Post by: AzureNightmare on July 27, 2007, 01:14:07 PM
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14107
Yesterday at its quarterly investor's meeting, EA's CEO John Riccitiello told investors that 2007 was the toughest fiscal year ever for the company.
“[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." He said.
“Our stock hasn’t moved as much as we’d like," Riccitiello told a concerned investor during the Q&A session of the meeting. He also promised that EA would allocate more resources to developing Wii games, admitting that the company had been "on the wrong horse" during the console transition, having concentrated on PS3 and 360 instead, saying that the PS3 was the focus of game development in the last fiscal year, a console on which EA had seven titles.
He then optimistically told investors that EA had the second-largest market share on Wii as of March with 19 percent, thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf. He then pointed out EA’s push to create new IP. He said that there is a “strong investment in [new] intellectual property", with games such as Army of Two, Rock Band, Crysis, a Stephen Spielberg Wii game and Playground. He told them that this change in company strategy, in conjunction with a company-wide reorganization would help jump start EA's financial growth and also promised them that it would make the company, and its investors money.
EA's stock closed at $50.65 that day, down 1.96 percent.
Post by: MLS_man_64 on July 27, 2007, 04:21:16 PM
Post by: Kairon on July 27, 2007, 04:51:18 PM
Post by: pSYCO-gAMER321 on July 27, 2007, 06:45:02 PM
Post by: Ceric on July 28, 2007, 02:55:03 AM
Post by: NWR_insanolord on July 28, 2007, 03:23:34 AM
EA has had some real quality releases, with controls that weren't just shoehorned in and actually made the game better and more fun (Madden, Godfather, etc.). Everyone always says that EA doesn't innovate and just rehashes things (especially in regard to their sports franchises), but the Wii support they've shown so far makes me laugh at those who say that. Even Madden, the lightning rod for gamer hatred that it is, is getting real effort for the first time on a Nintendo platform, with 08 having the controls even further refined, a new party mode, the telestrator (awesome), Wii Sports-like Family control options, and, to top it all off, online play (only 4 years behind everyone else!).
In addition to Madden, FIFA will be online with equally intriguing motion controls, and NBA Live has the motion controls as well while I haven't heard anything about whether or not it will be Wi-Fi enabled. Also, MySims looks fantastic, I absolutely love the building mechanic, something that would be a lot tougher without the Wiimote.
Keep the goodness coming, EA!
Post by: Arbok on July 28, 2007, 04:30:33 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
I don't get EA they keep apologizing for not having enough support for the Wii but they have been one of the biggest third party supporters since launch.
Cause stock holders sound like they want to hear it?
Post by: Alfonse on July 28, 2007, 08:27:23 AM
Quote
Cause stock holders sound like they want to hear it?
Actually it's two things.
Stock holder see Wii running away with the industry (poised to beat 360 before Halo 3 ships), and they want to know what EA is going to do to get a slice of that pie. Apologizing for not having done enough Wii development shows the stock holders that they're serious about Wii. Basic damage control, despite being one of the most prolific Wii 3rd party developers.
Secondly, they can point to their fairly stagnant stock and say, "That's because we haven't ramped up on Wii enough." Forget other reasons (stagnant development, raping franchises like Wing Commander with their new Live Arcade game, rising cost of next-gen development without a subsequent increase in profits, etc). This is something stockholders will believe, and it's very simple.
Post by: Kairon on July 28, 2007, 09:32:57 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: insanolord
They've been great to the Wii. In my opinion Madden was the best example of motion controls at launch, they simply nailed them. Ubisoft may have had the most games, but they didn't seem to put much effort into them (Red Steel felt like they were trying, but ran out of time; it was confirmed a launch title more than a year before launch and I think they just underestimated the time they would need. It sold well enough to guarantee a sequel, though, so hopefully they can show us what the game was supposed to be.)
EA has had some real quality releases, with controls that weren't just shoehorned in and actually made the game better and more fun (Madden, Godfather, etc.). Everyone always says that EA doesn't innovate and just rehashes things (especially in regard to their sports franchises), but the Wii support they've shown so far makes me laugh at those who say that. Even Madden, the lightning rod for gamer hatred that it is, is getting real effort for the first time on a Nintendo platform, with 08 having the controls even further refined, a new party mode, the telestrator (awesome), Wii Sports-like Family control options, and, to top it all off, online play (only 4 years behind everyone else!).
In addition to Madden, FIFA will be online with equally intriguing motion controls, and NBA Live has the motion controls as well while I haven't heard anything about whether or not it will be Wi-Fi enabled. Also, MySims looks fantastic, I absolutely love the building mechanic, something that would be a lot tougher without the Wiimote.
Keep the goodness coming, EA!
I'll agree with you when we get an NHL game.
Post by: IceCold on July 28, 2007, 04:32:02 PM
QuoteQFT. And I never even use the acronym "QFT".
Originally posted by: KaironQuote
Originally posted by: insanolord
They've been great to the Wii. In my opinion Madden was the best example of motion controls at launch, they simply nailed them. Ubisoft may have had the most games, but they didn't seem to put much effort into them (Red Steel felt like they were trying, but ran out of time; it was confirmed a launch title more than a year before launch and I think they just underestimated the time they would need. It sold well enough to guarantee a sequel, though, so hopefully they can show us what the game was supposed to be.)
EA has had some real quality releases, with controls that weren't just shoehorned in and actually made the game better and more fun (Madden, Godfather, etc.). Everyone always says that EA doesn't innovate and just rehashes things (especially in regard to their sports franchises), but the Wii support they've shown so far makes me laugh at those who say that. Even Madden, the lightning rod for gamer hatred that it is, is getting real effort for the first time on a Nintendo platform, with 08 having the controls even further refined, a new party mode, the telestrator (awesome), Wii Sports-like Family control options, and, to top it all off, online play (only 4 years behind everyone else!).
In addition to Madden, FIFA will be online with equally intriguing motion controls, and NBA Live has the motion controls as well while I haven't heard anything about whether or not it will be Wi-Fi enabled. Also, MySims looks fantastic, I absolutely love the building mechanic, something that would be a lot tougher without the Wiimote.
Keep the goodness coming, EA!
I'll agree with you when we get an NHL game.
