Electronic Arts is in the doghouse for as far as the average core gamer is concerned. The publisher just recently shut down a beloved hardcore game development studio, Visceral Games the makers of Dead Space, and announced that they were restructuring the single-player, story-driven Star Wars game that Naughty Dog alum, Amy Hennig, was directing. The last time EA restructured a game in the middle of development was with Dead Space 3 and it ended up tanking the series, and eventually led to Visceral Games into the current position they’re in now… which is shut down.
Well, EA decided to further put themselves in the doghouse following a report from the Wall Street Journal that GoNintendo picked up from journalist Takashi Mochizuki, who tweeted out the market note about the software publisher holding off another year on whether they will fully commit to supporting the Switch or not.
EA in No Rush to Make More Videogames for Nintendo Switch via @saraheneedleman pic.twitter.com/RrBzOBNpkZ
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) November 1, 2017
if you’re unable to read the note, it states…
“Electronic Arts is waiting until Nintendo’s new Switch has been on the market a full year before deciding whether to release more games for it besides “FIFA 18”, the company’s finance chief Blake Jorgensen tells WSJ. The Switch, both a home console and portable gaming device, launched in March and EA’s soccer game was released on it in late September. Jorgensen says it’s too soon for EA to judge the success of FIFA 18 on the device and wants to “fully understand what the demand is,” for the Switch before committing more resources to it.”
The note was originally published by Sarah Needleman from the Wall Street Journal.
Just for clarification, the version of FIFA 18 on the Nintendo Switch is not the full version of the game, it’s missing The Journey story mode, and is not even running on the Frostbite 3 game engine. Essentially it’s a less-than-serviceable hand-me-down port. This is despite the fact that the Nintendo Switch has been the best selling game console throughout most of 2017, save for a couple of months where Nintendo ran out of stock and the production supply couldn’t meet demand. The Switch is tracking to move around 16 million SKUs by March of 2018.
Gamers were rightfully angered enough with EA to make it known that they don’t particularly care for the publisher anyway, and not having their games on the Switch is no big loss.
Oh I’m fine too. We got Bethdesa on our side and maybe Rockstar if they’re implying on porting GTA5 to Switch soon which will be a wet dream
— PBJTweets (@PBJTweets) November 1, 2017
I think I bought my last @EASPORTSFIFA @EA game. #FIFA18 on switch was ok but they were really lazy. #StarDewValley has surpassed hrs played
— lilkray2thebone (@lilkray99) November 1, 2017
Does anyone actually miss yearly sports crap and Star Wars garbage on the Switch?
EA has no plans for a (good) NFS or an SSX game anyway.— Max (@sutaato_puchi) November 2, 2017
EA wants to make games that focus on micro transactions, pay to win models and loot boxes. That or half baked ports. EA can stay away.
— Enrique D Pinero (@EnriqueDPinero3) November 1, 2017
Whatever you say Capcom
— Chris Hentschel (@Lord_Wompus) November 1, 2017
Ohhh, I had to put on my shades after reading Hentschel’s nasty Phoenix fire burn.
The comments on the GoNintendo page are identical to the tweets on Mochizuki’s tweet chain. Gamers are fed up with Electronic Arts.
There’s more savagery in that comment section than a zebra trapped in a den of a dozen hungry lions.
Most gamers unanimously have agreed that Electronic Arts is a cancerous tumor in the body of the gaming industry. The upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront II has one of the most anti-hyped marketing campaigns ever, with a large portion of core gamers saying they’re staying away due to the loot box pay-to-win gambling system. Depending on how the sales go for that game will likely determine how serious gamers are about feeling cutting away their addiction to Electronic Arts and their anti-consumer, anti-developer, anti-gaming shenanigans.
