Electronic Arts is Interested in Switch, But Not in Being Outshone by Nintendo
There's interest, but nothing much to show for it yet.
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The Nintendo Switch may have a lot of games on it now, but Electronic Arts is still noticeably missing from the system's lineup. Only a handful of games have made the jump to the Switch, and despite growing interest, it still seems like EA is watching from afar.
In a conference call for today's Q3 2020 quarterly report, COO Blake Jorgensen said that they are "very pleased" with how well the Nintendo Switch has done so far. But he also added that people who have a Switch also tend to have a PlayStation or Xbox as well. When porting to a Nintendo platform, those games have to compete with Nintendo games for the spotlight.
"We are always looking and discussing with Nintendo what else we can put on the platform, and as the platform grows, our interest in adding content grows for that platform," Jorgensen said. "But we're also conscious of the fact that the top selling titles, by a long shot, are all Nintendo software. Which is fabulous software, but it helps us balance the realities of how big our markets could be there. But trust that we're looking at that, you will hear more things in the future about what we're putting on the platform."
EA has historically been hesitant to move games over to the Switch, with only a handful to date including Unravel 2 and a few FIFA games. And in past quarterly calls, the company has brought up the Switch's status as an additional console for those that own a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or PC; several systems where their games tend to get played more often.
"We have a lot of data that would suggest that a great many Switch owners also own a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One, or a PC," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said last July. "And very often choose to play the games that we make on those platforms even though they have a Switch and they enjoy a lot of great content on the Switch."
Meanwhile, Nintendo reported stellar sales of the Nintendo Switch today, including a strong year for first-party games like Pokemon Sword and Shield and Luigi's Mansion 3. Maybe that last aside about hearing from EA in the future can spark some hope for some Switch love.