EA Sports: We'd Never Count Wii U Out
They'll build games for the console 'should there be a sizeable gamer base there'.
EA Sports boss Andrew Wilson has revealed that the publisher hasn't quite turned its back on Nintendo's Wii U yet. Like most other third parties, it seems that the company is waiting for the House of Mario to turn its console's fortunes around.
The publisher had once declared an 'unprecedented partnership' with Nintendo to support the Wii U from launch, but its focus very quickly shifted to PS4 and Xbox One after sales of the hardware failed to take off. When asked what it would take to revisit Wii U, Wilson said it was a matter of userbases.
"I build for a userbase. I made games on Facebook because I thought people were there that wanted to play them. Then it became apparent to me that either I had the wrong game or they weren’t there," he told MCV. "We had a strong offering on Wii U at launch. The platform hasn’t had the take-up. Our games hasn’t had the take-up we’d have liked. So at this moment we are not focused there.
"Now they could do a range of things that might change that situation, and we’d never count them out. And should there be a sizeable gamer base there in the future, we would build games for Wii U. But for us it’s less about building for a platform, and more about building for a group of gamers on a platform where they are. And sports gamers weren’t there."
With a slew of first-party titles coming out between July and Christmas, with Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros and Bayonetta 2 hitting in 2014, it seems that Nintendo is doing its very best to grow the console's userbase for EA to jump back on board.
The publisher had once declared an 'unprecedented partnership' with Nintendo to support the Wii U from launch, but its focus very quickly shifted to PS4 and Xbox One after sales of the hardware failed to take off. When asked what it would take to revisit Wii U, Wilson said it was a matter of userbases.
"I build for a userbase. I made games on Facebook because I thought people were there that wanted to play them. Then it became apparent to me that either I had the wrong game or they weren’t there," he told MCV. "We had a strong offering on Wii U at launch. The platform hasn’t had the take-up. Our games hasn’t had the take-up we’d have liked. So at this moment we are not focused there.
"Now they could do a range of things that might change that situation, and we’d never count them out. And should there be a sizeable gamer base there in the future, we would build games for Wii U. But for us it’s less about building for a platform, and more about building for a group of gamers on a platform where they are. And sports gamers weren’t there."
With a slew of first-party titles coming out between July and Christmas, with Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros and Bayonetta 2 hitting in 2014, it seems that Nintendo is doing its very best to grow the console's userbase for EA to jump back on board.
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