Nintendo and EA’s relationship has gone strangely sour following the Big N’s E3 2011 press conference. EA CEO John Riccitiello stepped out on stage and proudly spoke about his company’s excitement over the console. Since then, though, the publisher’s interest in Wii U has declined and its output has been nothing less than disappointing.
We’ve seen a couple of sports titles. We’ve also seen a late Mass Effect 3 port and late Need for Speed: Most Wanted port, the latter of which is finally coming out in March.
During EA’s financial results call today, one investor mentioned the company’s non-aggressive pursuit of Wii U and wondered what this means for consumer adoption of next-gen consoles in the future. Riccitiello, who happened to deliver a response, noted that it isn’t wise to ever count Nintendo out and praised the game-maker’s IP. However, he went on to say: “What we describe as ‘Gen 4′ is yet to come.” Does this not mean that EA – well, Riccitiello at least – feels that the Wii U isn’t next-gen?
Below is Riccitiello’s paraphrased response, as transcribed by NeoGAF’s iMax:
“Never count Nintendo out. They have great IP. You will see a bounce when they bring these IPs out. We see no correlation between Wii U sales and what we expect from other next-gen consoles, can’t talk a lot about that though. What we describe as ‘Gen 4′ is yet to come. We’re excited and investing in it.”
Looks like i'll have to buy a Durango to play ME4 -.-
Edited by Big Bowsy, 30 January 2013 - 04:29 PM.
