Does EA actually "hate" Nintendo?

[Soapbox Killer]

"HATE" = not giving a damn but for the purposes of this discussion hate is the word,

For all accounts the Switch has already sold almost as many units as the Xbox One and yet it would seem that EA only has Fe, Unravel and Fifa on the system. My expectation is not Fallen Order or Battlefield but something more than 4 games. Is there an article that explains there position? What am I missing?

 

[DecoReturns]

More like.

Indifferent.

 

[Jolkien]

The thoughts of company hating another company it's always fascinating to me. In the end they only care about their bottom line. If they thought it'd help their bottom line they'd develop for it.

 

[huH1678]

EA: it's not personal, its business.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

They need many profit and Switch audience will not give them profit, so they will spend their energy putting more money grabbing methods in games that won't be on Switch to get more profit.

 

[Slayven]

They don't see any profit in putting a big effort into the system, if you would subscribe a feeling to that "apathy" makes more sense

 

[Smash Kirby]

"HATE" = not giving a damn but for the purposes of this discussion hate is the word,

For all accounts the Switch has already sold almost as many units as the Xbox One and yet it would seem that EA only has Fe, Unravel and Fifa on the system. My expectation is not Fallen Order or Battlefield but something more than 4 games. Is there an article that explains there position? What am I missing?

Click to shrink...

People don't buy EA games on switch so EA won't release games on switch. At least was their line until they got flack for it.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

No.

EA is run by extremely smart people. They did the math and the result is 'not worth it'. Whether we like or not, sadly.

 

[Blayde]

EA is a greedy company and can't make all the money on switch so fuck it

 

[HockeyBird]

They hate that Nintendo fans aren't too interested in their games.

 

[WillyFive]

EA just don't care, they dont see it worthwhile to put money into their ecosystem.

 

[Platy]

They have more current games on the system than Capcom

 

[Acquiesc3]

Think they still feel the burn from Wii U.

 

[Lua]

Of course no, if they thought switch would be profitable they would be as in as they could. You can say they're naive for not porting stuff like the sims or similars, sure, but to be hate they would have to actively not port it even if they knew it would be profitable just for some weird sense of despise, which is absurd.

 

[Cronogear]

I think the theory is that they had a falling out during the Wii U era. Rumor was that EA was pushing for Origin on the system and Nintendo ending up declining at the last minute, so it's been rocky between them ever since.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

They have more current games on the system than Capcom

Click to shrink...

Not even close.

 

[ArmadilloGame]

EA's current business model is built around persistent online connection so there can be persistent sales pressure for microtransactions. A semi-portable system isn't optimal for that. If EA is too up their own "live service" ass to even remaster their big last gen hits for PS4, they super don't care about anything for Switch.

 

[sredgrin]

EA doesn't typically backport things and a lot of their games are on the high end of the tech spectrum. They have what, like 1 remaster this gen? It took them 3 years to port something like the Sims 4 to consoles (and even then those versions don't get a ton of good support). They are just such a massive behemoth that they don't even notice these things. It has to either be live service, in service of a thing like Origin Premiere, or going to sell a hojillion copies.

 

[Sephirod]

Well, not more than 2K does.
So that's something... I guess

 

[WhoaIsThatMars]

No. Like any business, they don't like losing money. Why pour money into something that won't result in profits?

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Maybe I don't "get" EA and why their games are different. If NBA 2K20 is on the Switch then Madden 20 should be.

 

[Piscus]

Yep. EA is pretty terrible.

 

[callamp]

Corporations can have long memories. There are a number of companies that may hold grudges against Nintendo for past practices. Understandably so in some cases.

But more generally, a lot of their bigger franchises would be a pain to port down to Switch anyway. The likes of Battlefield and Battlefront would be highly compromised. So it may not be worth the effort for what EA believes are meager sales.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

They specifically said that they have an unprecedented partnership. So you can't go and compare them to other companies.

 

[Jroc]

EA claims Frostbite can't run on the Switch, therefor none of their main games can be ported. I assumed it was an excuse at the start, but maybe it's actually legit due to some weird design decisions or something.

Fifa runs on a modified 360-era engine IIRC.

 

[Adamska]

It's just strategy put in place by extremely well paid people who wish to keep receiving their bonuses so, no, there's no hate at all involved.

 

[laziboi]

No. But I think EA is incredibly incompetent and idiotic with their Switch support. It's like they know the Switch has a large market for their games, but they're too lazy to bring them over. Trying to rationalize EA and their decisions will only give you a headache in the end.

 

[Gundam]

No but Nintendo fans take it so personally

 

[Deleted member 18944]

What the hell are they going to port over?

 

[Man God]

XB1 and PS4 are nearly identical spec wise. It requires minimal effort to make games run on the other if programmed for one of them. EA also built up a solid audience on both those machines and hasn't had a great showing on Nintendo since the days of the SNES, and even back then it was a second fiddle to the Genesis. Hell EA only reluctantly made games for the NES. They had to jump on the DS and Wii hype but it wasn't their focus and when those came time to be replaced they ignored their successors.

 

[Outrun]

Indifference is the sentiment.

 

[NoKisum]

If they didn't hate Nintendo, you'd at least see a regular Madden release on the Switch.

 

[KhandoleezzaRice]

EA released a statement earlier this year saying that their data showed that Switch owners would purchase EA Games titles on PS4/Xbox/PC. I'm sure if they were seeing the money come in for title that they're traditionally known for they would put it on the Switch in a heartbeat.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

What the hell are they going to port over?

Click to shrink...

Madden, Apex Legends, Plants Vs Zombies, The Sims or a mobile game or 2.

 

[Ultimadrago]

Arlo likes to think so.

 

[spman2099]

Porting to the Switch is not an easy thing to do (due to the vast difference in specs). Something being difficult usually means it is more expensive. Moreover, the people at EA have probably done their research and found that their games don't sell particularly well to the hardcore Nintendo fans, and the people that their games WOULD sell to (that own the Switch) are probably multiple console owners and would rather play their games on the more capable consoles. This is all about turning a profit and EA (rightly or wrongly) appear unconvinced that there is a profit to be made (with their games) on the Switch.

So, in short, no they do not hate Nintendo. If they become convinced that there IS a way to make a good amount of money on Nintendo's current console (maybe after the Switch has sold through a certain amount), I imagine we will see EA jump to release games on the Switch. Just like everyone else in the industry, they are in it for the dollar.

 

[deftones r cool]

NHL 20 not being on the Switch caused me to get an xb1 instead

 

[Drensch]

While your Economics 101 class instilled profit is an aim of businesses, businesses are run by irrational humans. Does EA hate Nintendo? I don't know if that's the question, I think the question is that EA is irrationally leaving profit and mindshare on the table in a questionable manner.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I think EA is just a very stubborn company at shifting priorities, they just don't like to change things up.

A lot of this gen felt like one long exercise in trying to put all their games to use Frostbite regardless of whether it worked well for them or not, or if the devs had experience with it.
It's like they saw what Capcom did last gen with MT Framework and were like "we can do that!"

I really don't see EA's hesitation on the Switch though. It seems like one fairly smallish team (or even outsource it to existing port studios) could easily make a handful of popular EA ports for the system and they make a profit.

Only other thing I can think of is that they want to bet all their money on high budget games they are betting on being massive hits, and smaller stuff isn't really a priority.

What I think they're ignoring is that doing popular ports (even if they don't earn a ton of profit) can earn good will with players and drum up excitemsnt for future games in the series, which may do even better because of it.

 

[Dog of Bork]

Why do some Switch fans take companies not releasing new games on underpowered hardware as some personal affront? It's the same shit with Capcom. It's not that deep.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

Anthropomorphizing game companies never made sense to me.

 

[HOUSEJoseph]

If I were EA I'd hate Nintendo fans too. After all, they won't buy Mass Effect 3 for the price of Mass Effect 1 through 3, they won't buy Madden and FIFA that's missing features of other, older consoles, and they won't buy a port of a Need for Speed game that came out on other systems 7 months prior that's available for 1/3 the price.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

They are apathetic.

 

[Nanashrew]

They don't hate Nintendo. They just don't see a reason to port anything over because they don't see enough profit. And more of their games are turning into a service, and Nintendo hasn't really done anything to be more accommodating to services services, where as Sony and MS are increasingly more accommodating and doing more to integrate services into their platforms while Nintendo has not. So there is an audience mismatch in both the types of games EA makes, and the audience not really being into services or buying as much MTX compared to other platforms.

 

[HOUSEJoseph]

They don't hate Nintendo. They just don't see a reason to port anything over because they don't see enough profit. And more of their games are turning into a service, and Nintendo hasn't really done anything to be more accommodating to services services, where as Sony and MS are increasingly more accommodating and doing more to integrate services into their platforms while Nintendo has not. So there is an audience mismatch in both the types of games EA makes, and the audience not really being into services or buying as much MTX compared to other platforms.

Click to shrink...

Maybe I'm missing something. Does Fortnite, Paladins, Rocket League not count as GaaS?

 

[SalvaPot]

I remember reading about how EA wanted Nintendo to run the Wii U Internet through their service (EA Access? Can't remember the name), and Nintendo said no. I wonder how true that was.

 

[BuggyMike]

Porting to the Switch is not an easy thing to do (due to the vast difference in specs). Something being difficult usually means it is more expensive. Moreover, the people at EA have probably done their research and found that their games don't sell particularly well to the hardcore Nintendo fans, and the people that their games WOULD sell to (that own the Switch) are probably multiple console owners and would rather play their games on the more capable consoles. This is all about turning a profit and EA (rightly or wrongly) appear unconvinced that there is a profit to be made (with their games) on the Switch.

So, in short, no they do not hate Nintendo. If they become convinced that there IS a way to make a good amount of money on Nintendo's current console (maybe after the Switch has sold through a certain amount), I imagine we will see EA jump to release games on the Switch. Just like everyone else in the industry, they are in it for the dollar.

Click to shrink...

I mean this would make sense if it was still 2017. 3rd party games very similar to what EA has have sold well on Switch. If they really wanted to, they could make a profit on the system, it's got a very healthy audience all sorts of genres. If they don't feel like making the effort to build a presence on the platform, thats fine, they dont need to. But pretend like the Switch audience is still in question as to weather they would choose core games on the Switch over PS4/XB1 doesn't really ad up to me as we've had plenty of examples of this. It would take effort on their part, sure, but you gotta spend money to make money. Plenty of Publishers have/are reaping the rewards of putting effort into the Switch.

 

[Gilver]

EA doesnt hate or love anything, they do not have morals. They just go for the money.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I'm pretty sure there are some old earnings calls where Andrew Wilson addresses this specifically.

 

[PSqueak]

Only in the sense that in order to put their shit on nintendo consoles they need to invest more money.

 

[Ripcord]

It's not hate, they just know it's an uphill battle when it comes to Nintendo systems because they've spent decades poisoning the well. So why bother?

Even if EA was releasing all their games on the Switch you'd either be a fool or an asshole for buying them. They'd without a doubt be inferior in generally odd and frustratingly needless ways.