980°

Supposed EA Source Harshly Explains Why The Publisher Stopped Supporting Nintendo

iGR: "A supposed source from within EA has reportedly gone on record with some very strong feedback on why Electronic Arts stopped supporting the Wii U platform. In a very lengthy piece over at CVG, an anonymous source at EA stated,"

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3740d ago Replies(5)
CYCLEGAMER3740d ago

While these are harsh words, it is the truth. Nintendo has dug themselves into this hole while remaining stagnate, while the rest of the gaming world grew up. They had a golden opportunity to take over the gaming world by catering to both age groups.

LAWSON723740d ago

Gaming world grew up...
I did not know trying to copy cod and its success was growing up. Oh and milking the consumer base with DLC, franchises releasing every year with minimal improvements or changes, and everything having to cater to the casuals so they can have a larger fanbase while meanwhile losing their old one was growing up. If that is the case I wish the industry would be reborn because it was raised terribly, lol

CYCLEGAMER3739d ago

@LAWSON72
Calm down....relax and read my comment again slowly, especially the last sentence.

I will also add that Nintendo did not have to do any of the things that you mentioned, as a matter of fact what the did was solely concentrate on children and casuals, which alienated their hardcore fanbase.

They could have remain relevant to all gamers by staying on par in terms of specs and keeping up with new/fresh (while keeping the old ones) hardcore IP's. Nintendo has the $ to do that, but instead they decide to consistently produce an underpowered console with very few games that appeal to the hardcore audience/their original fanbase.

ThatOneGuyThere3739d ago

Nintendo was HOPING that it was already Apple-like. Where they could just release another white box slightly improved yet vastly inferior to other hardware and people would blindly get it because they got the last one. I dont blame them for thinking this way. After all, the only reason the Wii sold like it did was because it impressed easily impressionable people(people who dont usually play games) in the right way. The WiiU is a rude awakening for Nintendo. I don't think they will make this mistake again.

plaZeHD3739d ago

Grew up doesn't mean what you just said.
Think logically.

DARK WITNESS3739d ago

I don't know if it's fair to say the gameing world grew up. A generation of gamers has grown up yes, but there is also a younger generation of kids that would still love the nintendo games just as much as we did.

That is what nintendo focus on when making games and that is what they are good at. To really make their system appeal to everyone though they still need those games that appeal to that older generation and I think this is where they are thinking they would rely on 3rd parties.

Problem is 3rd parties are not putting in the effort with those games. They just want to throw half arsed ports on the system. And they few that do make the effort to create a great mature game, well it don't sell well enough. It's a hard place to be at I guess.

XiSasukeUchiha3740d ago

Wow EA harshest words i ever heard

ThatOneGuyThere3739d ago

he heard it while reading thanks to his inner voice.

AKissFromDaddy3740d ago (Edited 3740d ago )

This is a brillant article to read.

"Nintendo must modernize

If any company can inspire Nintendo to reinvent the business, it's Sony. The story of PlayStation across the past five years has been one of a company that has soul-searched for answers on why it lost half its market share, and the drastic changes it made thereafter.

Sony has demonstrated a willingness to go as far as it takes. It has torn itself from its roots in order to adapt with the times."

Great point from the article.

"Nintendo's European and North America offices, which should be hubs for local development support, are little more than sales outposts for skilled marketers like Reggie Fils-Aime. They need to be much more than this."

Another great point.

"One publishing executive, working on perhaps the biggest franchise in games today, recently told CVG that he felt Nintendo "just doesn't care about US developers". He claimed that not only is there a language barrier when studios submit development queries up the chain, but that his studio had to wait days for Nintendo to reply.

Geography and language are not the only obstacles here. Nintendo is willfully ignorant of the plight of third-party studios and indie developers. Ever since the days of cartridges, the corporation has prioritized its own software sales over the livelihood of its development partners."

That's never good. I own a Wii, not a WiiU and I only own Super Smash Bros Brawl & Metroid Prime 3.

However, in my personal opinion, the WiiU needs Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, Hotline Miami 2, 140, DOTA 2, Dive Kick, Orcs Must Die 2, Portal 2, The Stanley Parable, Team Fortress 2, Torchlight, XCOM Enemy Unknown + Within, Stealth Bastard Deluxe, The Walking Dead Season 1 + 2, Sanctum 2, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, Diablo 3, Final Fastasy XV, Dark Souls 2, Thief, Dying Light, South Park The Stick of Truth, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, Destiny, Borderland 2, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Loadout, Child of Light, etc.

All these games are not on the WiiU. Nintendo needs partners. Without them, they're dead. The only games I want to play on the WiiU are Bayonetta 2 & Super Smash Bros U. I personally won't pay more than $150 for a console for only two games though. The last Zelda I personally loved was Twilght Princess, on Gamecube with the controller, because it had a dark theme.

Finally, Satoru, CEO of Nintendo, has to produce a better online experience. I'm not trying to be mean but the Wii and WiiU are kids systems and it's not appealing.

This is a very long article and there are too many points I agree with. I recommend picking the points you agree with and creating a dialogue. You're free to choose.

LAWSON723740d ago

Why does it need all these games? Are you going to be exclusive to the platform so you could play inferior multiplats. I have said before and I will say it again multiplats will not save the Wii U.

spicelicka3739d ago

Well you're right about multiplats not saving Wii-U. But it does need multiplats to stay relevant to a lot of gamers. Inferiority is better than not having the games at all. I wouldn't buy a Wii-U for just mario and zelda, and if I did then I'd want to play all the multiplats that xbox and playstation share.

The only problem is nintendo's stupid strategy of staying a generation behind hardware-wise. It barely interested me for a few months, as soon as I saw Xbox one and ps4, it was totally irrelevant to me. And in a couple of year interest level will be below zero.

That's not to say the games are bad or that Wii-U exclusives fans made the wrong decisions. That X game looks amazing, but that's exactly the problem. That game would've been relevant to me if it came out 2 years ago. Now it feels totally undermined by next-gen games so I have no need to care.

AKissFromDaddy3739d ago

@LAWSON72

If any of these ports played better with WiiU's touchscreen, I'd buy the WiiU version.

XCOM Enemy Unknown + Within, Sanctum 2, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, Diablo 3, Dark Souls 2, Thief, Dying Light, South Park The Stick of Truth, and Destiny seem like better experiences with the touchscreen in my personal opinion.

Additionally, if Nintendo allowed Valve developed games to update with Steamworks, that's an additionally reason for me, personally, to buy the WiiU. No other console does this and I like Team Fortress 2 & Left 4 Dead 2 mods.

Lastly, indie games are incredibly fun and marketable to all age groups. The last indie game I played and loved was 140. It's incredible and I believe WiiU owners would benefit by playing this simple, artistic game. That's my forecast.

wonderfulmonkeyman3740d ago

Child of light is due for the eshop,iirc.

stuna13739d ago

The points you picked were good points, but notice the disagree/agree ratio!! Here is why! The fanbase/supporters of Nintendo and Nintendo themselves are very like-minded in their assessment of the situation. Being stubbornly set in ones ways is never beneficial from a business standpoint! The business needs to be able to evolve and adapt to changing circumstances. These are qualities Nintendo are sorely lacking at the moment, but the sad reality is my comment will be met with blind, harsh, and undeserved resistance, even though it's the truth.

People including myself have been saying the eventuality of Nintendo current state was going to happen! Not out of hate, at least on my part, but out of genuine concern. Yet supporters have adamantly disagreed no such thing was capable or occurring, even now there are those at this very moment refusing to "See the Forest for the Trees"!

Slashed Sales projections, Posted Profit Loses, Abysmal 3rd party software developers support and lithargic worldwide console sells, etc. Yet without a shadow of a doubt someone will attempt to argue these facts! Apologist or what have you will state, more time is needed or, look at what situation the competitor is in with their hardware oblivious to the fact that pointing out someone elses situation doesn't change your situation! If anything it keeps people focused on your dilemma, openning up the door for scrutiny and comparison.

Being stagnant in the gaming business is a death sentence, and "No man is a Island unto himself!"! Support is the quentessential vehicle to success, and no amounts of denial will change that.

AKissFromDaddy3739d ago (Edited 3739d ago )

Agreed.

As I read comments below me, I became disheartened as the commentators blame EA with hostility, while playing ignorant to Nintendo's unsatisfactory flaws.

PostMesmeric writes,"That's the problem with EA's attitude. They sound like a teen who sneaks into a terrible R-rated movie just because the movie had blood and guts in it, trying hard to be "grown-up", but not realizing that being "grown-up" doesn't automatically mean "good."

I 100% disagree. EA is publishing Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare. That game looks incredible. EA has published multiple Need For Speed titles on the Wii, a series rated E for Everyone. EA published Dead Space Extraction on the Wii. EA co-published the Harry Potter games on the Wii. EA published sports games from 2012-2008 on the Wii.

EA published Mass Effect 3, FIFA 13, and Need for Speed Most Wanted U on the WiiU. These are good games. EA tries to make money, however, Satoru, CEO of Nintendo, prioritizes Nintendo's own software sales over the livelihood of its development partners.

Nintendo hasn't fought for third parties. Even Bayonetta 2 ended up on WiiU, exclusively, because every other publishers opposed publishing Platinum Games's Bayonetta 2.

Next, wonderfulmonkeyman writes,"Take a look at ea's attempts to support the Wii and Wii U. The majority of their games were crap. Its not Nintendo's fault that ea could not develop new titles for their systems that would cater to an older audience; that's all on ea."

That's subjective, yet on Nintendo's part, they've never even attempted getting the good EA console published games like Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, The Orange Box, Battlefield 4, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, Dead Space Trilogy or FIFA 14. Even Titan Fall, before it's exclusivity, wasn't fought for by Nintendo.

Nintendo doesn't even fight for Capcom games like Street Fighter IV: Ultimate Edition on WiiU.

My point is to start blaming Nintendo, exclusively, because they have to change and support third party publisher/developers on their platform, not the other way around.

"Being stagnant in the gaming business is a death sentence.", nothing is truer.

SpiralTear3739d ago

"Being stagnant in the gaming business is a death sentence..."

Did you really say that in favor of EA, a company who loves releasing the same version of a game every year with little to no changes between versions?

stuna13739d ago

@PostMesmeric

That goes for anyone who stagnates! Sure many use EA developed games as a sort of measuring stick, but even they can't continuously make a game without changing something about its core machanics regardless of how small they are or if they're even noticeable.

SpiralTear3740d ago

While I agree Nintendo needs to change, this guy's words tend to say more about EA than Nintendo.

thehitman3740d ago

Not really... EA has an audience they target and Nintendo does not do anything for them its simple as that. Its Nintendo fault for not being able to target an older audience and not being able to grow up with their fan base. Its one thing to want to hold your dear franchises like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon to your heart and keep them always but its another thing to completely bring in a lack of interest from games like CoD, BF4,Halo etc. or just action games other than zeld and metro like UC,GoW, TLOU, AC type of titles. They dont even get the occasional FF type of games I dont see any future in Nintendo besides their handheld market they seem to have locked up.

SpiralTear3740d ago

Like I said, I'm not justifying Nintendo's current condition, because something needs to be done over there. I'm saying that this is a terrible attitude from EA.

If this is legit, EA admitted that the younger demographic is not worth anything to them. They're desperately trying to act adult, while other publishers are making games for all ages. Good games for all ages. Good-SELLING games for all ages. Seriously, look at Skylanders. That's Activision's franchise and it's selling big.

That's the problem with EA's attitude. They sound like a teen who sneaks into a terrible R-rated movie just because the movie had blood and guts in it, trying hard to be "grown-up", but not realizing that being "grown-up" doesn't automatically mean "good."

wonderfulmonkeyman3740d ago

Take a look at ea's attempts to support the Wii and Wii U.
The majority of their games were crap.
Its not Nintendo's fault that ea could not develop new titles for their systems that would cater to an older audience; that's all on ea.

thehitman3740d ago

Well my arguement is that EA can produce w/e they want just like Nintendo can produce whatever they want. Nintendo says fuck the adults and EA says fuck the kids. Guess who is going to win that battle everytime? EA. That is Nintendo problem to deal with regardless of who being what or doing what. EA isnt the only publisher that has that mentality whether they will openly admit it or not is another story. Ubi, Acti and many other publishers probably feel the same way. EA has their faults and problems but I blame this one 95% Nintendo 5% EA.

Show all comments (125)
80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."

280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple1015d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref5d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde5d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander19725d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville4d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21834d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos4d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
isarai5d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref5d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan5d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0074d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander19725d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

5d ago Replies(3)
Einhander19725d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

5d ago
5d ago
Zeref5d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde5d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander19725d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander19725d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows5d ago (Edited 5d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier4d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto4d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21834d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto4d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
Hofstaderman5d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts5d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts4d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic4d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)
90°

Nintendo's War Against Player-Made Content Will Hurt The Company In The End

Danish from eXputer: "Nintendo has historically gone against player-made content and emulation of its games. This has done much to harm the company's image."

XiNatsuDragnel12d ago

I agree nintendo hire some these folks to help in your games it'll help imo.

banger8811d ago

They need to stop announcing these mods and fan remakes until they're finished. Finish it, upload it, and then if Nintendo dmca's it tough shit. Once it's online, people can share it around, even if the original download gets taken down.

Jingsing11d ago

True, but most modders need constant admiration during the process to motivate them.

PRIMORDUS10d ago

Yup, once it's a torrent nothing can be done Nintendo is helpless at that point. But it would be wise if they just had a site on the dark web, it's also easy to use with Tor and no one will bother you.

mastershredder10d ago

This is all coming from the mouth of short-sighted fandom and grifting madness.
No.... it wont. There is a clear defined reason why they don't. This is nothing new. Make your own shi7 from your own original ideas especially if you are trying to capitalize of it it. Duh.

Yeah, hire people that have zero respect or understanding for an established process. Wow. Yep. Totally makes sense.

shinoff218310d ago

Those guys that made that sonic game got a gig from sega or something along those lines and that game was dope as hell. One of the best sonics as of late.