EA says it should've supported Wii earlier

Filed in archive Video Game Industry on July 30, 2007

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello admitted recently that his company was riding "on the wrong horse" when it chose to focus development primarily on Xbox 360 and PS3 during the console transition period. Riccitiello was speaking at EA's investor meeting when he called fiscal 2007 as "the toughest year in the company's history."



He says: "[The last transition] was tough because we typically have two to three platforms and a five year period... One of the biggest challenges, of course, was that not a lot of people anticipated the success of Nintendo that they've shown with their wand controller and their Wii. "That got ahead of us a little more than our expectations."

EA finally wakes up and follows the money trail. Im not at all surprised.

Shares have been languishing around the $50 mark for the past few years.

"Our stock hasn't moved as much as we'd like," Riccitello told one investor during a Q&A. He admitted that EA was on the "wrong horse" by concentrating mainly on the PS3 and Xbox 360 while throwing less resources towards the Wii during the console transition.

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.

via CVG