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John Riccitiello, the hip-shooting CEO of Electronic Arts, thinks Nintendo should be doing more to support third-party development.
In an interview with IndustryGamers, Riccitiello said that “it’s a frustration for all third-party publishers, when a platform holder does less to promote third-party content.”
Pointing the finger at Nintendo, Riccitiello accused the company of never making a console that’s 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.”
Riccitiello also thinks now is the right time to give the Wii another price cut. “I would say [Nintendo] 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”
He thinks one of the reasons for Nintendo’s decline is Sony and Microsoft moving into the motion control space: “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.”
The Wii might have shifted 1.27 million units in the US during November 2010, but 2010 hasn’t necessarily been fantastic for Nintendo’s hardware. The GAME group reported a 40% decline in sales of the Wii and DS this year, for instance.
We reckon a price cut making the Wii £99 in the UK would cause a huge surge in sales of Nintendo’s console, especially as it’s currently priced in line with the Xbox 360 yet is significantly less powerful.
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