Topic: What is the deal between EA and Nintendo?

[nemo_83]

EA has become a real player these days in the biz.  Their games sale butt loads on all systems, but in the past they have had iffy relations with Nintendo.  During the SNES days it was the Sega Genesis that all of the sporties out there ran to.  During the 32/64 bit war it was the PSX that all of the sport game players ran to.  This non-noncore image grew all over Nintendo, but now days commercials from EA don't end in traditional manner of nonexclusive games with the PS symbol.  Now they end most commercials with GC logos.  This is also true with Namco's Soul Calibur 2 which at first was billed to the noncores as a GC game.  This is simply implied by showing the logo at the end of the commercials.  I think this alone is one of the biggest contributors to sales of Cube other than the price drop.

In the last gen most game commercials seemed biased towards PSX even though they were multi console games.  The commercials would end with the PS logo.  This is one of those subtle attributes of advertising that people just don't realize is the cause of high sales for PS and PS2 games and now Cube games.  It shows confidence in the console from the manufacturer of the game which results in sales on the advertised console even though the other systems are in fine print.  The fine print is what implies "and also on these other systems that don't really matter."  

EA games started using the GC logo earlier in the year and immediately saw sales of their games on Cube jump up with games like Def Jam Vendeta even though Cubes have a smaller user base than PS2.

So what is the deal between EA and NIntendo?  I hear rummors of Cube exclusive games these days such as Goldeneye 2.  I see EA jumping on the GBA/GC connectivity even though it is basically useless as far as most gamers are concerned.  I see their advertising aimed at boosting Cube sales.  Is Nintendo allowing them extra profits on games in order to garner more support or are they paying them for all of the attention?  Is it just EA realizing what has to be done to get their games to the Cube audience.  Even though EA sales are high on Cube they are still not exactly killing PS2 sales (of course the percentages of game console sales to game sales support cube in this case since cube has a smaller user base and can still compete with Sony).  I like to think EA is just smart, but I think there maybe a little cash flow somewhere.  Why wouldn't Nintendo reward top saling publishers with lower liscencing fees?  It only makes since to encourage developers to do better not just to sell better, but to get bigger profit cuts.  

[Shadow Link]

Well I seem to recall Nintendo doing some sort of a Deal with EA.  If I remember correctly Mr. Miyamoto is having input on some EA Projects (that are going to have GBA Conectivity).  And there will be a few Nintendo exclusives.  I might be wrong about this so please clear it up for me if I am.

The only deal the ps2 has with EA at the moment is the exclusivity of EA Sport titles being online.  Nintendo's deal is proberly worth more so EA is advertising GameCube titles more.  Its all about Money.  

[nemo_83]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EA, Nintendo Pact Announced
News - 03.06.03

Reuters reports that Electronic Arts and Nintendo on Thursday said they would co-develop a number of games, including sports titles for Nintendo's GameCube that EA had once considered abandoning.

Nintendo has been working to boost the GameCube from its third-place position in the U.S. market in the face of weak sales during the holiday season, particularly for some sports titles.

That performance in sports led a number of companies, including Electronic Arts and Sega, to say they would consider abandoning sports games for the platform.

But EA and Nintendo said Thursday they would work together on a broad range titles, with EA developing the games with input from Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary game designer responsible for Nintendo's flagship "Mario" franchise.

[nemo_83]

that last post by me was quoted from a response on the same topic at xengamers.  All I can say is NFL Mario 06 baby.

[Grey Ninja]

Wow.  Nemo, I must say that your first post in this topic was extraordinarilly well written.  But I don't really have much to say on the topic at hand, as I am not really a fan of EA, and it seems that everything I might have said has already been mentioned.  

[Mario]

Seems more like a deal for EA to not cancel their Cube games to me, rather than Nintendo obtain more exclusives or whatever.

[jasonditz]

I couldn't imagine EA cancelling Cube games, especially their bread and butter sports titles. With Sega Sports games all a year old (and long since in the discount bin) EA is the only game in town anymore.

[kennyb27]

For a while I believed all of the new EA Sports commercials to have the GC logo at the end of the commercial.  However, I just finished watching LSU tear apart Alabama (Go Tigers!) and there was a Madden commercial where it just showed the PS2 logo at the end.

[nemo_83]

Not all of the commercials feature the GC logo at the end.  

I could see Nintendo and EA doing a franchise sports title every two years allowing for greater development time than allowed by the yearly incarnations of Madden.  Also what would this mean for SSX and 1080?  And boy would I like to see Nintendo behind a Lord of the Rings game.

[savanna03]

im glad that NINTENDO recognized EA is the most important publisher out there.  they are the biggest, the most well known and arguably the best 3rd party developers out there.  they are just well rounded 'cuz their games ranges from rated E to M and from SPORTS to SIM, while other PUBLISHER such as SQUARE ENIX can only make RPG.  

but the lesson here is that you need advertisement in order for your games to sell.  if NINTENDO and EA made some dealings on advertising and simulateanously launch, EA got rewarded by the increase in sales of their games on GCN.  this just show that NINTENDO do care about 3rd party who knows their games.  if EA, NAMCO, CAPCOM, UBISOFT and other 3rd parties saw an increase of their games on a NINTENDO platform, this would really look bad on other 3rd parties such as EIDOS and ACCLAIM who been whinning and complaining.  how can u expect to sell a game who is badly been port and worst of all its over a year since the original launching.

[Berto2K]

Nicely written first post there nemo.  Lets see if I can put some of my business schooling into this.  

As far as the Soul Calibur 2 comemrcials go, each platform had their own commercial.  Nintendo put out more money to advertise it's version sooner and more often than Sony or MS did.  And it paid off emensely.  I still see the PS2 commercial everyonce in a while late at night, only saw the Xbox one a few times, but saw the Cube ones many times when the game launched.

Now the EA debacle.  I have yet to see and Xbox only ad for a large EA game.  The commercials for SSX 3 have only shown PS2 and Cube.  The PS2 ones mention "exclusively online only for PS2" because it only online for PS2.  Then there are others for the Cube which show the Cube logo, and the "connected" thingy at the bottom for GBA/Cube connection.  I would not be surpised if the Cube version of SSX 3 outsells the Xbox version cept for 1080 coming out soon.  EA has already badmouthed MS and shown their disgust by not giving them any online support because of the way MS wants to control the online infrastructure.  

Since Iwata has taken over, there have been many more actions behind the scenes that we will either never see or won't see in a long time because of the time it takes for those plans to pan out.  One of those is the exclusive title thing.  We know as you have said that Miyamoto would be working with EA on some games.  But development takes time.  They are probably working on at least one or two titles as we speak.  Now begs the question whether or not Nintendo is paying for the extra advertising, or help pay for development.  

Whether Nintendo forked over more money for the exclusive advertising or not doesn't matter.  Somehow they got EA and such to do it.  Like I mentioned to PIAC the other night on MSN, the Cube's game boxes are never noticed even by me in the multiplatform box shots.  The PS2 one is always infront, Xbox has the green box, GBA has the huge logo along the edge of the box, and PC and Cube boxes look basically the same cept for the Cube part at the top.  But it is usually too far behind the other boxes for it to be seen.   This last half of the year, it does look like Nintendo is starting to come through with what they have said they would at E3 with some games and advertising.  

Sadly, the truth is that the video game industry has gone ugly.  Nintendo seems to be one of the only developers (maybe EA too) that still plays fair.  Midway canceling both The Suffering and ESPionage was a disappointment.  Whether the games will end up good or not is a totally different question.  My guess is because of Midway's lack of money, MS paid them to continue development on each title where Nintendo would not.  I know that I was at least interested in renting each title to give them a try, but now that money will go elsewhere to hopefully buying more games.   Companies won't make games anymore for the sake of making them.  They are only looking for money and the cheapest cheesiest way to get it.  

If Nintendo wants to keep getting these third party games onboard, and showing them that their games will sell, they need to contribute.  If that means paying for development, paying for exclusive advertising spots, licensing out franchises, or consulting in the development a la Konami with MGSTTS,  they need to do something.  But the third parties must also realize that MS and Sony do not have the in-house development talent that Nintendo does.  So there is less room for their games to sell in the first place.  If they know that a game will not sell as much, then plain and simply don't press so many discs of them.  Nintendo has the money and the resources, they just have to learn how to utilize them best so that all three parties (Nintendo,develpment company, and us) will be happier in the end.  Whew, that was long .

[nemo_83]

Midway and Acclaim have not been producing quality products and them abandoning the Cube will only hurt them more than Nintendo.  While Nintendo looses the smaller companies that mean nothing to the Japanese market, Nintendo is gaining major players like EA, Square, Namco, and Konami who are successful everywhere in the world just as Nintendo is.  Nintendo is not the victim no matter how these looser developers put it.  The real victim is the company who gives up and gains the image of not good enough to sell a game on GameCube.  They gain the image of the inmature comapanies that make bad games because everyone knows only great games sell on Cube, and when a game is good on Cube it usually sells just as well as it would on PS2 or Xbox despite the serious difference in user base between PS2 and Cube.  

These game companies try to place the blame on Nintendo and lable them kiddy.  Maybe Nintendo deserves blame for putting out a device that is obviously not american in appearance and quite fisher price looking.  But that does not mean that their market is composed of kids.  It means their market is composed of mature people who care less about image and more about the actual quality of the product.  Hopefully though Nintendo will try to make an image that says we are for everyone rather than we are for kids.

[Berto2K]

Quote
Originally posted by: nemo_83
They gain the image of the inmature comapanies that make bad games because everyone knows only great games sell on Cube, and when a game is good on Cube it usually sells just as well as it would on PS2 or Xbox despite the serious difference in user base between PS2 and Cube.

That statement couldn't be farther from the truth.  It may seem like that to us, the more informed and experienced gamers, but that is not what is seen by the general public.  The general audience sees the "coolest" or "best" system as the one with the most games on it.  The developers aren't seen as good enough to make games for the Cube, rather it is the Cube that is seen not good enough to get those games.  Like when I was EB Games the other day, I overheard a father on his way out say to his kid "I still think the Playstation 2 is the best one ever made".  

Just look at the EA sports games.  They always sell better on Xbox and PS2.  Almost any 3rd party game has sold better on the other systems versus the Cube sans Soul Calibur 2.  The casual gamer does not know the difference between a good game and a bad game for the most part.  Mario Sunshine, and WW are good examples of this.  Sure they may not have been what they could have been for us when comparing to previous games in the series, but most wouldn't touch them for the sole reason of the graphics.  My brother (16 yrs old) is one of those.  He refused to touch WW just because of the toon shading style.  Except he is a better gamer than me.  He beats more games more quickly than I do.  They don't look to see if a visual style fits a game's attitude, just if it looks "cool".  

Fact is, the more games Nintendo gets or keeps on the Cube, the better it will appeal to everyone regardless if the games are crappy or not.  When a consumer sees that a system has less games, they feel that they may get bored of it or is not as good.  With more games, it provides the chance to play more games more often without the fear of boredom and makes the consumer feel better about their choice.  These are the same people who are not willing to put in the hours to unlock every secret and get every award in a game.  And unfortuneatly, they are the mass in todays industry.  If Nintendo wants to reclaim the posistion they once owned, they have to appeal to them as well with numbers of titles, not just the "good" ones.    

[KDR_11k]

Just a thought that hit me: Why the hell do we care about the image of the Gamecube? It won't change much for the sales numbers of the machine and it won't change the lineup of games we get. Well, at least not the lineup of good games. The effect on us is zero, the race is pretty much over and it doesn't seem like either the Box or the Cube could still get a significant lead. The loss of some crap makers can't hurt anymore, nor can top companies help.

[Ian Sane]

"Why the hell do we care about the image of the Gamecube? It won't change much for the sales numbers of the machine and it won't change the lineup of games we get. Well, at least not the lineup of good games. The effect on us is zero, the race is pretty much over and it doesn't seem like either the Box or the Cube could still get a significant lead."

Well it's not just the Cube's image but rather Nintendo's as a whole.  If they paint a negative image in the mind of the casual gamer then that image may stick with them on the N5 thus hurting the sales and market share of a console before it's even released.  The Cube itself for example was hurt by the N64.  People thought it was a kiddy console and that stigma has stuck with the Gamecube.  This stigma will stick with the N5 as well so it's important for the Cube to be seen in the most positive light as possible.  The more negative the Cube's image is the harder it will be for the N5.  

[AERO]

I've still been seeing ps2 exclusive-implied ads for all the ea ads I've seen, even when there on all the systems.