Perhaps you've noticed that EA's current lineup of games on Nintendo's portable console is lacking, to say the least. Well, according to EA's CEO Andrew Wilson, this is not an incidental oversight - it's an intentional dismissal.
Speaking to investors, Wilson explains that EA simply isn't motivated to bring the majority of their games to the Switch on account of their primary audience not being there.
Any time we're evaluating platform conversations, we're really looking at a couple of things: One, does the game really fit the profile of that platform in terms of the control or the community ecosystem? Two, do we think the community playing on that platform would appreciate the game and go there, or would they prefer to play it somewhere else?
Additionally, the mega-publisher's official position is that players just aren't interested in experiencing EA's flagship games on a portable console, and that many Switch owners also own another platform that they'd prefer to play those games on.
We have a lot of data that would suggest a great many Switch owners also own a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One or a PC 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.
While there may be some merit to that hypothesis, I don't think those statistics should determine their policy on producing games for Switch across the board. For instance, I'm not going to play a Sims game on my PS4 or PC because it doesn't provide the immersive, cinematic experience I look for in games on those platforms. That said, if I were able to woohoo with my Sim pals or whatever it is they do for fun while on the go would be an entirely different story and suddenly makes the game seem way more enticing. That's just one example of EA's immense catalog of games that could find a new, possibly more successful identity on the Switch.
But that's fine, EA, you don't have to take my money if you don't want it.