EA goes where the money is – Dead Space coming to Wii
EA (Electronic Arts) isn’t a company too proud to admit its all about the profit. That’s why there is an update for all of their in-house games (Need For Speed, FIFA, Madden, Tiger Woods etc) released once a year just before Christmas. And now, in light of losses in the last quarter, the company is going where the money is at – the Nintendo Wii. What’s more, Dead Space looks like being the first title to get the port treatment.
Some people love EA and some hate it. I personally enjoy many of the EA Sports titles but don’t fall for the trap of buying every iteration each and every year. If a game has truly evolved or improved then fine – if it’s just got slightly better and a few new cars/courses/teams then I’ll save my money for another 12 months.
The Wii has been the undeniable hit of this console generation, of that there is no doubt. With over 45 million Wii owners now in the world, it was inevitable that publishers were going to start eying up the Wii as the golden nest egg it has become. Some developers have decided to leave well alone because they feel the console can’t cope with next-gen games, but EA know getting it right could mean cash in the bank.
According to Gamasutra, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello spoke about the company’s plans in an earnings call to investors. EA’s plan to return to global domination? Targeting the Wii and becoming the most successful third-party publisher on the console, potentially even rivaling Nintendo itself.
As well as new games designed especially for the Wii, such as a new tennis franchise taking advantage of the Wii Remote controllers, core IPs will be ported over to the console. The first of these to be announced is Dead Space, which has done well in terms of both review scores and sales on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Riccitiello stated that EA now think of the video games business in terms of three buckets – online, PS3 and Xbox 360, and the Wii. The Wii is now going to get 50 percent of EA’s emphasis and focus, with the PS3, Xbox 360, and online sectors having to share the other 50 percent between them.
This seems a risky venture because it feels slightly like EA are putting all their eggs in one basket. That’s all well and good as long as Wii owners buy the games and continue to grow in number, but neither of these things is guaranteed. And how will Dead Space look and play on the Wii? It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out.
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16 Responses to “EA goes where the money is – Dead Space coming to Wii”
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February 4th, 2009
I heard Dead SPace and Mirrors Edge sold 1 mil copies each… I hope this encourages EA to produce more new IP… cus we know Activision will bleed Rock Band and Call of duty to the bone…
kudos to EA… now if you could not put shitty DRM on my Spore… I would actually buy a legal copy of it…
February 5th, 2009
Dead Space is a Man’s game.
I doubt the women and children of wii will play it.
February 5th, 2009
Well if EA is bringing Dead Space to that crap aka Wii. They should also make for PlayStation 2 which is a million times better. I think they might bring it to PS2 owners if there’s a Wii version.
February 5th, 2009
It will give the bored dad’s something else to play besides golf and old games hamburger. Agreed Ivan, unless Sony plans to stop production of PS2 soon (next year being the end of the “10 year” cycle)…
February 5th, 2009
like resident evil4 before it his should make a decent transition. Hopefully they map the trigger to the trigger.
February 5th, 2009
EA just couldn’t help themselves. Glad to see ivan is back. Hey Ivan!
February 5th, 2009
I’m not sure how they will be able to get a next gen game on to the Wii.
February 5th, 2009
I would have to agree with phranctoast on RE4 Barnabe… even though Dead Space is a “next gen” game, I would say graphics could be toned down to RE4 levels and the game would still do fine.
February 5th, 2009
If they significantly scale the game down, I’m sure they can get something that resembles the original game together.
RE4 was a gamecube game. And the Wii is essentially a gamecube. Dead Space on the other hand was a current gen game with more advanced graphics, AI, lighting, and physics. I’m sure they will be able to through something together. It will probably be an inferior version in comparison to the originals though.
February 5th, 2009
Through – throw same thing.
February 5th, 2009
I was really just talking about the aiming transition.
Developers know what they’re doing. The Force Unleashed made an appearance on ps2 and wii as well as 360 and PS3. I’m sure they’ll figure something out.
February 5th, 2009
Agreed, most of it should consist of toning down the “advanced graphics” which includes the lighting you mentioned as well Barnabe. If the gameplay remains and it only takes a hit on graphics, then it will be an overall plus for those who only have a Wii.
February 5th, 2009
“Where the money is?”
The Wii only makes money for Nintendo. 3rd party software developers haven’t hardly made any money at all from the Wii…
-Arvis
February 6th, 2009
Sega, Sonic Team, Vicarious Visions, Cat Daddy, and Traveller’s Tales might argue that point Arvis. They have made as much or 2 to 3 times as much on Wii for their titles vice 360 and PS3 (sometimes combined).
February 6th, 2009
Not to mention that games cost more to make on the ps3/360.
I’m just not a mini game type of person and that appears to be the majority of the wii games.
February 6th, 2009
I would say about half if you don’t count VC games, to appeal to that extra 20 million they have sold consoles to that don’t have time or will not make time to play full games.