It's no secret that EA has less than zero interest in developing games for Nintendo's platforms, and Take-Two's relationship with Nintendo systems is little better. Both these publishers routinely ship second-rate versions of their sports games to the DS/Wii/Wii U/3DS, assuming they ship any version at all.

This poses something of a problem for Nintendo, as sports games, for better or for worse, are a fairly popular genre which are necessary to attract at least one portion of the gaming population. Installments in these annualized series sell millions of copies, with some approaching Call of Duty levels of success. Modern Nintendo does have a decent variety of arcade sports titles, most notably the Mario ____ series from Camelot, but they haven't had any simulation series I can think of since their baseball games on the Gamecube.

So my question for you is this: should Nintendo begin creating and devoting some of its development resources into creating sports simulation titles again? Admittedly, licensing issues will pose a hurdle for some sports, most notably the anti-consumer exclusivity deals signed by the NFL and FIFA, but the door remains open to license other major sports series. Basically, since there's a basic need, and third-parties are (completely uncharacteristically) not fulfilling it on Nintendo systems, is it in Nintendo's interest to fill that niche itself?

I say no, but I don't really like sports simulation games in general.
I like Mario sports games however, like Mario Strikers and Tennis, Kart and such

They've made Mario play just about every sport already. I think that's the extent of their intent to create real sports titles.

Yes, but they should cover more obscure sports, such as Snowboarding and Jet-skiing. Maybe Off-Road Racing too!

EA's exclusivity isn't just to some degree, it's basically to every degree. Ditto for football in the US, where the NFL and NCAA both seem locked up. But as regards soccer, I'm wondering if they can do at least a limited run-around FIFA by contracting with some of the European leagues, like UEFA. Or are those groups contractually bound by the FIFA contract?

I know you're being facetious, but the first two don't seem particularly suited to sim titles, and they'd probably do worse than their arcade counterparts. Although seeing as how it's been a decade since either of those series saw a release, they'd be welcome enough as it is.

Off-Road Racing might actually get some traction, though. Motocross has a decent sized following, doesn't it?

NCAA just decided not to renew the contract with EA. We'll see if this prompts other studios to go after college football titles in the future.

Hadn't heard. Thanks for the heads up!

Konami does it with PES, so yes.

Figured it'd be possible, but I had a brain fart and completely forgot about PES.