EA Will "Evaluate Any and All Opportunities" for Nintendo NX

Electronic Arts will evaluate "any and all opportunities" to support the Nintendo NX, the Mario company's mysterious upcoming console, according to EA CEO Andrew Wilson. Speaking during a recent earnings presentation, EA's chief executive was asked if the Battlefield and FIFA publisher plans to support the console, which could launch as soon as 2016, according to reports.

"I'm going to address that slightly differently," Wilson said. "As we look to the future, we see a world where more people are playing on more platforms in more geographies than ever before. We see the platform cycle now not just as a traditional six-year console cycle, but as kind of a six-month refresh rate on mobile devices, smart TVs, Internet-enabled refrigerators, or whatever it might be.

"And what we're doing in terms of resource allocation is really investing at a core digital platform level, at an engine level, and at a game architecture level to ensure that we are able to deliver amazing experiences, six inches to 60 inches and beyond, two minutes to two-hour session times and beyond, across any and all relevant devices where gamers are playing."

Wilson didn't confirm any specific plans to support the NX, though he did cite EA's history with Nintendo and how the publisher is open to picking things back up after it stopped supporting the Wii U.

"As it relates to Nintendo, we've had a tremendous relationship with them over the years," Wilson said. "And we will evaluate any and all opportunities with them in the same way we do all platform opportunities."

The original Wii saw steady support from EA, as the publisher launched 68 total titles for the platform, according to the company's website. EA has released just four games for the Wii U.

The NX is rumored to be a console/mobile hybrid, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. The publication's sources also claim Nintendo has started to send out software development kits for the NX to unspecified third-party developers so they can modify their existing games or create new ones to run on the upcoming platform. EA is one of the biggest publishers in the business, and it wouldn't be a stretch to think they were one of the first to receive these development kits, if they did indeed go out.

The Wii U has underperformed, selling only 10.73 million units since its launch in November 2012.

Nintendo officially announced the NX in March 2015, alongside the news that the company was bringing its franchises to smartphones and tablets through a partnership with mobile gaming giant DeNA.

Earlier this year, a report claimed Nintendo could begin pilot assembly of the NX in October with mass production scheduled to kick off in May or June 2016. The NX, according to the report, would then be released commercially "around July." None of this has been confirmed as of yet.