EA says they were on the "wrong horse" by focusing on 360 and PS3 #1

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Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello admitted today that his company was “on the wrong horse” when it opted to focus primarily on Xbox 360 and PS3 during the console transition period.
Speaking at EA’s investor meeting today, Riccitiello, who recently took over Larry Probst’s postion as CEO of EA in April, called fiscal 2007 “the toughest year in the company’s history.”

He added, “[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.”

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.

The emergence of online, wireless and geographical differences in the console realm also made things complicated in fiscal '07.

Riccetiello said that the PS3 was the greatest investment platform in the last fiscal year, a console on which EA had seven titles.

The firm said the recent company-wide reorganization and a focus on creating new IP and nurturing of current IP will help make money for investors in the future.

Riccitello emphasized EA’s recent push to create new IP. He said that there is a “strong investment in [new] intellectual property” at the firm, with games such as Army of Two, Rock Band, Crysis, a Stephen Spielberg Wii game and Playground.

EA shares closed today to $50.65, down 1.96 percent.

[Viper]

They've been saying they goofed up for a while now as have a lot of publishers lately but then the way things have played out simply wasn't at the top of the list of expected scenarios so it's understandable.

[masteratt]

...simply wasn't at the top of the list of expected scenarios...
...Yes it was.

The PS3 section has been screaming
''1) Wii
2) X360
3)PS3
Until a few years pass''
For a long while now.

I guess developers are really just ''Okay which console is the best selling right now? X360? good We are aking games for that''

[the next day]

''Wii almost caught them? Damn!
Okay we are making a game for that now.''

If only they used a little planning >_>
We fans know more about the industry than some of the devs I swear.

[Viper]

Masteratt, as much as we'd all love for developers to use forums like ours as the guage by which they develop, they don't. They use the thing we all hate....ANALysts. Remember that long ass list of analysts predictions I posted in the media bias thread? They use those plus other means of projecting what will sell and how much and what audience is this console and what reaches to them, etc....

Plain simply put the majority of developers wrote Wii off even before Nintendo announced it. By the time it became clear the Wii might be something interesting, devs and pubs had already allocated the resources for this generations first games. It was way beyond too late and then as the systems launched and it became clear Wii was way above expectations, allocations were shifted...or planned to be shifted.

[masteratt]

That's why they suck (EA).
Always going with the crowd instead of doing what they want to do.

Interested in mediocre development- Use X360.
Want to make something technically shine and get your hands dirty?- PS3
Easy to program and different- Wii

We all know EA is a company who fits the X360 well as they are all 40 year old bald (;)) man who sit there using a selling formula to create ''new'' games.

My point being that other than the online structure that EA brought to the Wii- Them suddenly ''changing horses'' are not going to be good for anyone as that's not where their experience lies.

Most Wii players will be sick of EA games after they release one or two games.

[Viper]

Actually, the past year or so they've done much better than usual in terms of quality.

They also recently acknowledged that the industry and itself relies far to heavily on licenses and sequels and is working to incorporate many more new IPs into their line up.

They get railed on for mediocrity largely because they produce more games than most developers so their mediocre games mount up to a lot.

They've completely shifted their internal structure and created new studios to take advantage of how this generation is forming.

[masteratt]

So far they haven't showed anything that backs that up, Viper.
And I strongly doubt that they will.

Maybe in their head they think games like Army Of Two are new and original and thats just what I mean by 40 year old man who know nothing about the games but just making money.

You got any games in mind to side with what EA is saying?

I agree with the ''they simply look crap because they release so many games'' theory but the thing is- They have SO much money and such a huge team but they just use them to create what they always created and release that every year instead of taking the time to DEVELOP something new and maybe skip a year and release something GOOD.

They can afford to put their A team to work on two different version of games while companies like Infanitiy Ward have to pass on their baby (Call Of Duty) to a less talented company just so they can make CoD4 that much special.

That shows caring and knowledge of the gaming industry and how games exite people.

[Viper]

Sports games aside, here is a list of unique IPs, quality released games or the shift is development for Nintendo consoles.

Black
Blocks
Boogie
EA Playground
Medal of Honor Heroes 2
Spore
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition

[Zeep]

You got any games in mind to side with what EA is saying?

Actually, if you look at the list of upcoming EA games for Wii...

-Boogie
-EA Playground
-FIFA Soccer '08
-Madden NFL '08
-MySims
-NBA Live '08
-Need For Speed: ProStreet
-The Sims 2: Castaway
-Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08

2 are new IPs (Boogie, Playground), and one is a completely original take on an old IP (MySims). And Madden for Wii is one of the first Madden games to actually ADD any real new, original gameplay features, which is saying a LOT for EA. Presumably those sorts of changes will also gradually make their way into their other major franchises.

Edit: this list was from an E3 Nintendo press release. Don't know why it's missing a few of the games Viper listed.

[masteratt]

Alright good.

Let's hope one day we all come to love EA.

[Viper]

EA is the only one taking Wii online seriously. To, they are even more so than Nintendo themselves thus far.

[Lucent Beam]

I just hope they are focusing on quality, not quantity of Wii games they are shooting out. I remember hearing about them opening a place in Canada or something devoted entirely to Wii games, but maybe that was a plan that didn't go all the way through if they're claiming that they weren't focusing in on the Wii.
In other news, Boogie had better be fun. [/rhythm game whore]

[Viper]

Angela, This report is just a mirror of what EA stated several months ago. The new Wii exclusive studio is still being put together.

[Lucent Beam]

I remember hearing about that before E3 last year though. And that the team working on Madden for Wii was all new and working from it?

[Viper]

Prior to E3 last year? That's new to me. This was just a few months ago when a whole slew of developers came out claiming the Wii blew way beyond their expectations and they'd start allocating resources for it.

EA then announced they were going to open a new development studio to take advantage of the Wii. This was announced just prior to the reorganization announcement.

[Lucent Beam]

Wow. Really I remember there being talk about having a Wii only studio in Canada and that people who had worked on older Madden games like weren't being invited or whatever because they wanted to innovate.
I wonder where I heard that from because seriously it was a long long time ago.

[OnBake Platinum]

I know exactly what you are talking about. It was called something like EA Big but not. Some brand like that.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA_Canada, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_07

[Hisham]

EA Big...

They are the makers of the NBA and NFL Street series of games. I doubt they will go exclusive for the Wii, but yeah again, this is nothing new. Alot of devs are probably gonna get ready to jump ship to the Wii. It is to be expected.