EA, Nintendo relationship 'strong' despite Madden NFL 25 not coming to Wii U
Despite the fact that Electronic Arts made Madden NFL 13 one of the launch titles for the Wii U, not too many people latched onto it to play football. So it is not surprising that EA has decided that Madden NFL 25 will not be coming to Nintendo's console this year.
Electronic Arts has decided that Madden NFL 25 will not be coming to the Wii U this year, the first time since 1991 that Madden will not be on a Nintendo platform. The move is not entirely surprising, given how unpopular the Nintendo version of the game proved to be.
"We will not be releasing a Wii U version of Madden NFL in 2013," EA said in a statement to Nintendo World Report (via Polygon). "However, we have a strong partnership with Nintendo and will continue to evaluate opportunities for delivering additional Madden NFL products for Nintendo fans in the future."
It is likely EA's decision is based on disappointing sales for Nintendo's latest home console. Tepid sales of Madden on Wii U, however, could be blamed on its late release--which came out several months after the other console versions of the game, and at a time when the NFL season was almost complete.
Madden NFL 25 is scheduled to launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 27.
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replyJohn Keefer posted a new article, EA, Nintendo relationship 'strong' despite Madden NFL 25 not coming to Wii U.
Despite the fact that Electronic Arts made Madden NFL 13 one of the launch titles for the Wii U, not too many people latched onto it to play football. So it is not surprising that EA has decided that Madden NFL 25 will not be coming to Nintendo's console this year.-
This is more telling of EA's financial status as opposed to "supporting" Nintendo.
Its been well documented that they took a financial blow with the poor reception of the MMO The Old Republic.
They've been laying off whole divisions, dev teams as if they had all there departments and labor force on a desk and they are simply blindly swinging at the table and whatever is in it path gets cut.
I find it hard to believe that they would not support the 3DS. I mean what other viable portable is there that can move units the way 3DS could? Not to mention last years Madden WAS a launch title for the 3DS.
I smell THQ all over again here.-
I have a feeling it would have sold much better if they hadn't neutered the game as well.
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That is true, and EA has been pretty silent about any next generation software title offerings. They are not in the same sinking ship situation, but with all the changes at EA in the past year I suspect EA has some kind of surprise with Microsoft that will be made clear at E3. Can you imagine if Microsoft landed an exclusive deal for the next console cycle for Madden with EA for at least the first couple of years? Microsoft wouldn't have to necessarily worry about first party development outside of the launch window with news like that. Of course Madden 25 may be the last to appear on any other console for awhile. Just a theory, but would be a smart move by Microsoft to get that initial install base.
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