Electronic Arts Chases the Wii

Electronic Arts(ERTS Quote) has a little Wii problem.

The runaway success of Nintendo's latest console seems to have caught the leading video-game publisher by surprise and left it scrambling to create new games in a bid to ride the device's coattails.

With sales so far of 6 million Wiis worldwide, and another 14 million scheduled to ship in the next 12 months, EA needs to rule this console, like it has with Sony's(SNE Quote) PS2 or Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) Xbox 360, if it wants to continue being the market leader in this next generation of devices.

On its fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, EA's new CEO John Riccitiello concurred that the company "under-forecast" demand "by a bit." Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was down 4% and the company blamed the market's transition to next-generation consoles. EA also guided lower for the coming quarter and fiscal year.

EA had just two games ready for the Wii's launch last November -- and rushed four more to stores by the end of the recent quarter. All were from the company's existing franchises like Madden NFL, Need for Speed, and The Godfather.

But living off existing franchises may not be enough, says Van Baker, an analyst with Gartner. To truly boost user appeal, EA will need to create games that can be innovative, unique and use some of the unique features of the Wii console -- like its remote playability.