We know that EA has suspended Wii U game development indefinitely. But I don't think that should preclude them from squeezing the most they can on the platform.
From what I can tell, EA's shipment of WiiU games was fairly small and sat on shelves for a depressingly looong time in 2013. But now the stock levels have dropped as several titles seemed to have finally sold through their shipments. Mass Effect 3 and NFS prices basically bottomed out, but now are back on the rise on Amazon. Mass Effect 3 once sold for $9, but now is sold at $15 on Amazon. Need for Speed bottomed out at $15, but now sells for over $30 on Amazon, retail copies of NFSMWU are actually getting hard to find.
Nintendo looks to have a healthier 2014, even with a chance of being competitive with other next-gen consoles if MK8, Smash Bros, and others can exceed industry and consumer expectations. Say WiiU makes a huge turnaround by holiday 2014 (improbable, but not impossible) -- what precisely would EA do? I don't think they know. They have very little sales data to work with. And with their games basically being out-of-print, they don't have much of an opportunity to find out should such a turnaround event occur.
They probably can't take the risk of developing a new game. Producing a new shipment of existing games would likely be more trouble than it's worth. But a more aggresive eShop offering may pad EA's wallet while also giving them new insight on the WiiU's new/current userbase. Should they return to the WiiU platform (unlikely as that may seem), they deserve to know: Does the new WiiU userbase have any interest in sports games? Have Nintendo fans turned a corner in regards to their appreciation for Need for Speed or Mass Effect? A more competitive eShop offering is a profitable, logical, and basically risk-free way of finding answers to such questions.
Here are EA's current eShop offerings:
Fifa 13 - $60
Madden 13 $60
Need for Speed $60
Mass Effect 3 -- Not Available on the Wii U eShop
Here's how I'd propose they reposition the games on the eShop.
Fifa 13 -- $15
Madden 13 -- $15
Need for Speed -- $25. Do a cross-promotion with the new NFS movie this may.
Mass Effect 3 -- $20
These are very aggresive prices, but they do match approximate retail/Amazon prices now. If they want to be even more aggresive, see if additional DLC (released on PS360, but not on WiiU) on ME3 sells at all. At the very least, they should have parity between PSN and XBL prices.
What do you think?
I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016
