Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EA - Wii Caught Us By Surprise

Posted by Zonk on from the they're-getting-better dept.

A Next Generation story details comments by EA's CEO John Riccitiello about the surprise hit that is the Wii. The exec as much as admitted that they 'bet on the wrong horse' by focusing on the PS3 and 360 during the console transistion, and now are turning the mighty corporate ship as fast as they can to stay with Nintendo's success. "Nevertheless, Riccetello said that EA had the second-largest market share on Wii as of March with 19 percent, thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Only Nintendo had a larger share. The firm shipped six new Wii titles in fiscal 2007. EA also shipped eight titles on Nintendo DS. The emergence of online, wireless and geographical differences in the console realm also made things complicated in fiscal '07."

5 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Surely it did by falcon5768 · · Score: 3, Informative
    no no they are very attached to their userbase. What the Wii did though was expand that. The game execs where too busy selling to the hardcore that they forgot there are millions of other people who are NOT hardcore, and who only pick up a game here or there because their tastes are not for Dead or Alive boobie soccer, Final Fantasy XVI "The search for shemales", or Metal Gear Solid Geriatric.

    these are the katamari people, the same types who buy Luxor on their computers. Nintendo through their superior thrashing of the handheld market saw this nitch, and latched onto it. The people who still bought those other systems are still there, but Nintendo brought in a whole new crew to the party.

    Basically they did to the industry what they did to jumpstart it back up in the 80's

    --

    "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

  2. Re:Madden? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Owning both Madden and Tiger Woods golf, I can tell you that Madden is FAR superior of a game as far as mechanics go.

    The controls for Tiger Woods, while good, are just too touchy. Many game review sites have pointed out why this is, but basically, I find myself making many "half shots" where i end up stopping mid-swing and starting over.

    I'd have to think that the reason MAaden isn't the leader is people waiting for the 08 version instead of buying the "old" 07 version.

  3. Re:Surely it did by phantomlord · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's a Slashdot Poll from March 2006.

    22057 picked Sony to win by the end of this year
    13559 picked Microsoft
    9183 picked Nintendo

    There were obviously a few of us who thought Nintendo was going to win. A fairly significant amount given the inertia Sony already had in the market at that point and the general attitude toward MS here. That's better than 20% of people picking Nintendo, not exactly an insignificant amount.

    --
    Don't leave your mind so open that your brain falls out. Don't close it so much that you cut off the blood.
  4. Re:Everyone was blindsided by johnsmith_12345 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Aside from Nintendo, Ubisoft was the only company to really push for the Wii at the beginning. They had Rayman, Red Steel, and some others I cant think of now.

  5. Re:NHL Hockey on the Wii? :( by markh100 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Thanks for the heads up on the hint codes.

    No Goalies - At The Start Screen: Hold A and B on Both Controllers and then Start on the first controller

    Non-Stop Puck and No goalies! - On he title screen hold down the A and B buttons on controllers 1 and 2, then press start on controller 1, now you'll have a puck that never stops moving, and no goalies at the nets.

    Source: Gamespot