EA Sees Its 'Most Successful' Wii Launch With 600,000 Units For EA Sports Active

Electronic Arts' fitness game for Wii, EA Sports Active, has sold 600,000 units since its May 22nd launch, the publisher announced today. EA's giving its E3 media briefing today, and one of its highlights is what EA Sports boss Peter Moore calls an "overwhelming response" to the title, one of the first to use the Wii's Motion Plus peripheral. "This is, by far, the most successful launch of any Wii title in EA history, and even more encouraging is that our second week sales worldwide were as strong as our first week," said Moore. EA announced it will follow up that success with the launch of a new expansion pack this holiday season. It builds on the existing game with 30 new activities and exercises for cardiovascular, upper and lower body exercise. Specifically, the expansion will add an emphasis on core strengthening, a new "tropics" environment, and a six-week health challenge. Doubtless the news of a strong launch on Wii is relieving news for EA. After the company suffered something of a stumble during holiday 2008, CEO John Riccitiello began to emphasize that improving the company's performance on Nintendo's console was a major priority. Like many publishers including Ubisoft, THQ and Take-Two, EA is placing special emphasis on building successful Wii brands where it's previously lacked them.