We should have bet on Wii, admits Riccitiello

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has admitted that the company put too much focus on PS3 and 360 at the beginning of the current console cycle – and largely ignored the potential of Wii.

However, Speaking to the San Jose Mercury News, Riccitiello said that his company had since become established on Nintendo consoles – and that, for the first time in history, the second and third placed consoles were still ‘meaningful’.

He said: One thing that’s different is we typically figured out who the market leader was going to be before the start of the cycle and bet with our development resources on that platform.

We made the wrong call there [by betting on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360], which made this transition harder than it would otherwise be. But now we’re catching up, and I think we’re fine. We’ve got some incredibly innovative Wii titles, [and] incredibly innovative DS titles coming. And so I think that issue’s sort of behind us.”

He added: [What’s] unusual in this cycle is there’s a second and third place that is meaningful, against which we can build a profitable business. That’s a good and positive thing.”

Riccitiello also said he was hopeful of pushing EA’s market share on DS and Wii up to match its dominance on PS3 and 360.

He commented: Can I make a big step in that direction this year? Yes. Can I continue to make steps in that pattern? Yes. Does Nintendo want us to do it? Yes. Does the platform set itself up for that to be possible? Yes. So, it requires focus.”