Susan Arendt
Culture

Microsoft: EA Knows 'Where Their Bread is Buttered'

In an interview with Canada.com, Microsoft’s Jeff Bell was pretty darn cocky as he discussed the state of the console war. There’s plenty of room for both the Wii and the 360, he explained, because they offer completely different gaming experience, but at the same time "Lets be honest. There’s only two major franchises that […]

Jeffbell
In an interview with Canada.com, Microsoft's Jeff Bell was pretty darn cocky as he discussed the state of the console war. There's plenty of room for both the Wii and the 360, he explained, because they offer completely different gaming experience, but at the same time "Lets be honest. There's only two major franchises that don't appear on our platform: Final Fantasy and
Metal Gear Solid." [UPDATE: The News Editor of Canada.com has since clarified that Bell was only referring to third-party franchises.]

As for Microsoft's relationship with key developers like Rockstar and EA:

In the case of EA, we just have an incredible partnership with them. Madden is not exclusive for us but they know where their bread is buttered. We will outsell the PS2 and PS3 version of Madden this Holiday Season combined.

Oh, yeah, he went there. It may be worth mentioning that in the same interview, Bell referred to Viva Pinata: Party Animals as "our first true Mario competitor against games like Mario Kart and Mario Party."

X07 Interview: Jeff Bell [Canada.com]