A preeminent Madden-on-Nintendo scholar dives deep into how EA went from more than 75 games on Wii to basically nothing and maybe back again.

Almost exactly 14 years before the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, EA’s then-CEO John Riccitiello took the stage at Nintendo’s annual E3 press conference on June 7, 2011 to talk about an unprecedented partnership with Nintendo on their upcoming console, the Wii U. “What Nintendo’s new console delivers speaks directly to the players of EA Sports and EA Games,” Riccitiello told the audience.

From the "never happening" to "aren't you legally required to deliver this?", there were things conspicuously missing this week.

The Partner Showcase was definitely something straight out of 2022 (complimentary): plenty of things for the RPG sickos, some games making their Nintendo debuts, and Borderlands 4 getting punted to the sizzle reel. But as the first post-Switch 2 launch showcase? I can definitely see why it fell flat in some circles. A grand opening of a Monster Hunter... Stories and a closing of two Square Enix HD-2D games does not an all-timer make.