http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/07/17/ea-chief-on-boom-blox/

The critically-acclaimed EA Wii game “Boom Blox” is not a failure commercially, EA CEO John Riccitiello told me yesterday during an interview in his company’s E3 booth regarding the state of the games publisher. Instead, it’s a success with Pink Floyd potential. And he’d even like to do a sequel.

Here’s our chat about that topic. The rest of my E3 interview with him will run next week.

MTV Multiplayer: “Boom Blox” is a lot of people’s favorite Wii game so far. But a lot of those same people have been looking at the sales figures, seeing that only 60,000 copies were sold in the first month, and I need to know what you were expecting in terms of performance for “Boom Blox.” Are you as worried or panicked as some of these fans are about what “Boom Blox”’s success — or lack thereof — means?

John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts: First off, we had a week’s sales with no advertising. Last time I checked MTV wasn’t a financial network, but .. it met our expectations. “Boom Blox” was a competent seller in the month it was introduced and only had a week of sales without advertising. So it’s doing actually quite well. We haven’t announced a sequel, but I would tell you that I certainly am curious [about doing one]. It’s a hit title.

Multiplayer: So everything you guys were doing in terms of making “Boom Blox” — making an original game for the Wii — is still something you guys feel will work? This is not a sign to EA that “Boom Blox” wasn’t the right direction?

Riccitiello: Given that you come from a music network, I think “Boom Blox” is going to be the “Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’” for games. It’s going to last a long time. I think it’s going to be a favorite for a long time. If you haven’t picked it up there’s really nothing like it out there… frankly I’m addicted to it. My kids are into it. It’s a great title.

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Good news for Wii owners. If EA is happy with its sales, they might make more games of this quality. More importantly, they're considering a sequel!

Everyone loves to freak out I suppose when it comes to Nintendo and Wii haha. People need to chill.

Well, I hope so for it.

Haha I liked his responses to the interviewers leading questions.

The comments section has people saying he was acting like a dick, but judging by the tone of the questions, he was only returning fire.

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually like EA now, and this interview just reaffirms my "support."

EA CEO likes EA game.

If they drop the price to $20-$30, it will sell well this holiday season.

It's crazy how Boom Blox is the poster child for 3rd party game performance on Wii. The whole media zeroed in on that game as if it were the litmus test for how we can expect a 3rd party game to sell on the Wii - it's quite pathetic. But I like this line:

"John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts: First off, we had a week’s sales with no advertising. Last time I checked MTV wasn’t a financial network, but .. it met our expectations..."

lol! Translation: Who the hell are you to question whether or not our financial expectations were met for one of our products!?

Awesome!

Don't worry. Once it starts selling, and EA formally proclaims that it was profitable, the goalposts will simply move on to the next low-budget Wii game, and we'll never see or hear about Boom Blox again!

When it is time to talk about 3rd parties sucess on the Wii, there are only 3 titles: Zack and Wiki, Bo More Heroes and Boom Blox. Alternative, niche and low budget games.