EA - Wii Caught Us By Surprise

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."

Comments

Madden?

[AKAImBatman]

EA had the second-largest market share on Wii as of March with 19 percent, thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

How odd. I would have thought that Madden was the EA leading title. While the graphics aren't as nice as the 360 and PS3 versions, players often report how cool it is to play the game with actual football movements rather than overly complex controller commands. I know a lot of non-sports gamers actually picked up the game just for the innovative controls. (I have to admit that I was also tempted. But I'm too much of a miserly scrooge to spend the money. :P)

Then again, one of the things I really wanted when I got a Wii was a true Mario Golf type of game. Perhaps the serious golfers all played the Wii Sports version and fell in love with the idea? A relative of mine told his wife on no uncertain terms that they were getting a Wii, after he played a few holes on the Wii Sports Golf course. So I suppose it's possible that the Golfers like the idea even more than the football fans. (That's a shocking thought.)