Topic: Madden Skipping Wii U in 2013

[SixthAngel]

This is bizarre. I haven't picked up a Madden game ever, but I thought that EA would be contractually obligated to put this on WiiU. Even with the slow sales it doesn't make sense to ditch a yearly title from the platform, particularly when game decisions are usually made years before hand and EA has proven they don't give a **** about the quality of a port. It seems to me like EA is trying to throw their weight around and funnel customers to the same place they are putting their COD knockoffs.

This isn't just EA passing on the Wii U, it's the NFL!  The NFL will want their game on damn near everything and I don't think it would be EA's decision alone to skip a console.  The NFL would be pissed if EA skipped a console because of personal feelings, it would have to be about money. EA has obviously convinced the NFL that Madden on the Wii U won't make money.

The NFL has nothing to do with this decision. They sell their license to EA exactly so they don't have to deal with this ****. EA has had the license so long it is probably pretty much a formality now which gives them a lot of leeway to push boundaries.

[TJ Spyke]

Why would EA be contractually obligated to put it on Wii U? They have the license, they can put it on whatever they want. If EA decided that the only system that would get the game is the PSP, they could do that.

Also, the NFL has no say on what systems EA puts or doesn't put the game on.

[Vrgin X]

Just like I said with Battlefield 4, just ****'em. I've only bought 2 games from them in 5 years and could care less about Madden. 

[Adrock]

Facepalm your mom...

You WANT Madden on Wii U even if you hate the game and/or EA. It is better for the console to have games you don't particularly like than to not have them. Every time Nintendo misses out on a major third party title is disconcerting.

[Ian Sane]

I'm basing this mostly on the lifespan of the Dreamcast which lasted in America from September 1999 to March 2001.  After the second Christmas the writing was on the wall and Sega pulled the plug so I give the Wii U two Christmas seasons as well.  Now Sega was in real trouble and Nintendo has the 3DS but will they prop up a failing Wii U or just cut their losses?  Bad Wii U news is just snowballing and it seems like unless it's Nintendo announcing a game in a Nintendo Direct, Wii U news is always bad.  It's only getting worse.

Oh yes, the over 34 million people who bought Mario Kart Wii are going to see Mario Kart U this holiday and just completely ignore it because the system doesn't have a Madden game.  Yes that makes so much sense.

The 34 million people that bought Mario Kart Wii didn't all buy a Gamecube for its Mario Kart game.  Does Mario Kart sell systems these days or is it more like people bought a Wii for Wii Sports and then, already owning a Wii, bought Mario Kart for it?  NSMB is one of the biggest hits on both the DS and Wii but the Wii U launched with a game in the same series and the buying public did not give a damn.  The Wii U isn't going to sell on the same gameplay experiences as the Wii.  The Cube had all the big Nintendo franchises and it struggled.  The Wii was different because it had a unique experience in Wii Sports that made it so that people felt they had to buy a Wii or they would be missing out.  I'm sure the next Mario Kart will be a great game but no one NEEDS a Wii U to play Mario Kart.

[Caterkiller]

I feel like both Ian and Photo Dude are right. On one hand yes it was probably Wii Sports that got people on to Mario Kart this time around. Though with the decent online functionality it had I wonder if thats what really made it sell this time around and could potentially sell itself better with the latest installment? Mario Kart just seems like its in a better position now then it was when the cube version launched.

[Fjurbanski]

no one NEEDS a Wii U to play Mario Kart.

Well they can't play it on their 360. badum tshh.


You're right in a way. Mario Kart won't be a system seller to the point that it would put the Wii U in the Wii's position. But Madden won't be the un-system seller to the point where not having it would put the Wii U in the Dreamcast's position.


It's never good to lose a game like Madden, but the Wii U already had to live or die on it's 1st party games from the very beginning. It's a Nintendo console after all. That's the way it is. Even if the 3rd parties come over they're not gonna get the numbers they get on other systems. Not at this point. So the loss of Madden is bad, but not devastating.

[TeaHee]

This was one franchise that seemed to be a perfect fit for the gamepad.  It could have been a showcase title for dual gamepad support. (Like that is ever going to happen)

[Mop it up]

I don't personally care about this in the sense that I don't buy or play sports games, however it's certainly no good thing that a major third-party title is skipping the Wii U.

I can also predict that Madden will still come to the PS4 and next Xbox when they inevitably struggle to sell systems in the beginning.

[smallsharkbigbite]

The Dreamcast to Wii U comparison is a bit harsh.  Sega was bleeding money, Nintendo just became profitable again.  Nintendo made money on the Gamecube (actually I think more than the PS2 and Xbox) so there is little concern they can't make $ on a Wii U.  I think Gamecube is the low end of the Wii U, it's hard to know the high end.  The 3DS shows Nintendo can recover from a bad start.  Plus, we don't know the pricing/mistakes that Sony/Microsoft will make that may make people re-evaluate a Wii U purchase.  I think most people are waiting till all consoles hit because $350 is a lot to drop on a possible regret.

The NFL definitely doesn't pick consoles.  It's like Directv Sunday Ticket.  Directv pays something like $700 million a year for exclusive rights.  If Directv decided to price everyone out of the market and charge $2,000/year for Sunday Ticket, NFL couldn't do anything and I don't think they would care anyway.  They have their money from the exclusive agreement. 

I'm disappointed by this announcement.  After Madden 25 wasn't announced for the Wii U, I figured it wasn't an oversight.  It seems to me though that EA should have given the Wii U another year and given Madden an optimized engine released on-time with the other versions to give it a fair shake.  My assumption is that they are going to release PS4/Xbox720 versions this year, after they get trounced by the PS3/Xbox360 versions in sales are they going to cease development on those systems?  Probably not. 

My bigger disappointment is that EA releases some good games over a wide range of genres.  My one friend is a battlefield 4 gamer and I think the loss of that game hurts.  I read EA has 1 Wii U game in development.  My guess is Fifa 14 does well enough in Japan/Europe and that EA brings that game for the Wii U. 

[pokepal148]

The Dreamcast to Wii U comparison is a bit harsh.  Sega was bleeding money, Nintendo just became profitable again.  Nintendo made money on the Gamecube (actually I think more than the PS2 and Xbox) so there is little concern they can't make $ on a Wii U.  I think Gamecube is the low end of the Wii U, it's hard to know the high end.  The 3DS shows Nintendo can recover from a bad start.  Plus, we don't know the pricing/mistakes that Sony/Microsoft will make that may make people re-evaluate a Wii U purchase.  I think most people are waiting till all consoles hit because $350 is a lot to drop on a possible regret.

we dont know anything about the other systems, we cant start rushing to conclusions that the wii u is doomed

[SixthAngel]

Why would EA be contractually obligated to put it on Wii U? They have the license, they can put it on whatever they want. If EA decided that the only system that would get the game is the PSP, they could do that.

Also, the NFL has no say on what systems EA puts or doesn't put the game on.

That isn't how licenses, particularly exclusive licenses like this one, work. The contract will have all kinds of requirments about how broad the appeal and market of the game needs to be if only just for brand management purposes. They have been partners for so long and the unlikelihood of anyone even being able to make yearly sports games on super-expensive hardware gives EA a lot of power though.

[TJ Spyke]

I know EA has some restrictions, but those are more about how they depict the players and the league. The contract does not dictate what systems EA can or cannot release a game on.

[ymeegod]

Madden 25th (aka 14) is only coming to PS3/Xbox 360--so there's isn't any vita/pc support for the game neither so it's not like EA's baised.  EA picked the two platforms that sold the most and is focusing on them vs platforms were sales are less profitable if any.

BTW:  Why is this new?  We knew about this for a couple of months now.

[Shaymin]

The Wii versions were always announced later, so there was some suspicion that the WiiU would be the same way (perhaps announced with next-gen consoles like is happening to Call of Duty: Ghosts).

Also, I like how this story ended up on the Consumerist.

[UncleBob]

I'm amused by all the people complaining about the game not coming to Wii U, but saying that they wouldn't buy it in the same post.

You're the reason it's not coming to Wii U.  Simply, it won't sell.  Because you won't buy it.

Anywhoo, with the inferior versions of Madden on Wii (between a lack of online - due to Nintendo's horrid on-line structure - and the "all play" BS), I'd say NO ONE bought a Wii for Madden and if the conditions of those games didn't stop Wii sales, I'd say the complete lack of a release won't stop Wii U sales.

And face it - this is basically EA saying "We give up.  We can't create a game that will sell on Nintendo systems.  We are out of ideas, so we'll just go to where our games sell because they don't have the competition of first party titles."

The contract does not dictate what systems EA can or cannot release a game on.

Um, Citation Needed.

[Luigi Dude]

The 34 million people that bought Mario Kart Wii didn't all buy a Gamecube for its Mario Kart game.  Does Mario Kart sell systems these days or is it more like people bought a Wii for Wii Sports and then, already owning a Wii, bought Mario Kart for it?  NSMB is one of the biggest hits on both the DS and Wii but the Wii U launched with a game in the same series and the buying public did not give a damn.  The Wii U isn't going to sell on the same gameplay experiences as the Wii.  The Cube had all the big Nintendo franchises and it struggled.  The Wii was different because it had a unique experience in Wii Sports that made it so that people felt they had to buy a Wii or they would be missing out.  I'm sure the next Mario Kart will be a great game but no one NEEDS a Wii U to play Mario Kart.

You compared the Wii U to the Dreamcast though, not the Gamecube.  The Gamecube still made Nintendo money in the end and had a full 5 year lifecycle.  Of course even in that case, you don't seem to realize just how much more popular the Mario Kart franchise is now then it was back then.  Mario Kart 64 sold over 9 million copies on the N64.  In comparison Double Dash sold over 7 million on the Gamecube.  Yes the Gamecube still struggled but Mario Kart was still a major seller and didn't see that big a drop between the two systems. 

Last gen Mario Kart DS sold over 25 million and Mario Kart Wii over 34 million.  As of the end of March 2013, Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS has currently sold over 8 million in a little more then one year.  So in less then 1.5 years, the most recent Mario Kart for a handheld system, which is less popular then the home console games has surpassed Double Dash lifetime total and on it's way to surpassing Mario Kart 64's lifetime total.  If the 3DS game can do that, the Wii U version is guaranteed to easily surpass the 10 million mark, which will be more then the Dreamcast could sell total.

So do you see the point?  Comparing the Wii U to the Dreamcast is beyond foolish when Nintendo has series that can sell more games alone then Sega could sell consoles, meaning the Wii U is guaranteed sales much higher then the Dreamcast could ever hope to achieve.  Plus Nintendo's big franchises are still more popular now then ever before which guarantees sales much higher then the Gamecube could achieve either.

And stop bringing up NSMB U since I've already mentioned that before.  Nintendo releasing the 3DS game months before the Wii U took away a lot of attention since people could get a similar experience for a much cheaper console.  If a NSMB fan wanted to buy the newest game and didn't own a 3DS or Wii U, the choices were spend over $200 for the 3DS game or $400 for the Wii U game.  Or if somebody already owned a 3DS the choices were spend $40 for NSMB 2 or $400 for NSMB U.  The fact the 3DS version has sold over 6 million compared to the Wii U's 2 million pretty much proves the choice people made.

In comparison, it'll be at least 2 years when Mario Kart U is released this holiday and the Mario Kart series is way more popular on home consoles then handhelds.  Mario Kart Wii sold close to 10 million more then Mario Kart DS, versus NSMB DS selling 2 million more then NSMB Wii.  So once again, Mario Kart alone guarantees the system is far from dead since it's one of the biggest series in gaming that is more popular then ever right now with the home console games being what most people prefer.

[ThePerm]

This effects me none. I was never ever going to buy this game. If Ea expects most Nintendo gamers to be like me, then they made a good decision.

There are EA games I would totally play though. Its one of those annoying catch 22s. They are a bunch of corporate nitwits and what they don't realize is:


WII U JUST CAME OUT AND  IT HASN"T BEEN A YEAR YET EVEN!!!!!

If I were EA i would just support all platforms for up to 3 years. If sales never pick up drop them.
They sold 380,000 copies of madden 12-13 on Wii. Over 2 for Xbox 360, and over 1 for ps3. If anything they should just port the game and sell it as download only to make it loss free.

[Adrock]

I'm amused by all the people complaining about the game not coming to Wii U, but saying that they wouldn't buy it in the same post.

You're the reason it's not coming to Wii U.  Simply, it won't sell.  Because you won't buy it.

While technically true, it's not entirely fair. How many people here expressing disappointment in Madden skipping Wii U this year admitted to liking the series, but refused to ever buy it? Yeah, I'd say those specifically are responsible for the lower sales, but I don't see many of them. No one should be expected to buy a game they don't want and/or like just to support the publisher.

And face it - this is basically EA saying "We give up.  We can't create a game that will sell on Nintendo systems.  We are out of ideas, so we'll just go to where our games sell because they don't have the competition of first party titles."

If that's the last straw, it was a rigged game the entire time. Madden had to be released months after the PS3/360 version launched because the console wasn't out yet. Of course, the Wii U version wasn't going to sell well. To add insult to injury, it didn't have the new Infinity Engine EA touted in the PS3/360 versions. Should we even mention the shenanigans of Mass Effect 3? Or how about Dead Space Extraction, a side-story in a niche genre, being EA's brilliant plan to appeal to core gamers on Wii? I don't think Madden's performance on a console that just launched is indicative of people's interest in EA's entire catalog of games. "You didn't buy Madden at launch... months after it's been out on other consoles. That means you wouldn't have bought Battlefield 4." What the what?

If Straight Right ported Dead Space 3 instead of Mass Effect 3 and had it ready the same day the PS3/360 version released and no one bought it, especially in the middle of the Wii U drought, I'd agree that EA has a point. Marching out months old games and comparing those sales to the sales of the versions already out is like sending a JV squad against the starting lineup of a league's best team.

[Fjurbanski]

If Straight Right ported Dead Space 3 instead of Mass Effect 3 and had it ready the same day the PS3/360 version released and no one bought it, especially in the middle of the Wii U drought, I'd agree that EA has a point. Marching out months old games and comparing those sales to the sales of the versions already out is like sending a JV squad against the starting lineup of a league's best team.

That's true. At this point EA mainly has themselves to blame for poor sales. They didn't put their best effort behind the Wii U and still aren't. Honestly, EA has done nothing to deserve Wii U owner's money, except maybe NFS (still 5 months old).


I still don't think Madden would sell very well on the Wii U anyway, but the least they could do is try to sell new titles of equal quality and see how that works out for them, before blaming Nintendo and the gamers.

[NWR_Neal]

Umm....the Wii games had online.

I think Madden NFL 13 on Wii didn't, but that was because Madden NFL 13 on Wii was a throwaway release on a dead/dying console.

[Adrock]

Madden would likely still sell the least on Wii U, but I think there's an audience for it, enough to justify releasing the game so long as it's released at the same time and not gimped. A Wii U version already has an exclusive selling point if EA bothered to exploit it: GamePad support. Solutions on competing platforms simply cannot offer the same experience.

While I'm not a sports sim fan, I'm not anti-EA. If you earn my money, you get my money. I would have bought Mass Effect Trilogy and probably Dead Space 3. Unfortunately, Mass Effect 3 on Wii U was a raw deal and I didn't have the option with Dead Space 3. If those are the rules we're playing by, I want no part of the game. EA is like that Annoying Childhood Friend meme.

[Fireponcoal]

I'm ok with the news but couldn't they simply update the roster for those that purchased last seasons version? This would be nice of them though I know it won't happen.

I got the game free during one of the Target get one free sales last year. I would even pay five or ten dollars for a new Roster. If there is one thing EA likes it's cash for things that should be free.

[Ian Sane]

I personally don't care about EA games, sports or anything.  But I know that something like this doesn't just affect EA's support.  Other third parties will observe EA's decision and that will affect their own decisions.  So even though I don't like EA, a third party I do like might skip the Wii U because a big player like EA did it so the assumption would be that the Wii U isn't worth supporting.  I also know that a game like Madden will affect whether or not certain people will buy the system.  I want gamers of all tastes to own Nintendo's systems so that the library will have a lot of variety as third parties will figure that all types of games will sell on it.  My personal tastes don't fit neatly into demographics and probably no one's does really.  If only the "typical Nintendo audience" buys the Wii U then certain types of games just won't be available or at least not well represented.  The Wii's third party support SUCKED and they kept giving us junk because they thought the audience was nothing but casuals and kids.  The consoles with really good third party support had such a broad audience that third parties felt that everything was worth releasing on it from the most dumbed down mainstream casual title to the most niche hardcore game.

Those that are just thinking "well I don't care about Madden" are like those that said "well I don't care about RPGs" when the N64 lost Final Fantasy.  Those people were fools because they also lost almost every non-Nintendo franchise that they played on the NES and SNES.  It wasn't just losing Final Fantasy.  This is not just the Wii U losing Madden.  EA puts Madden on everything.  Even if EA's reasoning is flawed, the perception of the Wii U not being "worthy" of Madden is arguably more damaging than any other third party game.

[Stogi]

Hey...as long as Fifa makes it.