While Nintendo had a great showing at E3 with their first-party titles, other publishers are being very cautious about supporting the Nintendo Switch. EA is chief among those with the only title in development for the Nintendo Switch being FIFA 18. What’s worse is that the E3 presentation of FIFA 18 has revealed that the Switch version will likely be an inferior product compared to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions.
The PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game will run on the Frostbite engine, just like last year. Also, this year’s FIFA 18 release will continue the story of Cristiano Ronaldo in The Journey: Hunter Returns and that single-player story will only be available on the aforementioned platforms. The Switch version is very likely more closely resembling the outdated PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game that EA will put out.
So how does EA respond to that? Well, VP of global publishing Laura Miele had this to say:
There are technical differences, yes, but I think most importantly there are player differences. When you have a game you’re playing on the go, it’s a different interface, different experience, different features, and different flow I think, then it would be if you’re playing on the sticks in your living room on a TV. So that design consideration always has to be taking place for our players.
Sounds like a bullshit excuse to release a worse product on the Nintendo Switch if you ask me. What’s worse is it sounds like EA will be evaluating the success of the Nintendo Switch based on how sales of FIFA 18 do for the system, regardless of whether or not the game is “different” from the other consoles. That’s a pretty poor decision.
“We love the mobility of the Switch and I think the content they’ve put out is really strong on it so far. We’re going to continue to watch how the hardware does. We are exploring other products. We are looking at other IP and what the technology connections need to be for that.”
So when FIFA 18 on Switch flops, I’m sure we’ll see another EA executive trotted out to explain how the Switch just doesn’t fit into their strategy. Same old EA. At least Ubisoft is trying with the Mario and Rabbids game and it actually looks pretty dope.
Nintendo eShop Card – $20
