Peter Moore
Image: EA

EA's relationship with Nintendo has been up and down over the decades; during the early years of the 16-bit era the publisher famously partnered with rival Sega after securing a favourable licensing deal, and in more recent years we've seen support drop off to nothing following the successful Wii period.

At Gamescom 2016, the question of EA working on Nintendo systems has already been touched upon once - kind of - by Vice President Patrick Soderlund, but during an interview with Eurogamer, former Microsoft and Sega staffer Peter Moore - now EA's "Chief Competition Officer" - spoke a little about how he sees the current relationship between the two companies.

Eurogamer: Nintendo - it also has a new console coming out. EA, like a lot of publishers, were kind of quiet on Wii U. What is EA's stance on supporting NX?

Peter Moore: I don't know - obviously a lot of details are still to be unveiled. EA has developed for Nintendo for 30 years and I was famously quoted as saying we're still good friends. I have lived the console cycle's ups and downs - I launched the Dreamcast. Some publishers got behind that and some didn't. But certainly, EA has never come out and said it won't develop for Nintendo.

Eurogamer: EA had that 'special relationship' announcement for Wii U which never really materialised - how do you see NX being different in that regard? It sounds like Nintendo are again choosing a path which is not trying to compete with other consoles EA supports and simply be another Xbox or PlayStation. Does that make Nintendo a more difficult proposition to support?

Peter Moore: Nintendo has always based its success on its first-party games because it is a brilliant first-party developer. If you asked that question to them they'd say they have to launch with first-party software first - that's where the first dev kits go.

While we're still not really any wiser about which way EA will go when the NX finally arrives, and the fact that it claimed to have an "unprecedented partnership" prior to the launch of the Wii U - a console it has effectively abandoned in favour of the PS4 and Xbox One - doesn't exactly bode well for the future.

If EA is being so non-committal at this stage then one has to wonder if the NX is in its sights at all; should the console be a runaway success that will of course change, but at present its doesn't (officially) seem to be of much interest to EA.

That may change what Nintendo finally lifts the lid on the console, but in the meantime, what do you make of Moore's comments?

[source eurogamer.net]