14 DAY TRIAL // Although the publisher had eyes only for the PS3 and Xbox, sources indicated a recent change of heart. It seems that EA has plans of releasing a huge number of Wii titles along with other means of support as the company feels they have neglected Nintendo's powerful next-gen console.
Larry Probst, EA chief executive shares his plans concerning Nintendo's Wii: "In the year ahead, we plan to build on our leadership position on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation3, and to significantly increase our support for the Nintendo platforms." Only two Wii titles were released since December 31, while the PS3 got four and Microsoft's Xbox was granted 5.
Without doubt, EA can provide a large number of titles for the Wii platform, having a brand architecture which includes: realistic sports simulations (like The Sims series), extreme sports titles, mobile phone and iPod games, life simulation titles and many more.
As EA has proven it over the years, they're not all peaches and cream. When Xbox Live was launched, Electronic Arts refused to provide support for multiplayer games through the Microsoft servers, as they didn't want to give up a certain degree of control over them.
After Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 successfully grabbed market share away from EA's dominant Madden NFL series during the 2004 holiday season, EA responded by making several large sports licensing deals which include an exclusive agreement with the NFL, and in January 2005, a 15-year deal with ESPN.
Why the change of heart EA? What's in it for you? Involving with a big publisher such as EA Nintendo will have to be put a lot of thought into and if they are to keep the upper hand they'll probably take a good look at what they're signing on.