EA

Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 18 Comments

EA once had plans to create a Pokemon competitor for DS, according to Nic Watt. Watt is currently at Nnooo, but previously worked at EA as a creative director.

In a recent episode of the GameHugs podcast, Watt stated:

“Working with EA was a completely different experience [to working with a small studio] as we had the longest prototyping period I’ve had for any game I’ve worked on: it was amazing. EA wanted this game where the idea and it was going to be their Pokémon game. They didn’t have an RPG in the handheld space and they really wanted one. We did a lot of paper-based prototyping for the battle mechanics and even made a whole card game. Then we got the people from Criterion – who worked on Burnout and with the studio – in [to test it]. That’s the good thing when you have a company of 300 people, you can just ask ‘do you guys want to come in and play our game for the afternoon.’ The team did find it hard because the prototyping was so long, and a lot of things got reset from time to time. But by the time I left, it still had not hit full production and I know that was really tough for a lot of people.”

Even though EA put quite a number of development resources into the mystery project, it never saw the day of light. It’d be interesting to see what it looks like!

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 10 Comments

Yesterday we posted some comments from EA executive vice president Patrick Soderlund in response to a question Game Informer asked about NX. Now we have additional statements from another staffer: Peter Moore.

Moore was asked about EA’s stance on NX support, but like Soderlund, he was non-committal. Here’s the exchange between the two sides:

Eurogamer: Nintendo – it also has a new console coming out. EA, like a lot of publishers, were kind of quiet on Wii U. What is EA’s stance on supporting NX?

Peter Moore: I don’t know – obviously a lot of details are still to be unveiled. EA has developed for Nintendo for 30 years and I was famously quoted as saying we’re still good friends. I have lived the console cycle’s ups and downs – I launched the Dreamcast. Some publishers got behind that and some didn’t. But certainly, EA has never come out and said it won’t develop for Nintendo.

Eurogamer: EA had that ‘special relationship’ announcement for Wii U which never really materialised – how do you see NX being different in that regard? It sounds like Nintendo are again choosing a path which is not trying to compete with other consoles EA supports and simply be another Xbox or PlayStation. Does that make Nintendo a more difficult proposition to support?

Peter Moore: Nintendo has always based its success on its first-party games because it is a brilliant first-party developer. If you asked that question to them they’d say they have to launch with first-party software first – that’s where the first dev kits go.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 28 Comments

We’ve seen a couple of third-parties announce titles for NX even though the system still hasn’t been properly unveiled. We’ve also heard about some publishers who have left the door open to support. With EA though, their intentions are less clear.

Game Informer asked EA executive vice president Patrick Soderlund about NX at Gamescom today. While he was quick to praise the big N, he wasn’t willing to come out and comment on the new platform for now.

He said:

“Nintendo is such an instrumental part of our whole industry. They deserve to be successful, and they deserve to be a major player in the business, given their pedigree. It’s not only the machines that they’ve built, but also the IPs they’ve brought to market. There are very few companies like Nintendo. Whenever they bring something to market that we see an addressable market for, we’ll be there. Given that they haven’t announced [a new console] officially or shown it, I can’t comment specifically.”

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 31 Comments

EA will make games for NX “if it makes sense” for the publisher to do so, according to executive vice president Patrick Soderlund.

In an interview with with BBC, Soderlund had this to say about supporting the new console:

“I personally and the company are huge fans of Nintendo, they’re the reason why I started making games. We’re in constant communication with them and when they come to market something – and if it makes sense for us – we’ll be there.”

Many remember when EA appeared on stage at Nintendo’s E3 2012 media briefing to announce an “unprecedented partnership” between the two sides. That relationship fizzled out soon after the console’s launch. EA’s final Wii U game was Need for Speed: Most Wanted.

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Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Switch | 111 Comments

Update: Some additional rumored details from Nintendo Life:

– Information comes from “several” EA staffers
– EA was apparently one of the first publishers to get access to NX development hardware
– Nintendo is citing EA as a key ally when it comes to making its next console a success
– Multiple meetings in March
– Meetings will apparently decide how much support EA (EA Sports) arm will be giving Nintendo in the near future
– EA wants “a detailed plan” on how Nintendo intends to win over sports fans with NX
– EA is keen to learn how Nintendo intends to build up a large enough “sports” audience on NX
– This was apparently one of the key reasons for the publisher abandoning Wii U
– EA is asking Nintendo to spend more advertising dollars during televised sporting events like NFL games, NBA games, MLB games, World Cup matches and the World Series in order to claim this audience
– EA is citing the fact that both Sony and Microsoft spend a large portion of cash during such events, and that EA’s titles are given prominence in promotional campaigns
– Sources see Nintendo not bundling EA games with consoles as an insult; both Sony and Microsoft are involved with such bundles
– The company will be asking Nintendo to consider shipping NX consoles with leading EA Sports titles, such as FIFA and Madden
– During a December meeting between EA and Nintendo executives, an EA exec “criticized Wii U for not having entertainment apps for MLB.TV, NBA, WWE Network, NHL Gamecenter Live, and the NFL”
– EA believes PS4 having these apps is a key reason for the machine’s success among sports fans
– EA wants NX to be able to run such apps or offer similar functionality

As relayed on Twitter by Liam Robertson, someone well-known for discovering information about cancelled games and other industry news, EA is in rumored to be in possession of NX development kits. Furthermore, they’ve apparently had them for awhile.

Robertson has also said that Nintendo and EA will meet in March “to hash things out and discuss potential plans.” It sounds like EA wants to pursue cross promotions such as sports console bundles. Robertson added that “EA wants Nintendo to help them cultivate an audience for sports fans if they’re going to go on board with NX.”

Here’s a roundup of everything posted by Robertson:

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii, Wii U | 101 Comments

EA dropped its support for Wii U long ago. The publisher’s last game was Need for Speed: Most Wanted U, a title that shipped in March 2013.

EA’s chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen explained why the company is no longer creating games for Wii U during the UBS Global Technology Conference. At the end of the day, “the market is too small,” he said. This applies to Wii as well, though the limelight on that console faded long ago and support for it was expected to end with the introduction of Wii U a few years ago.

Below are Jorgensen’s comments in full:

“We don’t make games anymore for the Wii or the Wii U because the market is not big enough, the PS Vita – the Sony product – we don’t make games for that anymore because the market is too small, so it’s all about the size of the market. As one of the largest software producers we have all of the manufacturers of equipment coming to us to try to sell us on their equipment and giving us development kits to try to build software for it. So we’ll build software for various ones but we’ll really wait and see how big the market is going to be.”

While EA has moved on from Wii U, perhaps it could support NX in the future. CEO Andrew Wilson stated a couple of weeks ago that the company will “evaluate any and all opportunities” concerning Nintendo.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 38 Comments

EA and Nintendo have had somewhat of a rough relationship over the past few years. During the Wii U’s E3 unveiling a few years back, you may recall that now former CEO John Riccitiello came on stage to pledge the company’s support for the console. Ultimately, we ended up with Mass Effect 3, FIFA 13, and Madden NFL 13 at launch. Need for Speed: Most Wanted U came a few months later, but EA’s support was pretty much over by the middle of 2013.

Now with NX, Nintendo has a new system on the horizon. Is that something EA could be interested in? Perhaps.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked about the publisher’s resource management during its Q2 2016 earnings call earlier this week. In response, he said:

As we look to the future, we see a world where more people are playing on more platforms in more geographies then ever before. We see the platform cycle now, not just as a traditional six-year console cycle, but as a six-month refresh rate on mobile devices, smart TV’s, Internet-enabled refrigerators, or whatever it might be.

And what we’re doing, in terms of resource allocation, is really investing at a core digital platform level, at an engine level, and at a game architecture level, to ensure that we are able to deliver amazing experiences: 6 inches to 60 inches, and beyond; two minutes to two hour session times, and beyond; across any and all relevant devices where gamers are playing.

And as it relates to Nintendo, we’ve had a tremendous relationship with them over the years. And we will evaluate any and all opportunities with them, in the same way we do all platform opportunities.

So there’s definitely not anything there in terms of a commitment, though EA appears to be leaving the door open. If nothing else, they seem to still value their relationship with Nintendo.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 33 Comments

Update (5/31): It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but there are no plans for FIFA 16 on Wii U. It won’t be on Wii either,.

FIFA games have been appearing on Nintendo’s portable systems for over a decade. However, with FIFA 16, the streak is coming to a close.

EA confirmed to Pocket Gamer that the latest entry won’t be on the 3DS (or PS Vita for that matter). FIFA 12 up through FIFA 15 all launched on the handheld.

EA didn’t say why it decided to stop supporting the 3DS when it comes to the FIFA franchise, but the company is likely opting to focus on the mobile release instead.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 1 Comment

EA is rumored to have been working on a new SimCity console game in recent years that sadly ended up as a cancelled project.

Liam Robertson from Unseen64 – a site known for digging up game information including games that never made it to market – writes on Twitter that the title would have landed on Wii U in addition to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The plug was apparently pulled back in October 2011.

A prototype was created, though EA did not move forward with the new SimCity console project. It would have released alongside the 2013 PC game.

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Posted on 10 years ago by Kirara Koneko(@KiraraKoneko) in 3DS, General Gaming, News, Wii | 9 Comments

As we mentioned before FIFA 15 was in development for Wii and 3DS, and its official launch date has been announced.

The game is slated to launch in North America on September 23, and in Europe on September 26.

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