Third party publishers have been a bit frustrated by the support given by Nintendo in the past and EA CEO John Riccitello also has one or two things to say about Wii and Nintendo.
"I would say they did exceptionally well in ‘07 and ‘08, started tapering in ‘09 and ‘10, and... I think if they were to price down to $99, they would explode. I think they've now got competition, in the form of gesture-based gaming from Sony and Microsoft. If they were to find ways to promote third-party content better, as opposed to first-party content, and would hit pricing, I think the platform would see new life," Riccitello told Industry Gamers.
When approached on the subject of third party support Riccitello had the following to say:
"I think it's a frustration for all third-party publishers, when a platform holder does less to promote third-party content. A great third-party company is Apple, a company that's all third-party content. There's often tension in a company between first- and third-party content. Nintendo's unique in the world. They're a great company because of the blend of first- and third-party content. First-party hardware, first-party content is what makes them great, but it's actually pretty tough. I can come up with a dozen titles in the last decade, but it's really tough to come up with a dozen great titles that have been platform defining for them that weren't their own. I don't care whether it's Mario or Twilight Princess or GoldenEye; it was their own content. I'm going back to N64, and I can go back to SNES if you want, but they've never really been a heavy third-party supporting system. It's not lack of trying; they start the morning thinking what's best for their own intellectual property."
I guess Riccitello wants to distribute some of the blame for EA's failure to really penetrate the Wii market, but what software of "platform defining" calibre have EA put out on the Wii platform? EA Sports Active did okay on the platform as did Tiger Woods (until his infidelity), but nothing that can be said to deserve a "platform defining" banner.