is Nintendo's problem to solve.

I don't need their buggy games on my rock-stable WiiU and 3DS

Need for Speed: Most Wanted was excellent.

I don't blame third parties though, most of them at least tried (albeit some, not all, with delays or old ports) but once the sales data came in, they ran for the winds.

Then again, EA is known for going as far as bribing Joe Quimby to sell their games.

@roboshort - that's a very valid point. EA games have a low attach rate on Nintendo consoles so they need more owners than the competition to justify their efforts.

I'm curious to know the minimum they would need to sell to make the development justified.

Since EA games have a low attach rate on Nintendo consoles, ultimately it's no big deal for most of us; I feel for the ones who do like their games. If the NX proves to be a hit then publishers like EA who dropped the Wii U may find it difficult to win support back, especially when their games are mostly mediocre.

Their games don't sell on Nintendo consoles. Simple as that. We own Nintendos for Nintendo games, we have second platforms for 3rd party games, I accepted this with the N64. I wish it was different but that's life.

@ecco6t9 Except Most Wanted U which is vastly superior to all other versions, even better than the GTA V next gen versions.

The only thing I noticed about EA stopping support of the wiiU was how little I cared about EA games. I used to enjoy some of the games, sure but when they stopped supporting wiiu, it was just meh to me. Ubisoft on the other hand I really seemed to notice. I suspect that this lack of support may come back to bite them in the rear if the NX is a success whereas Ubisoft and Activision will still have a Nintendo fan base due to not pulling out completely.

I don't know how many Wii U's are out there compared to Xbox and PlayStation, but I would guess less.

The real question is, if the NX is successful should Nintendo allow EA back?

As others have stated Most Wanted U was excellent. I also would have bought Mass Effect Trilogy had they put in the sensible effort to release that instead of porting the third one with a movie version of the first two.

I'm also sure the installed base in Europe and North America is large enough to get a return on their sports franchise titles if they could be bothered as well as their military shooter. Needless to say I doubt this is the full story.

It makes sense though. If there's not enough Wii U owners for them to get the returns they want, then they won't make games for it. If a lot people buy the NX, then EA will probably come back and make games for it.

we all know the real reason they stopped

they threw a hissy fit when Nintendo wouldn't let them put Origin on the system and make it their Online platform, so they took their ball home.

the Wii U has sold (IE in people houses) over 10 million units as of September, the XB1 has Shipped (IE to shops NOT in People houses) an estimated 15 million (as MS stopped giving out sales numbers) not sure how many are in homes but i read somewhere it's estimated around the 11 million mark (if anyone can find out how many are sold TO CONSUMERS not shipped, there is a HUGE difference, that would be nice)

and if that's true the XB1 isn't really doing any better then the Wii U so to say the market is too small is Bull****, if the Wii U market is too small then so is the XB1 market, so are you gonna stop making games for that then EA?

no didn't think so!

@zool Way fewer WiiU's than PS4 and XBOne, i suppose, and the added cost of porting games to the different architecture of the WiiU, makes porting games to WiiU a high-cost and low-reward deal, think what you want about EA, but you can't blame them for declining that.

As for allowing EA back... I don't think that Nintendo are in the position to turn away one of the biggest third-party publishers, considering that lack of third-party support is a big part of WiiU being a commercial failure.

Ya know. You could've just said this instead of lying and dodging the question for 2 straight years.

@FullbringIchigo
Lol, exactly. Glad Wii U wasn't an Origin machine.

Whenever EA presents the next excuse for not being pro-consumer, I have to hold back my laughter. They've talked so much idiocy in the last few years that I'm flat-out unable to believe a single word they forward to the public. And this lazy excuse comes off as especially petty when we consider how low-effort EA's most-selling games are (especially their sports games), and how much money they rake in.
With a little bit of honesty and dedication (that wouldn't cost them remotely as much as thry like to pretend), they could've established a very solid following on the WiiU, but being honest and dedicated isn't really EA's thing. They prefer swinging the whip and lying with straight faces.

@MysticX would porting a game to the Wii U cost any more than to another console if they used the gamepad as a basic controller and ignored the screen. Since there is a lack of games on the Wii U, sales for an EA game might well be higher.

@Morpheel Yeah....what about the 3DS? That market's huge!

f..k EA !

@zool Well, the problem is that the WiiU uses a different type of processor than the PS4/XBOne and even the PC (An article with more explanation about it here: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/21/x86-architecture-vs-nintendo/ ), so porting a game to WiiU requires a lot of reprogramming to make it work with the WiiU's processor (Even if you leave the gamepad out of it), adding a lot to the cost and effort of porting games to it.

Anyway, I hope Most Wanted U goes on sale on the eShop. I've been waiting for ages! No way I'm paying 60€ at this point.

Nintendo doesn't make the same deals with publishers/devs that the other guys do, we know that, and therefore EA is happy to hold out on Nintendo I'm quite sure

@DreamOn That's right, Nintendo fans like to blame third parties but it's not their fault that Nintendo deals are not good enough. About Wii U, third parties stopped supporting it since its launch because it was underperforming since the beginning. This must be the reason while so many Nintendo users accept that they need a second machine for third parties games, although it's not the ideal solution, SNES didn't need a Mega Drive on the same table. And, certainly, a PS4 doesn't need an XOne nor an XOne needs a PS4.

Translation: "Our games don't sell consoles." Not sure I'm understanding the love for Most Wanted U. MK8 and Sonic Racing are vastly superior options IMHO.

I do have to admit that the game pad was awesome for Madden 13, and there being no other football games on the system, its kinda fun to play once in a while.

@sub12

Yes, Need for Speed Most Wanted was a really good, delayed port. Though I think that had more to do with Critereon's competency then EA's benevolence.

Where were the hot new games? Why was the Madden game different from the ones on other consoles? Why the baffling Mass Effect 3 port debacle?

Need for Speed is the exception, not the rule...and no one is rushing out to buy a Wii U for a solid port of a random entry in a series that was experiencing saturation decay when they could already buy it for deep discounts on their existing PS3 and X360?

@FullbringIchigo Exactly. Nintendo asked EA for help in setting up the infrastructure for the e-shop on the Wii U.

EA then said that they would run the e-shop for Nintendo using their abysmal Origin Account system. Nintendo obviously said, thanks, but no. EA have never forgiven Nintendo for it, and their has been bad blood between the two companies ever since.

Dumb excuse if you ask me. EA is a video game company, so not releasing your game to a video game console does not really make much sense. Their is 10+ million Wii U users, so EA's loosing a potential 10 million sales (potentially that is). If I had a game, I would want as many people to have the opportunity to play it as possible.

Having said that what games has EA released recently? FIFA, Battlefield Hardline, Sims 4, Need For Speed, Titinfall and Battlefront. Most of these games are lacklustre anyways or console specific. The games that EA has released on Wii U have all been great releases; its a shame that Need for Speed, Battlefront, and upcoming Unravel are not on Wii U.

Good for you, EA; good for you.

By this logic no system would get support from them for 2 or more years. No system sells 10 million it's first year.........oh wait......

Their lackluster support early on was part of why the console has such a small install base. I understand why they don't do much NOW, but they bailed way too early, and besides, if you promise full support, you ought to deliver. Even in the business world, you shouldn't make promises if you don't intend to keep them.

So...what about the 3DS?

Cool Story Ea.
Now go fix Battlefront.

Well, at least they are treating the Vita the same way...

@MysticX so Nintendo has chosen to go down a different processor route than the others. They must take some of the blame for the lack of third party games on their console. It seems that there must be a good reason why they would do this.

It goes both ways really. Yes the install base needs to be there but you also shouldn't burn your userbase wih half baked ports and empty promises.

I decided a long time ago to never buy any games from these fools again. Sorry Battlefront 3...

Nintendo seem to like taking a different route to their competitors. The N64 had cartridges instead of CD's. The Gamecube had small discs instead of DVD's, the Wii and Wii U had a completely different controllers. Doing this seems to push third parties away.

Got nintendo for nintendo games anyway.got a ps4 for everything else.thanks for giving me the best of both worlds.

The only game I feel EA really put effort into is Need for Speed: Most Wanted U, even though they released it a few months later after the holiday season compared to the other platforms. Everything else feel like a port they could of done more with. At least Ubisoft made more of an effort with the games in quantity and quality (miles may vary).

Shame really, the Plants vs Zombies series would of been a nice fit on a Nintendo console. Well at least I still have PC.

The reason I stopped buying EA games is because they were mostly overhyped pieces of garbage that were exactly the same as the previous year's entry. I bought some EA games in the SNES/64/Gamecube eras, and was mostly disappointed, more so as time went on. I think the last EA game I bought was Madden '07 for Wii. It wasn't very good, so I stopped buying EA.

EA is such an American* company: spend more on the hype than the product, exploit your customers with unnecessary yearly updates, and treat your employees like garbage.

*said as an American

One thing i love about Nintendo: THEY don't care about the size of the market...

just proves that EA's in it for the money and as such will never see loyalty like what Nintendo sees in spades.

@SanderEvers Actually, Need for Speed: Most Wanted is still one of the best racing games on the system and built for the Wii U from the ground up. It's considered by some to be the best version of the game. Other than that, yeah... EA didn't really go all in. But man... if all of their other efforts had been as good we'd being telling a different story.

@day

That is one of the most incorrect and naive statements I've read in a long time.

Nintendo DOES care about the size of the market, just like any 'for profit' business.

EA stopped before PS4 and Xbox One had caught up with Wii U's sales, so it's obviously a lie.

So many butthurt NDFers in here with some silly beliefs on the way the industry works.

Terms like "lying" and name calling just shows how foolish you guys are. Remove your emotion from the picture and you will begin to understand.

I don't think Nintendo really cares. EA does publish some quality developed games but they're too stupid to take advantage of Wii U auidence.

It's a very reasonable point, the market is the smallest of the current gen systems, plus nintendo players don't tend to buy annual fifa games

Aren't wii u and xbox one markets almost the same?

Of course they would leave out that Origin incident

@zool Nintendo has always done their own thing with their consoles (Since sticking with cartridges instead of CD-ROMs with the N64), and it paid off hugely with the Wii

Still, i honestly believe that Nintendo should stick with the crowd as far as processor architecture goes, there's still plenty of room for innovation (the strong point of Nintendo) on the user-experience side without making things needlessly difficult for the developers.

@gatorboi352 said: "So many butthurt NDFers"

With statements like that, I'm sure you won't be surprised at all when people dismiss your posts as antagonistic trolling?

Problem is, this seems to be your position on every topic you post in, your first knee-jerk reaction is to blame and insult the fanbase.

Finally...prepare for "but I'm really a Nintendo fan who used to love Nintendo and just wants to see them return to their glory days!"...Fine. Until then, try to be constructive and stop trolling!

EA made one of my most played Wii U games; FIFA 13. It's a decent port with features but buggier than any other game I own.

Mass Effect 3 is an excellent port (one of the best gamepad games) but it almost seems like an insult when a cheaper trilogy was released on older systems.

I don't understand why this is news. The answer to EA not making Wii U games was obvious without clicking the link to this article.

I'm not surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if they were never planning to work with Nintendo at all and lied before to not look like complete jerks until their lack of involvement was validated. There's an argument about self-fulfilling prophesy, but the real point is AAAs (of EA's vein) in this market are all about playing it safe. They don't want to take risks in game design, audience, or format. So when a front runner is established, why wouldn't they devote their energy there? I'm sure they hated the Wii's dominance most of last generation, because the audience they know and love was all about PS3 and 360.

I expect they'll back NX for the first year. First wave will mostly be "see the awesome you've been missing?" last gen ports. They'll mix in a couple tokens, maybe even a few that aren't even doomed to fail. If NX isn't shaking up the establishment, then they can kick it to the curb and get back to work.

No loss in my opinion. Not a single one of their franchises interests me in the least. I have a pretty big game collection and I believe the only one with an EA logo on it is Shadows of the Damned.

For others who want it though, I hope they give some support to Nintendo in the future.

They target bigger markets and still create bad ports.

@Ventilator I'm not arguing with that just his bs statement. Whil it is cherry picking tiger woods pga tour did sell over 2 million units. I don't play sports games myself. I'm just pointing out his bs argument

he's sooo insightful, why is this news?? Stating the obvious.

When a company makes ports of older games, and charges full price, Wii U owners retaliate by not buying overpriced ports(Mass Effect 3 anyone). Most Wanted U is a good game, but not enough to get Wii U owners excited for EA games, it was also poorly marketed, so those poor sales are not surprising.

@SanderEvers They supported the Wii U pre-release, gave it a few horrible launch ports (FIFA, Mass Effect), let Criterion release NFS Most Wanted six months later and then bailed out. As we know Crysis 3 was ready but stopped by EA. At least they are being honest about the situation now I suppose.

@sub12 Yes we did get a great release from EA through Criterion's NFS Most Wanted. That would be EA's first and only release on the Wii U that wasn't a direct port from the PS3/360.

Right. That explains their lack of support for 3DS, the leading dedicated videogame system of this gen. -_-'

@IAmDeclanJay Your view is from the consumer points of view. Not from a company that only thinks in profits, thats what keeps their boat floating, as with every company regardless what product or service they sell. Even if 10 millions console sold mean 10 million potential buyers, the true rate of potential buyers for an EA game would be something like 6 or 7% considering what kind of games they make and what nintendo public wants, so if you take that in mind, plus the costs of developing and also considering that a game developer like EA has a limited amout of developers (if you have one of your teams creating a Wii U game you, its a team less to make a PS4/XBONE game) its easy to see why them nor any other 3rd party big publisher is supporting the wii U... sad but true..

Also, how many here really want a EA game on the Wii U? or we all really want them so more people would buy the Wii U so we could get better games on it (but not from EA)? Thats where I stand, so I would be someone who would buy their games just if they are like 10 Us dollars or somehting to display it on my shelf..would never pay full price for a multi plat on the wii U.

@FreakFerrett
I would probably buy a Madden. It is the sports games, which at one time had a requirement to be on all systems, that really irk me. I understand the market size, market type, and programming requirements. But I still don't think EA is being completely transparent.

See I can't help but feel that the size of the install base is a result of a lack of effort by third parties like EA. That's not the only reason obviously (Nintendo's marketing is a big reason), but if companies like EA had gone ahead with whatever projects they had planned for Wii U, I think the install base would have grown considerably. It's kind of a vicious cycle.

I own Mass Effect 3 and it is an enjoyable game, but I owned the first two on Xbox 360. It irked me that there was no way to see the story I started, that all the DLC skipped the console and that other consoles got a complete (or more complete version).

This statement doesn't match with their actions. They pushed four hasty games out the door at launch and went silent. Their actions show that EA had decided to abandon the console before it was even in stores.

Nintendolife pesky commentary as always. What happened to that unprecedented partnership? The console failed to succeed in the market. Simple as that. It's business. You cant expect profit from a defunct system while other 2 are grabbing all the attention and sales.

@FreakFerrett I'm sure those who only own a Wii U would enjoy Battlefront.

I completely agree with him. We can only hope that this "NX" is the real deal and saves Nintendo. Please god make this console powerful. It would make no sense for Nintendo to come out with another home console that is still significantly underpowered in relation to the competition.

@Superryanworld Forgot about Battlefront, I would buy that one.. not full retail price but I would hhehe..

A lot of you are calling EA liars for thinking the market for EA is too small on Wii U while also claiming that you don't want EA's games. People not wanting EA's games proves EA's point.

I dislike the majority of what EA is about but their games aren't terrible, they did support the Wii and their games will determine the success of NX. Most people don't want to buy a console without any chance of a football game being released for it.

I don't care if the console I own is popular but unpopular consoles get bad support from both 1st and 3rd parties. My hope for NX is that Nintendo have realised people want real games and not mini game collections.

Need for Speed Most Wanted is still the standard I hold all racing games to. Such a fantastic game. EA certainly has its gems.

This statement he made is too simple to make anything of it. There are obviously more factors than current user base. It's at the core though, so fine.

Lately EA has been publicly making statements like it, however, that display a lack of passion for games. All companies exist to generate money, but not all companies lack passion for what they do. Witness their reason for making no games support virtual reality. Sure, it's the most exciting potential for new gaming experiences but there's not a big enough market there yet and may not be for a long time. That's why EA won't pursue it at all for now. It's not untrue. It makes sense from a money-only perspective. It also reveals a soulless company.

The EA portion of the presentation at the initial reveal of the Wii U showed some passion and excitement about new opportunities to use the GamePad (at least one great one with madden and drawing plays) and the online.

Something broke. No clear evidence it was Origin, but a complete turnabout happened and it undeniable hurt the perception of the Wii U.

You see a lot of uninformed emotional outbursts about EA and especially EA vs. Nintendo, here, but even with the information and rational thinking it's discouraging to see such power being thrown around without consideration of gaming and gamers, but just the bottom line.

@Action51
Oh my God, took the words out of my mouth. I'm not completely against reality checking fanboys like @gatorboi and @Quorthon do, but to do it as EVERY POST is simply trolling.

Save for a few exceptions, EA games are terrible anyway.

Honestly hard to blame EA since WiiU does have a small install base. They are a company, just like another other company, whose purpose is to make money. Can't blame them for that.

I bought Need for Speed Most Wanted U and enjoyed it. It was a good port. What actually held it back from complete enjoyment for me is actually a Nintendo mistake....the triggers are not analog which really takes away from full throttle control in a racing game.

I really hope the NX is powerful and based on the x86 platform. Looking forward to that.

Most we'll ever see from EA are a few NX ports to see if they stick. If they don't, better luck next console...

Two ways EA could get interesting to me again.
1. They do release all of their franchises on NX
2. Nintendo buys EA.

@Parkour_LMan
"They could have said that the console was outdated, last gen or anything like that. And Splatoon (along with others) proves that games can sell there."

Has nothing to do with being outdated though, as we clearly see from their initial support. What matters is really same thing that always matters- are they making money off it. And with their ports averaging just 100k sales each, they were not making money. They were losing money.

Splatoon (and others) doesn't prove games can sell there- it proves NINTENDO games can sell there. But you'd be hard pressed to find even one multiplat that broke 500k on Wii U. In fact, most ranged from 10k-250k. Which is rather insulting. Even 3rd party exclusives struggle to sell. MH3U and Bayonetta 2, two of the greatest games on Wii U, and both of them are hovering at roughly 600k.

The message sent is clear- 3rd party games- of ANY kind, don't sell well enough in the Nintendo market. There are some exceptions with the handheld audience, but only because sales standards are lower. Atlus in particular

@Ventilator

EA doesn't do handheld development as generally rule except of Vita due to an agreement with Sony (Even then it is awful support).
They are still releasing Vita versions of EA sports, though they are just reskins.

EA only released Madden 3D at 3DS launch, which by all accounts was a horrible game. It bombed in sales and EA never looked back.

EA essentially skipped GB, GBC, and GBA by releasing practically nothing.

The only 2 handhelds EA truly supported are PSP and Vita, because Sony paid for the development and marketing of those titles.

EA released ~6 games on DS, only the two Simcity games were decent.

EA like most Western 3rd parties generally focus exclusively on console development while ignoring handhelds.

EA only supports Xbox One because Microsoft paid them ~$500M for their games and let them due EA Access, which EA charges for each month.
This is why Xbox One gets the best version of EA games.

As for EA's Wii U games:

-Madden was a horrible port with missing features and content
-FIFA was a horrible port with missing features and content
-Mass Effect 3:SE was released one week after the Mass Effect Trilogy released on other console with a big marketing blow out. Both games cost $60 and the Wii U game didn't get any of the DLC for ME3.

• EA delayed NFS Wii U at the last minute from launch until March, in order to get people to double dip on the game (according to NeoGaf leak). Game didn't get any of the DLC either. Oh EA only gave minimal marketing, essentially to sending to die.

EA is done with Nintendo unless Nintendo pays them what they ask.

@JaxonH
That's not true at all.

Monster Hunter 3U (Wii U) has sold way more than 500k worldwide, making it one of the best selling console Monster Hunter ever even with the PS2 games counted.

Bayonetta 1 bombed on PS3 and Xbox 360 barely moving 1M combined.
Most of Bayonetta 1's sales came from retailers liquidated copies at sub $20 across the world.

Bayonetta 2 is gradually moving units at full price at is closer to 600k, which is more than Bayonetta 1 sold on Xbox 360 to date.
All Platinum games have bombed in every market to date with Bayonetta 1 being the best selling game at 1M worldwide (most sold at sub $20).

Rayman Legends has sold better on Wii U than on PS3/Xbox 360/PS4/Xbox One/ PC/Vita combined according to Ubisoft.

Zombi/ZombiU has sold better on Wii U than on PS4/Xbox One/Steam combined.

Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing: Transformed sold more on Wii U than PS3/Xbox 360 combined.
The Steam version sold more because it was given away for dirt cheap during Steam sales.

Scribblenauts has sold better on Wii U than Steam.

Just Dance has sold better on Wii U than PS4 and Xbox One combined.

Lego games regularly sell better on Wii U Than PS4/Xbox One/360/PS3 and Steam combined.

Shovel Knight did better on Wii U than on PS4/Xbox One/Steam combined

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 sold as much on Wii U as Xbox 360. Both where outsold by the PS3 version.

DQX (Japan) has sold better on Wii U than PS4 and PC.
Sonic sells better on Nintendo systems better than the other platforms combined.

Indies traditionally do better on Wii U than on PS4/Xbox One/Steam combined.

3rd parties sell plenty of games on Nintendo systems including Wii U, but they consist of E, E10+ and T rated games.
Though to be fair their AAA and/or M rated games get superior versions with better content on PS and Xbox with marketing to back it.

Wii sold plenty of good 3rd party games in the millions, including RE4, Just Dance, Call of Duty (series), Guitar Heroes, Rayman, Rabbids, Sonic games, RE:UC, RE:DC, Monster Hunter 3, Manhunt 2 (beat the PS2 version out), Legos, Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and others lesser 3rd party games.

RE4 sold the best on Wii, beating out the PS2 version.
Monster Hunter 3 was the best selling console Monster Hunter title by far, beating all the previous console releases combined.
NBA Jam sold more on Wii than Xbox 360 and PS3 combined.
NBA Jam was then given away as a free preorder bonus for an NBA game on Xbox 360 and PS3.
Lego games repeatedly outsold their HD counterparts.
Guitar Heroes did the best on Wii
Sonic games on Wii sold way better on that their HD games
Sonic & Sega All stars Racing on Wii outsold the HD version by a long shot
Square-Enix games did decent too.
Hudson's games did decent.

Ubisoft made a mint on Wii by being biggest producer of shovelware on the system.

The point is many 3rd parties did well on Wii, DS, GBA, GC, and N64 despite what some claim.

Didn't have the time to read all comments, so I'm sorry if this been said already, but lots of insiders have already suggested why EA abandoned the Wii U so early. Like the article suggests the online component of the Wii U was of great interest to EA, mainly because they wanted to offer ALL online Nintendo services, even for Nintendo games. EA tried pressuring Nintendo into this with the Wii at some point, without succes, but it didn't stop them from trying it again with the Wii U. I don't know the specifics of these negotiations, but in the end Nintendo cherished their independence and didn't want to rely too much on EA.

I'm pretty sure we'll hear more about this at some point, because one of their biggest online server providers and partner up until the EA interference was GameSpy, a company with corporate ties to IGN (I believe they even merged at some point in the 2000s). Nintendo stopped working with GameSpy all of a sudden after them providing some pretty decent services with MK7 for instance and it was in fact EA that tried forcing Origin, or a similar service, on Nintendo just like they tried with the OG Xbox too at some point.

EA felt it was used by Nintendo, just like they did so many times before in their history together, and figured Nintendo just needed them to show off their "huge Western support". The Wii eventually turned out too big to ignore for EA, but as soon as it was clear the Wii U wasn't selling as Nintendo hoped, all plugs were pulled out of the few projects (mostly ports) they were still working on.

@Boerewors
Gamespy Industries was sold off to Glu Mobile in 2012.
They shut down the online gaming protocol, causing most games last gen to lose online multiplayer even EA games.
Nintendo never stopped working with them, the service was just shut down.

@Xenocity
I'm not entirely sure, but it's not unthinkable that when Nintendo stopped using them as "preferred supplier" they started a chain reaction which ultimately lead to GameSpy focusing on other areas. I heard a "reconstruction" of these events where I was told that in several meetings GameSpy had in the months before Nintendo stepped away, they were more or less told to staff up because of how satisfied Nintendo was. But Nintendo stopped using them for newer project before GameSpy ended their service, but due to contractual obligations they had to maintain DSi games and MK7 support for instance.

So GameSpy perhaps ending their services on account of Nintendo's abrupt change of direction is pure speculation on my part, but it would make sense. I do know that the people at GameSpy at that time found it unbelievable because MK7 was one of the most crowded online games of the time, and even with Nintendo simply not understanding the online business as one might expect, GameSpy did an excellent job on maintaining the servers.

@Boerewors

Gamespy services just wasn't profitable and the majority of online titles used them last gen not just DS and Wii.
Nearly half of PS3's online games and practically all of PSP's online games are rendered dead because 3rd parties didn't bother to port code to PSN infrastructure.
Sony didn't offer servers for 3rd party games until late 2009/early 2010.
A large part of the 360's 3rd party library also uses Gamespy, because it was cheaper than using Microsoft's stuff at the time.
PC games that used Gamespy are also done too.

News Corp (owner of Fox and Fox News and others) acquired IGN/Gamespy in 2005.
By late 2009, News Corp started to look for a buyer for Gamespy industries.
They were losing money operating Gamespy, because they couldn't find away to monetize it.

When the companies using it found out, they started to move away from it completely.
This is why EA built Origin, Ubisoft built uPlay, Sony built PSN servers to host 3rd party online modes, and Nintendo with Nintendo Network.

By mid 2010 it was clear that News Corp was in talks to sell Gamespy.

Glu Mobile bought them in 2012, stating publicly they were going to shut down Gamespy for all other companies with in a year, because they planned to use the infrastructure for their own games and didn't want to support competitors games.

Gamespy sent out a February 21st 2013 termination date for all contracts and services with no extensions allowed.

In short Gamespy online services was horribly unprofitable and News Corp. didn't want to put money in it, so they sold it to the highest bidder.

EA is a company that sells software. They both want to sell as many games as possible AND be the #1 seller of games. Their only real competition is Nintendo. In EA's eyes, not developing for Nintendo platforms might cost money at points, but is acceptable if it sabotages Nintendo enough. Think of it as growing a hardware ecosystem that is better for EA in the long run.

If Sony or Microsoft had the software sales of Nintendo, EA would stop supporting them. As is, none of those companies' games sell that well combined to the likes of Mario Kart, NSMB, or Smash Bros.

Don't really care anymore...Garden Warfare would fit perfectly on Wii U/3DS, and that game is the only game that I enjoy that's from EA. (and they don't give the game ten bazillion overpriced DLC packs)

EA is afraid of Nintendo. They don't see Nintendo as the leading console seller (which they are: Wii U/3ds > PS4/Vita), they see Nintendo as the number one software and games developer. This means Nintendo = competition with EA from EA perspective. EA wants a gaming world where the console market is 100% controlled by the third-parties and Nintendo is really the only thing that stands in their way from completing that world vision. EA = the evil galactic empire.

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Nintendo makes much better games than EA in general. EA and several others who fear a console market where Nintendo remains the king will do ANYTHING to destroy the big N.

Which is fine by me. Personally, I decided a long time ago to support Nintendo and never buy another EA title. Thirteen years later and this personal commitment has worked just fine for me. If third parties want my money, they will have to start supporting Nintendo. Otherwise, I will just continue to pay and play Nintendo first parties and love every minute of it.

@Xenocity I don't know what fantasy world you're living in but it's not reality.

"Rayman Legends gas outsold all other versions combined".
That's a lie. Rayman Legends PS3 ALONE has outsold the Wii U version.

"Sonic Racing Transformed Wii U has outsold all other versions combined".
That's also a lie. Sonic Racing Transformed PS3 ALONE has outsold the Wii U version

Just that right there is enough to tell me your entire wall of text is full of lies and assumptions.

Another example- MH3U is tracked at 640k. That's "WAY more" than 500k? No, it's not.

And using spin to make it sound like Bayonetta 2 sold better than it did? Come on. It doesn't matter what price something sells at. Otherwise you have to factor that in for ALL games, not just when it suits your argument. MH3U also sold most it's copies at $20 but I don't see you mentioning that.

Go back, check your innacurate facts and post again when you have something real to sustain your argument.

As shady as EA may be as a company, Mr. Jorgensen’s statements are correct. The numbers of consumers who will be interested in purchasing EA developed software on the Wii U (and 3DS) is simply too small for it to make any financial sense for EA to develop games on those platforms. The 3DS's ridiculously underpowered processing power and graphical capabilities didn't help each of that platforms in particular either

Despite the deal falling through, the system being less powerful than the competition, it being a hassle to put games on it, and third parties historically selling less on Nintendo systems for quite a few generations, EA did in fact initially support the system with a couple of games. It's not like it simply hates the idea of making games for Nintendo branded consoles.

People can imagine there's some other reason(s) for EA dropping Wii U, like it's some kind of conspiracy, but the facts are the Wii U is a flop, it was never a particularly appealing system to the company in the first place, and it's no longer viable to support it as far as EA is concerned.

Now, the 3DS may have a decent install base, sure, but all the other problems still apply, and that's almost certainly why it's not seeing support either.

It's not some magic trick or misdirection. It's just cold, harsh business.

When Nintendo makes a system that doesn't suffer all those problems listed above, and a few more I haven't mentioned, you can bet EA will support it.

I understand that. But unlike Ubisoft which actually made some decent, thought not that great, efforts before stepping out, i don't think EA really had the inention to suuport Nintendo. They wanted an excuse to leave them and they had it. I mean, the Wii had like 100 million users and besides FIFAs and Maddens what else they did?

Even if NX became a success, I don't see them supporting them. Third parties don't support a company that can make their own games and have to compete with them, specially if the other two consoles are 100% depent on them.

@Splatburst they could just make a game for the 3ds. Far less man power and far cheaper than the Xbox one for development. Same with ubisoft. Other than the hd visuals there is no reason the 3ds can't run child of light.

@Xenocity I disagree a bit on the GBA part. EA released numerous fantastic GBA games. Sims, Need For Speed, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Fifa all were there. Plus there is one hidden gem in Medal of Honor Infiltrator.

@Xenocity
And just for good measure, allow me to deconstruct the rest of your listed fallacies, for the record.

"Just Dance Wii U has sold more than other versions combined"

I looked up the sales. It has not sold more than other versions combined. Simple as that. It may have sold more, but not "than others combined".

"ZombiU has sold more than other versions combined"

Really? Where exactly are you getting those sales numbers from? Please link it. And even if that were true, ZombiU has been a Wii U exclusive for 3 years (and STILL never broke a million sold). Comparing that to 3 year old digital ports with the gamepad functionality stripped out? Ya, really something to brag about.

"Scribblenauts..."

Seriously bringing up Scribblenauts? I don't know if it sold more, I don't think anyone particularly cares either.

"Lego games sell more on Wii U"

No they don't. Wii U is consistently one of the worst selling versions, usually ranking 5th or 6th behind just about every other console version there is.

"Shovel Knight sold more than all others combined"

Uh, again. Where are you getting these numbers? Do tell.

"Sonic sells better..."

Unbelievable. You talking about Lost World or Sonic Boom? Neither of which sold more than 350k. Compared to the usual MILLIONS on other platforms. Oh btw, the 2 highest selling multiplat form Sonic games, they're on PS. Just so you know.

"Indies sell more on Wii U"

Now that's just ridiculous. No they don't. In fact developers often complain because the sales are so atrocious. Aside from a few anomalies like Shovel Knight, you'd be hard pressed to find even ONE indie that sold better on Wii U.

"Dragon Quest X sold better than PS4 and PC combined"

Is Dragon Quest X even out on PS4 in Japan? I couldn't find ANYTHING in a Google search. Except a July announcement it was coming. It's almost as if the game doesn't exist yet, which would be strange indeed considering you're touting it sold more than that version. And for the record, the Wii U version only sold 370k. Which is exactly what I'm talking about. 3rd party games consistently struggle to even hit 500k on Wii U.

You've been lied to by whoever told you all this nonsense.

Bioware games are the only thing on their plate that I am interested in ... but its in Nintendo's best interest to have them churn out sport stuff on their system.

@FullbringIchigo If someone can confirm that the XBO only has 11 mil owners, the Internet will collectively lose their sh*t. lol

@westman98 And yet, the 3DS and DS outsold both the PSP and Vita. Mobile gamers don't care about processing power. They just want decent games that don't drain their batteries with useless gimmicks.

I mean honestly, who uses a handheld console with 3G or a map app in it? Even the media apps on the 3DS and Vita are barely supported because people who have them use them mainly for PLAYING GAMES.

Processing power means nothing to people who ride buses, trains or taxis to get where they're going...unless they're more about streaming media and social networking, in which case they should be using a smartphone to begin with.

@pandarino If EA developed sports games for the Wii U, they'd be churning out titles each year with one new character added to the roster. Hell, they might even make up characters like Linkle.

...You know what? That's not a bad idea. They should make a Nintendo sports game with mascots from all their franchises a la Smash Bros.

Maybe call it Super Striker Bros. for soccer, Super Charge Bros. for football, Super Dunk Bros. for basketball, Super Strike Bros. for baseball, etc. EA could churn those out annually and Nintendo could make amiibos for them.

...and then Square Enix could throw Cloud, Kefka and Tidus into the roster as guests. Maybe even make a blitzball mini-game 'cause, you know, blitzball's a thing.

@JaxonH If DQX is going to force PS4 owners in Japan to pay for PS+ to play it on top of the subscription for DQX itself, it's going to fail horribly. The PS4 has a lead over the Wii U in Japan, but the gap between them isn't nearly as wide as it is in the west.

Though the Wii U isn't as hot as Nintendo had hoped, they're not even sweating it. New titles are coming to it almost all the time, and each region is strategically planning their releases to coincide with the usually spending seasons for games. In the US, that tends to be at the beginning of summer and around the holidays.

Xenoblade X and Devil's Third could not come at a better time for the US and StarFox Zero will be released in time for spring break. That should be just enough time for me to play Xenoblade X as extensively as I can, and Devil's Third as well. They're both even coming out in the aftermath of Battlefront, Black Ops III and Syndicate which will have been out for over a month now. I've even been able to spot a couple ads for Devil's Third and XenoX at least three times the last time I was at GameStop, and the Smash/Splatoon Wii U bundle coming out Black Friday for $50 less than the regular retail bundles? People would be insane to pass that up. Stark-raving mad.

I'm sorry, but I don't share your pessimism. Your cynicism is justified, at least...even though you haven't linked where you got the statistics for the sales yourself.

Ah who could forget EA's hollow wii U promises. What a scumbag company they are. They made a business decision when they realized that their strategy of releasing lazy ports (for the most part) on wii U wasn't the road to easy riches they had hoped it would be. That's fine, there aren't that many EA games that I really care about and the few that I do enjoy playing I can get pirated versions for on PS3 or PC - as that is just a business decision of my own but it is also my justice. Not that EA will notice there are enough PS4 owners buying their annualised games to keep EA and their share holders living in the lap of luxury for years to come so nobody loses and everyone wins.

And just for the record I do think NX can do just fine without EA and their crap. As long as they can win back the support of their Japanese banner men. The support of companies like Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Tecmo Koei and Capcom could give NX the kind of diverse software library that the 3DS currently enjoys which the wii U can only dream of.

@kensredemption DS and 3DS may have outsold the PSP and PS Vita, but that didn't help EA sell a lot of games aside from a few MySims games and a number of poopitypoopy licensed kids games. Now that MySims and licensed kids games are irrelevant on dedicated gaming platforms, EA's audience on Nintendo's handhelds disappeared very quickly.

@Xenocity : I don't know who originally wrote these blatant lies, but i found it in your reply.

As for EA's Wii U games:
-Mass Effect 3:SE.<snip> Wii U game didn't get any of the DLC for ME3.

EA delayed NFS Wii U at the last minute from launch until March, in order to get people to double dip on the game (according to NeoGaf leak). Game didn't get any of the DLC either.

This is all bologna

Mass Effect 3 on Wii U have 9 of 11 DLC's on Disc. Its online part is still even alive online, because its damn good on Wii U.

NFS Most Wanted? Wii U version uses PC assets, which means upgrade textures, better frame rate etc. Add to that, the Gamepad is bloated with new exclusive features., and the whole game stinks so much Wii U that it looks like a wii U exclusive.
Oh. NFS Most wanted on Wii U have some DLC on disc.

Criterion spent alot of money on the Wii U version to utilize the hardware.

@kensredemption well that was the last estimate i saw from a few months back by now it should be more but still it's a poor showing and these so called big publishers who abandoned the Wii U for "poor sales" have stuck with the XB1 even though it's selling poorly too (although i have no doubt it will pick up around XMAS)

so it's obvious something else is at play here and the only thing i can think of is the whole "Nintendo not letting EA use Origin as the Wii U online service" and we all also know that when EA threw their Hissy Fit they also spread a lot of rumours and bad information to the other big publishers and online that damaged the Wii U's reputation

as for the NX it might well be a powerful, easy to develop for system and if it was me i would tell EA to stuff it where the sun don't shine but i doubt Nintendo can afford to do that

I don't play or buy EA games anymore because the last game I bought from them to install and play took forever to connect or hardly ever connect. Note to EA, stop turning your retail triple A titles into browser only games as not everyone had a stable internet connection. At this level you might as well make games for Facebook.

@kensredemption

What pessimism? I'm the biggest optimist here. But not to the point of delusion. All sales figures I listed were in response to Xenocity's lies and numbers pulled out of thin air. And can be verified with a simple google search (iPad and laptop are broke ATM and it's a pain linking while using a phone).

I'm not pessimistic, but I'm not blind either. I can see that 3rd party games don't sell well to the Nintendo audience. Most people can. I mean, the sales are what they are. Doesn't mean I'm cynical or pessimistic, it just means I don't deny the facts. I love Nintendo, but I see no reason to pretend 3rd party games sell well on the system. I am not ashamed by 3rd party game sales- why would I be? I bought all the multiplats on Wii U so I did my part. But the reality is what it is.

EDIT: I don't believe they required PS+ for other MMO games such as Final Fantasy 14 or Elder Scrolls, so I don't see what that policy would change now. But if they do require it, I would be cautious making predictions without first knowing the percentage of subscribers in Japan.

@kensredemption

@kensredemption
Just a sample of links to show how wrong his statements truly were

Xenocity: "Sonic Racing Transformed Wii U outsold all other versions combined"

Sonic Racing Transformed
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Sonic+%26+All-Stars+Racing+Transformed

Xenocity: "Rayman Legends Wii U outsold all other versions combined"

Rayman Legends
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Rayman+Legends

Xenocity: "LEGO games sell more on Wii U"

Lego Marvel Superheroes
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Lego+Marvel

that wasn't what i was saying,THEY said it they stopped because of the install base being low, well so was the XB1 install base in it's first year so if they are basing it on first year sales why didn't they abandon the XB1 during that time period too?

i know that the XB1 is easier to program for and it's install base did grow quicker that's true but they NEVER gave the Wii U the chance they gave the XB1, they had a few low game sales and Nintendo said they couldn't put Origin on the Wii U so they ran off but then again with the half assed effort they put in to the games what did they expect? and as for sticking with the XB1 i think it might have more to do with Microsoft letting them put EA Access on the XB1 than anything else

but the main thing is that something else was at play here, we know what it is but they wont admit it

i hope the NX is a big success so EA have to come grovelling back to Nintendo

It's not surprising. They have every right to think that, but a lot of it still goes back to misunderstandings and misplaced doubt from the consumer. The 3rd party developers are failures in many aspects, even on Xbox One and PS4, so personal opinion actually matters more.

Have fun with yearly releases that rip you off and micro transaction cash grabs from EA, exclusively on x86 and mobile devices.

Not to mention that Xbox Live should be free, and Sony failed with PSN on PS3, which is why they require PS+, now. That's how things even out in the long run, when you look at all 3 companies.

While they have somewhat of a point, you could make the argument that if EA and other third parties hadn't jumped ship so early just because the Wii U got off to a slow start (nor provided it with those mostly inferior or gypped ports early on), the install base would be much bigger. The 3DS also got off to a slow start including an embarrassing early price cut, but look where it is now.

....I didn't think that needed to be confirmed. Why else would EA not make any games at all for a specific console?

@MarvinTheMartian Yeah, it might come back to haunt them like you said.. Personally, I think it is a dumb move by publishers not to support the WiiU to at least some extent. ~11 million users is still a decent sized market and the only real competition now is Nintendo. It looks like even Bayonetta 2, which isn't very Nintendo-ish, will probably reach 1 million sold (physical+digital) on the system.... However, publishing for the WiiU would require that they be creative and higher-ups in the US at least tend not to be that, which is to their detriment. But maybe that is also part of the problem... it appears publishers tend to want all versions of the game to be pretty homogenized so they might not want to add features exclusive to the WiiU version, which they probably would have to do.

EA did themselves in and so are they saying the 3DS market isn't big enough too as that's comedic. The fact is they doomed themselves intentionally up front to failure on every game. The launch stuff didn't work well and was buggy, sold badly. The second wave of stuff they farmed out basically and then wouldn't help the groups get the games right so they suffered too. Then they announce the ME Trilogy while just shoving 3 on the WiiU and wonder why that bombs as well. It was either amazing ignorance or an intentional setup to failure to bow out of Nintendo development from day one.

If I was Nintendo I would continue to support all indies as they are the future 3rd party supporters. We all know back in the early days before these big game companies became big they started small like the indies now. Then I would continue to grab support from SquareEnix, Capcom with its MH franchise which Imo will or has become the next Final Fantasy big shot starting from Tri but damn mostly on MH4U which I'm still addictive on it to this day playing it. Going back more support from Xseed & just more of the same Japanese game companies they have now with new ones along the way. Some western game companies really hate Nintendo & don't really want to say it but some of us know it. I don't care for their BS spin on why they don't support it & I just spend more of my $ on japan type games now a days. Even if NX brought over all the western game companies to it & shocked us all on that I would still be buying japan games. The ship has sailed on my part on earning their trust anymore. I'm not looking back on the western game companies expect 1st part companies that Nin has under their belt.

Ok, reading a lot of comments about 3rd party stuffing ninty and vice versa, development costs etc, Old computers (C64, Amstrad etc) ok, games were not as good looking as they are now, but sold for £2-£10 per cassette, these cost more to make than they do now, still needed a development team etc and each computer had it's own version of language so they had to rewrite for every computer, but they did it (to increase their market share from 1x10000 to 6 x 10000 possible customers). Nintendo was the forerunner of the modern console systems that we all love now, and have always been at the front of developing new ways to play. PS and XB have come out on tops for a number of reasons...Sony developed the PS for Ninty but Ninty said no in the end as it used CD which was open for piracy. Sony released the PS and sold the machine at almost cost price in order to get as many machines out as possible....However they lost millions in revenue due to the games being pirated. As a result the price of consoles has increased to make sure that they do not make that mistake again. The cost of games has also risen however why pay £40 for a game that was originally written 15 years ago and then just retweaked every year to keep it up to date (surely this does not warrent the cost of a full development team spending 5 years to come up with a whole new game). PS and XB have also had the backing of the parent companies in terms of money for advertising and deals with 3rd party devs. So while Nintendo tried to look after their profits (piracy etc), it backfired on them by all the 3rd partys jumping ship to work with their counterparts (money being thrown at them for exclusive titles as well). But it also backfired on the 3rd party's as for a little bit extra work they could have sold a few thousand more games. I have a WiiU and Xbox One. I have purchased 2 games on the Xbox One and over 30 on the WiiU, There are games that I want, but I would prefer them on the WiiU and I am not buying them on the Xbox just because I have it. My son wanted the XB and he wanted 2 games, that's it.

@ToastyYogurt
Hello, I'm new here, I saw your mlp cow's, & love them. Is there any options to draw some for me, &, can you draw bulls? TY

@SavageMoon
Sorry man, I didn't draw those, I just posted them in a thread because I liked them. I believe if you click on the pictures it'll take you to their source pages on DeviantArt, that's how I cited images here.