The Wii had a monster Black Friday and may also have a very solid holiday season, but the overall trend in 2010 has clearly been one of decline for Nintendo's console. Nintendo's profits have been falling, and while the 3DS should lift them early next year, some analysts believe Nintendo is caught in a tough spot when it comes to console hardware.
What does leading third party publisher Electronic Arts (whose Wii revenues have been plummeting) think about the Wii's position in the marketplace? IndustryGamers recently sat down in NYC with CEO John Riccitiello, and this was one of many topics discussed during the lengthy, in-depth interview.
Riccitiello began by mentioning how the Wii market could really benefit from another price cut now. "I would say they did exceptionally well in ‘07 and ‘08, started tapering in ‘09 and ‘10, and... I think if they were to price down to $99, they would explode. I think they’ve now got competition, in the form of gesture-based gaming from Sony and Microsoft. If they were to find ways to promote third-party content better, as opposed to first-party content, and would hit pricing, I think the platform would see new life," he said.
We followed-up, pressing Riccitiello on the third-party situation. It's well known that Nintendo platforms have always had a greater focus on first-party Nintendo content, often at the expense of the third-party games. This doesn't sit too well with the EA CEO. We asked him about his level of frustration when it comes to Wii and third-party support.
Riccitiello responded, "I think it’s a frustration for all third-party publishers, when a platform holder does less to promote third-party content. A great third-party company is Apple, a company that’s all third-party content. There’s often tension in a company between first- and third-party content. Nintendo’s unique in the world. They’re a great company because of the blend of first- and third-party content. First-party hardware, first-party content is what makes them great, but it’s actually pretty tough. I can come up with a dozen titles in the last decade, but it’s really tough to come up with a dozen great titles that have been platform defining for them that weren’t their own. I don’t care whether it’s Mario or Twilight Princess or GoldenEye; it was their own content. I’m going back to N64, and I can go back to SNES if you want, but they’ve never really been a heavy third-party supporting system. It’s not lack of trying; they start the morning thinking what’s best for their own intellectual property."
We'll be bringing you much more from our interview soon.
2 Comments
December 17, 2010
I'm curious: What exactly does he want in the way of "support"? Does he want help in actual development? Does he expect Nintendo to foot the marketing bill? And what support does Apple give EA? Does EA even publish games for OSX? That comparison to Apple really puzzles me.
And "tapering" is a strong word for Wii sales performance in 2009. It was down only slightly from 2008 totals and Nintendo sold a record 3.81 million units last December, compared with 2.15 million in Dec. 2008. For that month at least, there was a 77% year-on-year increase.
IMHO, Riccitiello should really focus on making games that can match the fun and quality of Nintendo's titles, instead of complaining about a lack of support from the publisher. Or, he can just follow his own advice and slash the prices of his games by 50%. I'm sure Wii owners would buy more of them if he did.
Grains of salt: EA's share price is down from US$51.32 to US$15.87—more than 69%—since Riccitiello was made CEO on April 2, 2007. (Also in that time, the company has had a total after-tax net loss of nearly US$2.3 billion.)
December 17, 2010
EA publishes lots of games on iOS. They're mostly mobile versions of their bigger console titles, but they also have casual offerings like Scrabble and Tetris.
As for the Wii's performance over the past two years, I'd invite you to examine a bit more than you did – Wii sales were starting to slow in 2009; the price cut and the release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, however, gave it a big boost during the holiday season. Sales have been way down for the system in 2010 and Nintendo even posted a loss.
As for the third-party on Wii thing, it's something that both Nintendo and third-parties talk about and I'm not sure there's a good answer to. Maybe it's just a self-fulfilling prophecy where most people who buy the system are interested in Nintendo games, but its something more complex that simply making “fun games” (as is many things in the industry).