EA goes from cautious to “bullish” on Nintendo Switch support

Mega-publisher is "looking at other titles" to bring to hot-selling hardware.

As Nintendo continues to celebrate an incredibly strong launch for its hybrid Switch console, a looming question remains about whether major third-party publishers will lend significant software support to the system. In a recent earnings call, mega-publisher Electronic Arts suggested that strong hardware sales may be convincing the company to give the system a second look.
“We feel really good about it," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in response to a question about the Switch in a recent earnings call. "We have a tremendous relationship with Nintendo and have done for many, many years and are excited by the fact that they have come out very strong and are bringing in a whole new player base into the ecosystem. We continue to be bullish on it and are looking at other titles that we might bring to the Switch."

Though Wilson used the word "continue" in his response, Electronic Arts hasn't exactly been full-throated in its Switch support thus far. Back in November, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the company was only planning "a game or two" for the Switch, while expressing skepticism about the system's wider appeal. "It's an interesting device. But I can't yet predict how broad it's going to be," he said. "Will people be interested in a portable device alongside their regular portable device that they have today?"
EA was on hand at January's Switch unveiling to announce that a version of FIFA would be coming to the system, but the company pointedly failed to mention any other pending ports. That's in contrast to the Wii U launch, when then-CEO John Riccitiello took to Nintendo's stage at E3 2011 to announce a major partnership between the companies. Back then, Riccitiello called the Wii U "truly transformational, a better platform than we've ever been offered by them before."

After EA launched four Wii U titles in the system's first year, though, the EA-Nintendo relationship fell apart because, as Jorgensen put it, "the market [for the Wii U] is not big enough." In other words, there just weren't enough potential Wii U players to justify working on ports for the system.
The start of a virtuous cycle?

Given that history, it's not surprising that EA has been cautious about going all-in on the Switch. That's why Wilson's mention of the Switch "com[ing] out very strong and... bringing in a whole new player base into the ecosystem" is so important.

When the Wii burst out of the gate with similarly explosive hardware sales (while going on to sell over 100 million units worldwide by the end of its life), EA supported the system with 78 titles overall. That included ports of some of its biggest franchises, like Madden, The Sims, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, and Skate.

Let's remember, too, that those big-name EA games came to the Wii even though the system had much less processing power than the Xbox 360 and PS3 on a pure hardware basis. What the Wii had instead was a huge potential audience of players that a company like EA couldn't ignore, and the Switch is starting to look very similar in this regard.
If the Switch continues on its Wii-like trajectory, more and more publishers may find the system similarly unignorable. Far from the Wii U's third-party-driven death spiral, we may be seeing the start of a virtuous cycle on the Switch, where hardware sales lead to outside software support, leading to even stronger hardware sales, and so on.

Though EA hasn't announced any further specific games for the Switch just yet, we're only a month away from the announcement-filled Electronic Entertainment Expo. Don't be surprised if EA and Nintendo use that opportunity to announce some form of renewed partnership that leads to more games coming down the pike for new Switch owners.