Tue, Jul 29, 2008 | 17:19 BST

Riccitiello: Lack of early Wii support is behind us

Speaking to The San Jose Mercury News, EA head John Riccitiello has said that not heavily backing Wii at the start of this consoles generation was a mistake, but that the firm’s roster for the machine is now properly filling out.

“We’ve got some incredibly innovative Wii titles, incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue’s sort of behind us,” he said.

“Right now, you’re seeing an increased emphasis on Wii and DS titles, so we can drive a market on Wii and DS that’s similar to what we have on the Xbox 360 and PS3. If we are successful there – and we will be – over the course of this and next year, it doesn’t matter to me which platform prevails.”

The boss admitted that the firm made a strategic error by ploughing so much resource into PS3 and 360 development.

“We made the wrong call there, which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be. But now we’re catching up, and I think we’re fine.”

3 comments

Blerk
29/07/08, 8:46 am

I don’t think it was a mistake to plough that money into 360/PS3 development. It was just a mistake not to match that investment on the Wii front. EA are getting some remarkable results out of the hi-defs now, which they probably wouldn’t have if they’d not put so much cash in early on.

And they can’t really blame themselves for missing out on the Wii thing. I mean… who really thought a clonky last-gen-and-a-bit Gamecube rehash with a telly remote would ever be an enormous success?

SticKboy
29/07/08, 12:10 pm

@ Blerk

A: Everybody who attended E3 2006.

DrDamn
29/07/08, 12:16 pm

They need to sort out their pricing strategy too. Boom Blox is one of the best Wii titles out there and is a benchmark title in producing something good and interesting with the Wii controller. They cocked it up by selling it at £40 though.