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Mass Effect 2 Goes Multiplatform and More News From EA

EA held its quarterly earnings call today, and there's a pile of announcements and delays to go along with it.

"Clear and simple, our titles did not perform to our expectations."
EA's John Riccitiello got on the horn to talk investors and other interested parties through the particulars of its quarterly earnings today. As you probably know, these types of calls are typically focused on the business side, with lots of number crunching and--as these things go these days--some hand-wringing, as well. But if you just want some game details, there's a chunk of that stuff to go over, as well. Here's a quick rundown:

  • The previously announced layoffs across the company have raised from 1,000 jobs to approximately 1,100. 12 EA-owned locations will be consolidated, which is up from the previously announced nine.
  • The Godfather II has been bumped back to sometime between April and June of 2009. The company cited marketing challenges and a cluttered marketplace for the delay.
  • The Sims 3 has been pushed back to June 2.
  • The PC version of Dragon Age: Origins has been delayed to the back half of 2009 and will now coincide with the console releases of the game.
  • EA plans to do more and better work on the Wii, because that's where the money is. As such, the company is working on a Dead Space game for the Wii. It wasn't a full, formal announcement, though. So we're not sure if this is a Wii version of the original or if it's going to be Dead Space: Chop 'Til You Drop or something.
  • Mass Effect 2 will be a multiplatform game.
  • Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (potentially not its actual name) will hit consoles in Q1 2010.

Holy crap, we're talking about games that will come out in 2010 already? Dude, we live in the future. The company is also working to reduce spending and putting a greater focus on marketing. Getting behind the games that it puts out in a bigger way seems like a sound idea to me.

EA is making noise like it's going to go after the "core" market on the Wii pretty hard to capitalize on Nintendo's big installed base. If Dead Space was released on all four major platforms at the same time (PS3, 360, PC, and Wii), would you buy the Wii version? Aside from some potentially interesting dismemberment mechanics, that doesn't seem like a game I'd want to play with anything other than a dual-stick gamepad.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+