Lately, I have seen a lot of discussions about wether or not the Switch needs EA to make games for the platform or not. I wanted to shine my light on this issue, as I stand more or less in the middle.
Much like any console, there are haters and lovers of consoles, I’m nicknamed Mr. Nintendo in real life by my friends, so I wanted to come clean about being a Nintendo lover. I think the Switch itself is an amazing companion to have both at home and on the go, often taking it to work so I can play it during my lunch break.
As the Switch is now 3+ months in its life span, we only seem to be getting a more basic version of the FIFA 18 game instead of the same version as the other platforms seem to be getting. On their E3 presentation, EA seemed to not give any love for Nintendo either.
They are not under any obligation to bring their games to certain platforms, this is a free market after all. But does the Nintendo Switch really need EA’ games?
I wanted to take a look at most of their popular IPs and see whether or not the Switch would need the game.
Let us start with FIFA 18! Possibly the biggest sports series ever made, does the Switch need this version? Time will tell as this is the sole game really coming to Switch, a somewhat ‘lesser’ version and while it does look very nice, the big question here is, will it sell?
I know I will eventually get it, not being a big fan of sports games, but I do tinker in the genre from time to time.
Looking at the history of Nintendo, we know the last few sports games mostly did very badly, based upon the information on the internet, FIFA on Wii U supposedly sold about 480k copies compared to 8,17 million on Playstation 3 and 5,17 on Xbox 360… Even on the PS Vita, FIFA sold more copies than on the Wii U. This hurts the chances of Nintendo being the right home for a game like this, let us be honest, those that want to play this game, will have another platform at home to play it on.
So will it sell? I do think it will outsell the original Wii U game, as the appeal of taking the game on the go, is a very nice bonus. The appeal of buying a somewhat limited version on Switch, with the knowledge that most FIFA gamers do have another console at home, I do think its success might be limited.
Will it be enough to see a future version? For the fans of the genre, I sincerely hope so, I think the chances are about 50/50 at this point, maybe yes, maybe no. In case of no successor, at least we got FIFA 18…
So what about their other IP like NBA and Madden? I think the same reasoning applies about the players that love these IPs, those will already have another platform to play them on, making me think they will not come to Switch. We did already get a NBA themed game in the likes of NBA playgrounds, which sadly suffered from delays in updating, …
But of course, EA is more than just sports franchises, I can think of Battlefront, the one game that the Switch would be a great fit for. The offline campaign, playable on your switch at home and on the go, custom jet black Joy-Con sporting the same color as Darth Vaders’ helmet, maybe even a limited edition console… This is for me the best fit of them all! This is the one that would help sell consoles as well.
Battlefront might be the title that the Switch even needs? Sadly enough, I think we will not see this game released on Switch.
Need for speed maybe? I honestly do not know if a company would put one of its bigger IP against a game like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe… Nintendo is classically a Mario Kart console instead of hardcore racing games.
So does the Switch need EA games in the line up?
Some, yes!
I mostly think EA is actually being very intelligent in waiting before bringing in any of the big guns, despite the hardcore sales figures of the Switch, companies can’t just make rash decisions and bring/port all their games immediately. This is a matter of common sense and money. You just can not take risks without proper research or confirmation your games are wanted! The Wii U proved EA that its games were not big sellers and in the end, that is what matters, money.
In the end, everything comes down to sales figures and money.
While I personally do think the Switch would benefit from a wide range of EA games every year, we also do not need them. The current list of incoming games is quite amazing, without even looking at the Nintendo IP, we are getting games like Gunvolt, Redout, Cave Story+, Fate/Extella, … and we are still in the first half year of a new console. A first year where usually ported games make up for several of the big releases to see the light of day.
Time will tell if we will see many more EA games, but for now, as a gamer, I am finding my current supply of games on Switch more than sufficient to keep me playing 😉
