Nintendo to meet with EA in March regarding Nintendo NX Support- RUMOR

I think so. Nintendo follows a wholly different philosophy in how they run their business than their competitors. They're insular to suit what they want (unique controllers, low power usage, lesser specs), whereas Sony and MS make every attempt to court outwards and predicate their decisions to what third parties desire (greater specs, best online, traditional controllers) because they understand their business depends on their support.

Think about it: if third parties vanished today, Sony and MS's gaming divisions would collapse in very short order. Nintendo's would keep trucking on, because (for better or worse) they have structured their business to be independent from outside factors.

They may be haughty, but I doubt Nintendo is any in any position not to try to appeal to large publishers like EA.

"Nintendo's eagerness to get the company back on board after the disappointment of the Wii U. EA was apparently one of the first publishers to get access to NX development hardware, and from the information we've been given, Nintendo is citing EA as a key ally when it comes to making its next console a success."

@MirkoS77: "Nintendo's would keep trucking on, because (for better or worse) they have structured their business to be independent from outside factors."

Are you sure about that? Outside of the Wii, GameCube/N64 and WiiU were left in the dust by the competition.

Hell Wii sold consoles but not 3rd party software.

Or am I missing something?

In defense of Nintendo, I would tell them no thanks. If they couldn't make their games for WiiU, then they dont need them for NX. I certainly wouldn't support those games on NX.

Something tells me too if sales, projections or whatever are off, they'll go back to not making games for Nintendo consoles.

Wii sold more third party software than PS3, actually. It just wasn't traditional AAA software.

What would change if third parties stopped supporting Nintendo now? They aren't anyway, and yet Nintendo survives, against this competition. Even considering they're last place, that Nintendo is able to sustain itself against a whole catalog of not only third parties, but Sony and MS's first combined as well is pretty damn impressive and to be given credit. Yes, their console numbers are shrinking, but Nintendo's always going to have a die-hard fanbase to prop them up to some degree or another.

They've likely had meetings prior to March. Nintendo needs a competitive console. The Wii U has been a disaster.

To those who started gaming in the last ten years, sure.

And with NX they only strengthened their position. They consolidated their hardware and software teams. Popular rumour of NX handheld and console cross platform play would only makes this stronger. More games with less effort means less droughts as well.

Because of this I actually think that Nintendo should be coming from a position of strength when they go back to the bargaining table with EA. Nintendo has already shown that they can get by fine without EA. EA has nothing to threaten them with that they haven't already done.

@MirkoS77:

Okay I get what you saying now. Nintendo consoles survived without 3rd party support. And Sony/MSoft wouldn't sell loads of consoles if dependent on 1st party/2nd party.

Can one argue that this strategy hasn't made Nintendo alot of money in the console race. I mean maximizing profits. Im sure Sony/ MSoft make more off COD/GTA than their own games.

@charizard1605: perhaps im not reading this correctly (its late and im already seeing double :S)...but i dont think this is saying that nintendo have agreed to these things. this is just what EA want. nintendo may very well tell them to *BEEP* off (unlikely, granted).

i still question the value of EA support (and other publishers too) for nintendo with multiplats. yes EA make games that sell an absolute boat load...but will they sell on nintendo systems? history tells us no.

i maintain that, when it comes to 3rd parties and nintendo, exclusive content is key. the next need for speed on the NX....i dont think itll be of much use. criterion developing the next Fzero? yes..more of that.

i do think that nintendo needs more western developer support in some form but i just dont see much value in multiplats.

Deja vu. Lets hope EA follows through this time.

Nintendo just needs to actually put some money into advertising. I can count on one hand how many Wii U commericals I've seen.

Nobody is going to buy your product if they don't even know it exists. Word of mouth can only go so far.

Sorry to bump this back up, but I kinda had a thought.

Assuming the talks end on a positive note between the two, I'm predicting that we'll see EA Access come to NX 6 to 12 months after launch. I've been thinking about it and it makes sense. I don't think EA will outright ask to control Nintendo's online structure like they did with Wii U, because Nintendo already shot down the idea once. However, EA are going to want to come out there meeting on top, and for them, outside of having Nintendo advertise EA's games, and creating system bundles, I think their next priority would absolutely be to get EA Access onto NX, especially as it's doing well for them on Xbox One, and has also just launched on PC via Origin.

At first I thought it might come day one, but that's unrealistic because any game they put on there would have to be ported over, which would cost them money and it would be unreasonable to think they'd port the games that are on the X1's Access Vault, as they wouldn't make any money doing that, but six months to a year later they could launch it, with some of the games that came out day one.

TLDR version

I think that Nintendo would be on board with it. Unless Nintendo comes up with some sort of streaming service like Sony did then I can see Nintendo having no issue whatsoever with EA Access on NX. It would be the rare situation where EA Access is beneficial to a console. It would be a great compliment to Nintendo's first party games. Plus having EA Access would indicate a big commitment from EA. I think it would be a perfect deal for both parties.

EA's concerns are issues that Nintendo has shown no sign of improving on presently. They have been myopic in their software decisions on Wii and WiiU, focusing on mini-games, party titles and platformers. Mario Kart doesn't bring serious sports gamers. Mario Soccer doesn't bring serious sports gamers. Nintendo has been wandering the valley of the shadow of death for a decade when it comes to encouraging a healthy online community and online communication in games (first party ear piece? ethernet port? voice chat options period?).

Nintendo has to build a studio to work on realistic sports exclusives (like platform manufacturers once did)-- NCAA football/baseball, Punch-Out online, Wave Race, F-zero, more.

Most important, Nintendo must create a new 1:1 wand that allows them to recapture sports gamers like they initially did with Wii (but then failed to hold with realistic sports exclusives).

Yes I don't see a negative to that for either of them.

My post was a little hostile.
Do you guys think the NX will have the best online social system? Probably not, right? I think it will. But that's just a hunch based on what they are doing with their accounts and how unnaturally smooth that is going, and the networking dudes joining in from DNA, and the idea I have of what the NX is going to be moving for. It's important to have a good online community in place especially for sports gamers. A place where they can easily share and compare and find each other and play together. That's vital for EA games to sell on the NX.

If the NX has that (that's one big if) and if EA is finally willing and able to make good games for a Nintendo system. Priority games. Best versions of, or at least on par with. Another really big if I would say, considering their tone. Then I could see EA having some weight to throw around to have some grounds for a discussion. Those two changes would be key to having this talk resolve on a positive note.