Gaming giant Electronic Arts says Nintendo must sell more Wii U consoles if it ever expects to see the likes of Madden and FIFA grace the device again.
EA has all but abandoned the Wii U for the time being (although there are conflicting reports suggesting some games are in development) after the slow start the console has endured since its launch in 2012.
To that end, there'll be no FIFA 14 or Madden 25 coming to the console, while EA didn't even mention the Wii U during its E3 keynote.
EA's labels president Frank Gibeau said the Wii U must become a viable platform for EA to jump back in and the current strategy to avoid the Wii U like some sort of medieval plague is just a 'rational' business decision.
Rational company
He told Joystik: "Look, the only thing they can do to fix it is to sell more boxes. We're a rational company, we go where the audience is. We publish games where we think we can make a great game and hit a big audience, and make money. That's why we're here, that's why we have an industry."
Gibeau pointed out that the games EA had supported for the Wii U just haven't sold enough to justify further work on the console at this stage.
He added: "The Wii U, we shipped four games. We shipped Madden, FIFA, Need for Speed and Mass Effect. In fact, the last Need for Speed shipped 60 days ago had a pretty good Metacritic (score). It was a good game. It wasn't a schlocky port, we actually put extra effort into getting everything to work. And it's just not selling because there's no boxes."
Don't count 'em out
He president added that the company is only focused on the PS4 and the Xbox One right now, but said EA isn't 'counting out' Nintendo just yet.
He said: "Nintendo is a good partner and never count 'em out and all that. Never count them out, but right now we're focused on PS4 and Xbox One and from our perspective we'll look at the Wii U, we'll continue to observe it. If it becomes a viable platform from an audience standpoint, we'll jump back in."
Have you counted Nintendo out yet? Or is there a future for the console despite EA's snub? Let us know in the comments section below.
