EA looks to Wii for salvation

By on Feb 4, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Gaming February 4, 2009

Electronic Arts reported its earnings yesterday and while things are hardly as catastrophic as, say, a company like Sony, EA did manage to fall short of projections. Revenue came in at $1.65 billion, short of the $1.90 billion projection and revenue for the fiscal year yielded around $4.2 billion compared to a projection of $4.68 billion. As a result, EA announced some big moves in an effort to slow the bleeding – 1,100 layoffs and the closing of 12 game studios. That’s the bad news of course. The good news is that EA finally plans to get on board and begin focusing major efforts on Nintendo’s Wii, the run-away leader as far as console sales are concerned. This might not be the best news Microsoft and Sony have heard all week as they will likely see several currently-exclusive titles hit Nintendo’s console, but an active EA presence on Wii will bring a new dynamic to the console. More importantly, it will give EA access to to a huge audience that had been previously untapped. How EA’s franchises will translate to the popular console remains to be seen but if there’s one thing that can boost EA’s revenue, it’s the Wii.

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11 Comments

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  • Joe Mama

    EA would sell more PS3 games if they made them with 1080p graphics instead of 720p because there too lazy / dont want to invest in a better graphics engine for games like Madden. Madden 09 on the PS3 should not look like the Wii version, but it does.

  • vandebe

    are you high?

    that is all. your am idiot if you cant see tgd difference

  • gamefan

    EA had been ignoring the Wii in an effort to undermine it. I hope now that after all the lay offs they will finally realize the potential of developing their best games for the console, and making some money.

  • http://www.favbrowser.com Vygantas

    They would make $ if they produce quality and good games.

  • jason

    Are you playing the same version as Madden as we are? It doesn’t even come close to looking like the 480p-barely-upgraded-gamecube Wii version. And I bet if you saw Madden in 1080p and Madden in 720p you wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. Of course it doesn’t help that the Xbox 360 is the superior version, running on older, less advanced hardware than the PS3′s.

  • B

    haha again with the Sony joke! classic BGR, classic!

  • Cracka

    Lots of luck EA. The Wii is actually considered a joke in the gaming community and its been proven already that only Nintendo games sell on the Wii. Wii Fit, Wii Sports (bundled in) Mario’s numerous titles. The majority of people who bought Wii’s were for gifts or impulse buys through word of mouth. The casual gamer that Nintendo is targeting, of which I know a few of them are happy with just playing bowling and tennis.

  • jayrodathome

    I play Hanna Montana wii sing along adventure. Hd

  • tunafish4000

    I agree wii is the way to go, but let’s be honest most games on 360 poo on ps3

  • measdas

    That’s the problem, you’ve obviously never played the Wii. Despite the graphics not being totally HD, the controls are soo amazing that in a good game it can provide mores of an in depth experience than anything the other consoles have to offer.

    It will be no surprise when Sony and Microsoft rush out copies of their new consoles with the exact same motion controls. EA, and other misguided developers are counting on it.

  • Kyle

    Good to hear. I know graphics are below other consoles and can deal with that, but what they did to NCAA Football last year on the Wii was pathetic.

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