EA Talks Nintendo Switch: “Never, Ever, Ever Discount Nintendo” “We’re Huge Fans”

Giuseppe Nelva November 29, 2016 1:54 PM EST

At the Credit Suisse 2016 Annual Technology Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Electronic Arts Chief Competition Officer Peter Moore talked about the Nintendo Switch and the recently announced partnership with Nintendo.

Moore admitted that the house of Mario and Zelda had some rough times recently, but reiterated that the power of Nintendo’s development studios and intellectual properties should never be underestimated.

He also confirmed that Electronic Arts has a “major game” coming to the Switch, and that the folks at EA are “huge fans” of the console manufacturer from Kyoto, and are going to watch with interest what happens with the new console.

“Nintendo has always been and will always be an very important partner in this industry. They have some of the best first party development studios in the world, and some of the most valuable intellectual properties in the world. We have announced publicly that we got a partnership with them on their new platform, the Switch, we haven’t talked in detail on what’s that about. You can imagine, as you heard, that a major game will be distributed on that platform. We’re huge fans. We have a relationship that goes many decades back. They’ve had some difficult times as if recently obviously, but never, ever, ever discount Nintendo in this marketplace, and their ability to leverage their superb game development opportunities. Their intellectual properties, whether it’s Mario, whether it’s Zelda, whether it’s Metroid Prime, we could go on forever about what they can do… obviously Pokémon, we’ve seen more recently. We’re gonna watch with interest and you can rest assured that EA, just like every major publisher, is in regular conversations with Nintendo.”

Electronic Arts’ major game for Nintendo’s Switch was confirmed by Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen during the UBS Global Technology Conference a couple of weeks ago.

Nintendo’s Switch also received a rather enthusiastic endorsement from GameStop’s executive team, that praised its “tremendous potential as a game changer.”