None of their games really interest me that much ( except Mass Effect maybe), so I wouldn't really care if they would stop ignoring Nintendo.

why?

Except, at this point there's already some *some* money on the table for them to grab for. They're either back in with Nintendo in the next year or two, or not at all.

EA, as with other eShop releases, would never, ever discount it.

I think their motive might be to see Nintendo sink to the lowest point possible, then scavenge the remnants of Nintendo into their own portfolio.

I think they've been counting on Nintendo to flail, flop, then crawl back to EA for help - at which point EA hopes to get something for nothing from Nintendo.

Because it would be the digital version of a game of an unpopular genre to the audience of an unpopular platform who's primary form of media is physical.

That's why.

I don't know, I gave up on all EA games a few years ago.

Kind of funny, really, considering the history of these companies. In the early days, EA was one of the principle developers to fight back against Nintendo's tyranny. I believe they were planning to go PC-only rather than cave to Nintendo's demands. I guess these two are destined to not get along, even with changes in leadership.

Still, something had to have happened. I'm guessing that they had an agreement in principle but then a dispute over the details. Probably had something to do with the way EA likes to handle DLC and in-game advertising. That was the basis of their dispute with Steam, after all.

After that, I think EA simply decided to cultivate their consumer base on fewer platforms. If you can get the vast majority of your audience on a smaller number of devices, then you're eliminating some of your overhead.

In the end, whatever the reason, it boils down to money.

Why should EA or any third party bother with Nintendo? If third party games don't do well on Nintendo consoles then there was little demand to begin with. Lack of third party gives further Nintendo reason to get off its ass and start developing games their fans DO want.

Not that it really matters at this point, but EA did make a good faith effort to introduce GamePad touchscreen features and game modes that were reasonably well received. However, the anemic launch of the WiiU didn't do enough to push Fifa where Fifa needed to be.

The rule of thumb ought to be if the platform does well and holds even the slightest promise, Fifa ought to do well enough for a sequel the next year.