You may have heard that EA is not exactly supporting Nintendo’s Wii U much – and likely won;t support it in the future. That in itself is bad enough – but now we have one of EA’s software engineers taking the gloves off completely, saying that the Wii U is “crap.”
"The Wii U is crap," EA engineer Bob Summerwill said in a now-removed, no-holds barred Twitter tirade (via CVG). "Less powerful than an XBOX360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point."
"Nintendo platforms have always been very poor revenue-wise for third parties," he said, regarding EA’s lack of support for the platform. "Only Mario and Zelda make money," he said.
He believes Nintendo’s being a little backwards, unlike its rivals which are all sticking to the same standards.
"Sony, MS, Apple, Google all following the same playbook… standard, powerful, hardware, with focus on software and services. "Nintendo are still operating like it’s 1990. They should have ‘done a Sega’ and offered Mario/Zelda as PS4/Durango exclusives," he said, believing that Nintendo should exit the hardware business to focus on software, much like SEGA did after its last console, The Dreamcast failed.
"Instead they make this awful console, and [Wii Street U]. Just stop it! Just make great games!" he pleaded.
He says EA won’t be supporting the platform, because Nintendo is no longer the domain of the family and casual market.
“…Wii U isn’t where that family/casual market is. It’s on mobile/tablet now. It is an utterly intentional decision to focus our resources on markets which actually matter… like mobile, and Gen4," he declared.
What do you think? Is Summerwill being a little harsh on Nintendo, or is the Wii U really a terrible machine, destined to fail? With the current landscape and trend of developers giving up on the Wii U, things certainly aren’t looking too good for the future of the console.
Last Updated: May 20, 2013
umar bastra
May 20, 2013 at 09:50
MY GOD, these industry people should be banned forever from twitter. What I find crap? are these mofos speaking their ass off on these PUBLIC sites …. you know what sux, EA, your company stinks more than Adam Oarth’s unwashed , unemployed azz
HvR
May 20, 2013 at 09:53
Rich coming from a guy who works for
HvR
May 20, 2013 at 10:00
Normal day at work for Bob:
Skyblue
May 20, 2013 at 14:19
I would say that his credentials are impeccable then as he’s been looking at turds for a while now.
Tasty peas mixed with porridge
May 20, 2013 at 09:55
Wii Phoo the Fisher Price Tablet for kids.
Trevor Davies
May 20, 2013 at 10:04
Show me the honey!
FoxOneZA - X-Therminator
May 20, 2013 at 10:03
Well where one company leaves a gap on the market, another company should capatilise on this and fill that void. I’m looking at you Indie game devs that are always moaning.
Yobokkie
May 20, 2013 at 10:05
Oh noes, the wii u can’t play EA games?!? Um yeah, I certainly don’t love nintendo because it can play the same games as *every* other platform, and if this guy thinks that’s why nintendo exists then clearly he’s pretty out of touch with the industry he’s a part of.
Nintendo occupies it’s own space and people need to stop comparing it to the other consoles and saying they are crap because X, Y, Z, and give them some credit for trying to be innovative and make games that are fun to play. Just about every big innovation in gaming started with the minds at nintendo. Even Playstation owes it’s start to Nintendo.
When I think of EA, I honestly think of them as not being a bad company, but just the sort that makes filler games. Very few people have a favourite game that comes from EA (with the exception of Battlefield), but just about everyone has played an EA game at some point and being mildly entertained. However if they did just disappear one day there would not be too many devastated people out there. Whereas if anything happened to Rockstar/ Valve/ Bethesda/ Nintendo/ Blizzard there would be some quite devastated gamers out there.
CaptainNemo42
May 20, 2013 at 10:17
Mass Effect? I thought people loved Mass Effect?
Yobokkie
May 20, 2013 at 10:23
Hmm Ok I’ll give you that one… I don’t play it myself so I forgot about it… but are the ME fans as crazy and loyal as the others?
CaptainNemo42
May 20, 2013 at 10:27
I would think so. Considering how crazy everybody went last year about the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Yobokkie
May 20, 2013 at 10:41
But that kinda proves the point a little, as EA managed to even mess that up and piss off fans of the games. So although people would mourn for ME there were a lot of unhappy campers about that incident who might still say “good riddance”. Whereas if valve died there might be riots in the street. Or South Korea would grind to a halt if Blizzard died. 😛
CaptainNemo42
May 20, 2013 at 10:48
if EA were to go under for some strange reason I think their will be a lot of devastated people out there. They own two of the biggest annual release franchises out there. Fifa and Madden sells millions. Sure it’s the same generic stuff as Call of Duty. But that’s not the point.
Also, I’m not so entirely sure the ending of ME3 was EA’s fault. It seemed so much like a writing issue, which comes back to the developer. But that is just a personal feeling.
Yobokkie
May 20, 2013 at 11:03
Welllll, thing is the main reason people play those games is because of the licences, if EA folded, someone else would get them and we’d carry on. In themselves they are not the most amazing pieces of gamecraft, they just have all the right names for the players/ teams.
darthdad
May 20, 2013 at 11:26
OK, so apart from Battlefield, Mass Effect, Fifa, and Madden. What have EA done for us?
Yobokkie
May 20, 2013 at 11:30
Lol… they didn’t really do fifa and madden, like I said, those games rely on the licences for sales, any other company could make the same games (and possibly do a better job of it in some cases). They would exist without EA.
CaptainNemo42
May 20, 2013 at 11:27
I suppose. One thing is for sure. If EA were to go down, it will be chaos as other Publishers try to get hold of those IPs.
umar bastra
May 20, 2013 at 10:27
I can’t give you that one though, that’s Bioware, Bioware made ME before EA came along and in my very HUMBLE opinion you can see the influence EA had on the sequel … gone were the deep RPG elements and it focused more on action, very EA like.
CaptainNemo42
May 20, 2013 at 10:42
That is a good point. But Bioware is a developer, not a publisher. We are kind of discussing the publishers (MS, Sony, Nintendo, EA etc).
I’m not defending EA, I’m merely pointing out that it’s a loved IP from EA.
And strangely, even straight up EA games end up as something else. Just look at Dead Space.
umar bastra
May 20, 2013 at 10:46
Indeed, agreed, but Yobokkie said a game that comes from EA … I’m just being pedantic, To me ME comes from Bioware as EA came along in ME 2 , EA is just a channel. but agreed on Dead Space 🙁 sadly
Trevor Davies
May 20, 2013 at 10:06
Isn’t the Wii U aimed at a different market than the Xbox? Comparing it to the Xbox when it’s not designed to compete with it is rather silly isn’t it?
TechniKyle
May 20, 2013 at 10:11
That toilet roll is wrong! It’s OVER not UNDER!!!!
Admiral Chief Combat Engineer
May 20, 2013 at 10:25
UNDER!!!
TechniKyle
May 20, 2013 at 11:02
OVER!
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 20, 2013 at 11:14
UNDER!!!
HvR
May 20, 2013 at 11:22
now if there was ever reason for ban hammer it is putting a TP roll on OVER, disgusting 🙁
Admiral Chief Combat Engineer
May 20, 2013 at 11:39
Agreed.
Kyle, you are OVERRULED, and OUT I SAY!!!
cc @twitter-165741018:disqus @LlewellynCrossley:disqus
TechniKyle
May 20, 2013 at 13:09
I will take that hammer from right UNDER you and play whack a testicle, WITH YOUR TESTES!
Admiral Chief Combat Engineer
May 20, 2013 at 13:36
You do know that we are only speaking in questions since 12h01, don’t you?
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 20, 2013 at 11:14
Under!
fred
May 20, 2013 at 10:12
It is a console that is a few years late to the current gen party. And that tablet controller is a terrible idea.
TriangularRoom
May 20, 2013 at 10:15
Seems like a lot of companies need to have some social media training for their employees…
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 20, 2013 at 11:16
Agreed. It’s becoming a rather bad habit in the industry. What worries me though is that surely these people have seen what have happened to others who have done the same?
Khulani Ndlovu
May 20, 2013 at 10:22
Damn that’s so Extreme, couldn’t he find somewhere to take out all his hatred or frustrations for Nintendo, what i can say is that Nintendo is very unfortunate to have released the Wii U on the brink of the new next gen consoles, these guys there are entirely focusing their attention to bigger fish which is the PS4 & Xbox Infirnity which the entire world is looking forward to, sorry Nintendo 😉
Rince an repeat
May 20, 2013 at 10:27
Hahaha, I wonder if he will ‘leave’ EA and start up a new venture with our friend ADAM…
RichardC
May 20, 2013 at 10:36
While a little harsh and put a bit aggressively, its pretty much true. A console cannot survive on 1st party alone, unless of course it has a gimmick which Ninty lost when the mobiles/tablets stole their Wii market and they lost the 3rd party support when they decided to A. Stab the hardcore in the back and go for a fully casual game market. and B. Decided to make the same dumb mistake again now with the Wii U when they could already see that the mobile/tablets have eaten up that market.
Dont get me wrong Ninty has great exclusives and I will always be jealous of The main Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Donkey Kong titles (plus some others) but 1st party is not enough to warrant a console anymore (plus I find that Sony either has their own equal or superior counterparts to all of those or atleast something of awesum quality in that line), its about service now, as the game industry has diversified and evolved, a console manufacturer has to be able to make it as easy, cost effective and pleasant as possible to get quality games onto the system as fast and frequent as possible for all the available markets, you cant just be suporting the “hardcore”, “casuals”, “twitchers”, “socials”, “purists” or “indies” you have to support them all.
Obviously we wish for there to be more of a focus on “hardcore” and “purist” experiences, but sadly we cant have that anymore, because thats not what the majority of the “casuals”, “twitchers” or “socials” want. Luckily though the “hardcore” and “purists” are a dedicated fanbase who buy a lot more software than the other gamer types so there will always be dedicated teams, developers and franchises for them as they may be in smaller number now but they are a safer more predictable bet.
Zubayr Bhyat
May 20, 2013 at 10:39
Faster hardware could’ve helped imo.
Zubayr Bhyat
May 20, 2013 at 10:39
Faster hardware could’ve helped imo.
Tbone187
May 20, 2013 at 10:43
Nintendo have proven there to be a market space for those keen on fun family games instead of high end graphic consoles…Seems this guy is simply rambling based on his personal tastes…That’s why he’s in engineering and not market research…
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
May 20, 2013 at 11:12
I give it a day before EA distances itself from these comments.
TiMsTeR1033
May 20, 2013 at 15:38
you heard the man…
TiMsTeR1033
May 20, 2013 at 15:39
and again
TeroPestanaDeSousa
May 21, 2013 at 12:30
wii u is kak and nintendo makes kak consoles