EA buys Headgate studios to form Wii-centric EA Salt Lake studio
Despite analyst assurances that there would no longer be many console exclusives, EA is forming an entire studio for Wii titles. Larry Probst, Electronic Arts CEO, revealed this tidbit in an interview with Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal. They’ve acquired Headgate studios, who partnered with EA since 2000 on the Tiger Woods and Madden franchises. The new studio will be renamed EA Salt Lake, and the team will now focus exclusively on titles for Nintendo’s recently launched Wii console.
Slashdot points out the most interesting quote the EA CEO from the article:
“I don’t think the Wii is going to be any different than all the other Nintendo platforms. Nintendo is going to have a very significant market share, and all the third party companies are going to have market shares that are single-digit or low double-digits. We think that we can be very competitive in that environment. We don’t have any expectations that we’re going to have a 30 percent market share, as we have had on Xbox 360, on PlayStation 2, or what we’re targeting on PlayStation 3. But I think we can have a meaningful market share on the Wii platform, and be in the number two position behind Nintendo.”
