Turns out, if you make a straightforward, more powerful update to the second-best-selling console of all time, and put a 2 on the end of its name, big publishers are happy to jump on board. Without making any specific commitments, Electronic Arts just as good as confirmed that it will be bringing some of its biggest games to Nintendo’s next console.
In a recent financial call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked about the publisher’s plans for the Switch 2. He replied that he thought EA’s major sports franchises like FC and Madden, as well as The Sims, could find “real energy” on the next Nintendo system.
“Any time a new console comes into the marketplace that’s of a benefit to us. It gives us the ability to access and acquire new players,” Wilson said. “Typically, we’ve had franchises perform very well on Nintendo platforms.
“Certainly our expectation is that products like FC and Madden and others might find real energy on the platform as they have done in the past. When you think about something like The Sims and the My Sims cozy bundle, which performed well ahead of our expectations, 50% of all players were new to EA. That represents a great opportunity for us.”
Wilson finished by saying “our expectation is that any time a great new console comes in the marketplace that gives us access to new players and new communities, that we have the IP that will benefit from that.”
EA Sports titles have a checkered history on Nintendo platforms dating back to the Wii. Less powerful Nintendo platforms up to and including the Switch have often received “legacy” versions of franchises like FIFA — basic, outmoded iterations of games lacking important features, and often with no meaningful gameplay changes from one year to the next.
But Switch’s enormous userbase — it has now sold over 150 million units — seems to have encouraged a change of heart at EA. FIFA’s replacement, EA Sports FC, has aimed for feature parity on Nintendo Switch over the last two years, just with downgraded visuals. With Nintendo aiming to close the tech gap to the current generation of home consoles with Switch 2 — and with EA’s sports titles continuing to support PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well — it’s possible Switch 2 versions of the sports games will be even closer to the home-console standard.