I wonder if EA will eventually sell their stake in Ubi... how much is that worth these days?

so does this put the talk of an EA console to sleep?

Also, that is what they get for making crappy games. It has finally caught up with them.

 That just isn't true.

We know that VGC is undertracking the total Wii SW data (X360 too, probably Ps3, I dunno about that), and that in end Q3 the shipped was at 230M (which would mean ~ 200M sold I guess, but no t the 170M VGChartz claims), so bear in mind that the number here should be slightly higher on 3rd party (no way we are lacking a lot of data on the Nintendo published games) than what the numbers claim.

Take 2008.

Total Wii SW: 119.5M

Estimated 1st party: 65.62M

Thus, the 3rd party is estimated to be: 53.9M

And the 3rd party SW is thus 45% of the total. As I mentioned, VGC is slightly undertracking (or really, not tracking) some 3rd party data, so it seems that ~ 50% for the year seems to be logical (3rd party being slightly on the lower side, 1st party on the higher side).

So it isn't 66%

PS: If anyone is going to complain about 50% being high, how much of the total budget spent on Wii (by all publishers/developers combined) do you think is by Nintendo? I'd say it should be at least 1/4 (meaning they get less than 2 times back for each dollar than the others do, of course that makes a big change though), and could easily be as high as 1/3, but of course - these are just guesstimations (this paragraph).

 Yea agreed. The reason they are in trouble is stupid choices.  They lost of TON of RB1 sales by not releasing it last cmas.

That 2/3 number is not only a cop-out, it's flatly untrue.



It's a bit out of date but 2/3 is way off. They're just making excuses.

 Ah ha ha ha. That's so awesome. SO AWESOME. By almost any measure possible, EA's titles with the highest production values and most investment are as follows:

Rock Band 2
Mirror's Edge
Dead Space
Left 4 Dead
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

Is anyone going to contest that list? I would say it's almost unquestionable that these are EA's "big games" for this holiday. Let me know if I left one out or something. Of these five, four aren't even releasing for the Wii at all, and the fifth (Rock Band 2) is releasing late on the Wii and won't be out until the Christmas shopping period is essentially over.

And somehow, the Wii is to blame? Oh god, I love it.

Nintendo: “We are following the strategy of disruption!”
NPD: “Nintendo wins!”
Journalist: “How are you winning, Nintendo?”
Nintendo: “We are following the strategy of disruption!”
Journalist: (ignores Nintendo) “What is going on here, analysts and third parties?”
Analyst: “It is a casual gamer boom!”
Third Parties: “OMG! Easy money! Quick guys, everyone start making casual games!”
Nintendo: “We are following the strategy of disruption!”
Journalist: (philosophically) “Will casual games cause the downfall of the hardcore games? Let me write many editorials about this!”
Analyst: (philosophically) “Is the casual game boom a fad? Let us pontificate over this.”
Third Parties: “Hey guys! How you like my casual games? They sure are snazzy! I will make millions! I am such the business whiz!”
Nintendo: “We are following the strategy of disruption!”
Journalist: (scratches head) “You hear something?”
Analyst: “It was just Nintendo speaking. They are saying the same thing.”
Journalist: “Yeah! Haha! Same old marketing speak. I am so much smarter about business than Nintendo. In my next interview with Iwata, I’ll give him some business lessons.”
Third Parties: (cries) “Oh no! My casual games are not selling!”
Journalist: “Obviously, this is because people buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games.”
Analyst: “Nintendo needs to assist these third parties in getting their casual games to sell.”
Third Parties: “That’s right! They need to do what WE want them to!”
Nintendo: “We are following the strategy of disruption!”
Journalist: (yawns) “Is that all they say? (becomes excited) Ohhh! Look! A new hardcore game is being made with fresh textures.” (runs off)
Analyst: “Obviously, Sony and Microsoft are branching with casual games themselves. Poor Nintendo. Too bad they are out of tricks. I expect Playstation 3 to be surpassing them in a year or two. The market revolves around technology you know.”
Third Parties: “My casual games aren’t selling? Why!? I do not understand!”

I wish that I could report posts for being awesome

Wait, that's not what "report this post" is for?

Another company suffers because of the Costs of development in HD gaming, i mena they've put loads of money and effort in Mirror's Edge, doubt they will get their money back.