EA skipping Wii-U for next Gen. Frostbite2 a no-go

TheIrishGrover

Didn't buy a Wii-U. I wanted to as I love Ninty and really wanted to play next gen Zelda but I held back as I didn't want to pay out next gen price for current gen tech.

Unfortunately looks like the nail in the coffin.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/08/ea-frostbite-nintendo-wii-u/

EA's Frostbite 3 engine, which underpins many of the company's next generation titles, looks like it won't support Nintendo's Wii U. Johan Andersson, Technical Director of the Frostbite project at EA DICE, says the company tested Frostbite 2 on the console and found the results to be "not too promising," to the point where it "chose not to go down [the] path" of porting the next version. Leaked slides from earlier this year revealed that EA has approximately 15 games in development that use Frostbite 3, the implication being that Wii U gamers are going to miss out on some fairly big titles, including Battlefield 4, Star Wars, the next Mass Effect and, as Joystiq pointed out last week, this year's version of Madden NFL. It all adds up to a notable loss of support for the new console -- but hey, EA-style gaming was hardly a core part of the Nintendo experience in the first place.

aN.Droid

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Didn't buy a Wii-U. I wanted to as I love Ninty and really wanted to play next gen Zelda but I held back as I didn't want to pay out next gen price for current gen tech.

Unfortunately looks like the nail in the coffin.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/08/ea-frostbite-nintendo-wii-u/

I read a quote a few weeks ago when this all came to a head that FB3 engine games can be ported back to FB2 fairly easy. Obviously without the features of the FB3 engine.

Nollog

It's widely accepted by now that EA do not like Nintendo, and they're not into making games for Nintendo consoles anymore.
This is their unprecedented partnership.

Otacon

Limericks wrote: »

I read a quote a few weeks ago when this all came to a head that FB3 engine games can be ported back to FB2 fairly easy. Obviously without the features of the FB3 engine.

...the company tested Frostbite 2 on the console and found the results to be "not too promising,"...

Porting back to FB2 won't make a difference then.

TBH the Wii U is running out of game engines that will run on it.

ShadowHearth

I dont know, it looks like someone really really REALLY want nintendo to go down. The next unreal engine 4 wont be supported on Wii U, but it is supported even by mobile phones. Now Frostbite is not supported too. Looks like some is paying to those companies to ignore Wii U.

Frostbite 2, which runs on 512mb ram ps3 and xbox was not "promising" on a Wii U, which is a lot more powerful...

richymcdermott

i think ea had a problem with nintendo with origins been on the wii u and nintendo telling them to **** off.

CastorTroy

Can't read the article here, but I did see the twitter conversation last night. Was funny way to end it when he bascially asked if they stopped trying to get it working on Wii U the same time EA decided to more or less stop supporting Nintendo

readyletsgo

I wonder how long the Wiiu will last before Ninty scrap it and come out with a New new system.
Some experts say Ninty will give the Wiiu 3 years from launch before they pull the plug on it if its a total failure and move on.
Or a 3D Mario could be the answer, like it was for the 3DS.

Still, its only 6 months old, but has me kinda worried on the future of the WiiU.

Just give me games Ninty. Its beyond me that they didn't have a good chunk of their franchises ready to go, since they had the system pretty much thought out 4 or 5 years ago. I mean like, Pikmin 3, been in development for 7 years now.....

Nollog

readyletsgo wrote: »

I wonder how long the Wiiu will last before Ninty scrap it and come out with a New new system.
Some experts say Ninty will give the Wiiu 3 years from launch before they pull the plug on it if its a total failure and move on.
Or a 3D Mario could be the answer, like it was for the 3DS.

Still, its only 6 months old, but has me kinda worried on the future of the WiiU.

Just give me games Ninty. Its beyond me that they didn't have a good chunk of their franchises ready to go, since they had the system pretty much thought out 4 or 5 years ago. I mean like, Pikmin 3, been in development for 7 years now.....

about 5 years from now.

ShadowHearth

I am not in to conspiracy theories and shiet, but this looks like some sort of evil plan against nintendo... Dice said it does not look promising, but it looks promising on horrible cell processor on ps3 and outdated xbox360, but not on several times more powerful wii U.
Unreal engine 4 droped. So whats next? No next Call of duty for Wii U, due to emmmm engine issues? A lot of games were ported to old fashioned Wii, but now shockingly Wii U is some sort of magical box.
It all looks like big boys trying to push poor nintendo off the stairs. I know some people could clear it up as they got more experience in the business, but wont big publishers and developers win out if there would be only 2 consoles? Market distributed between 2 consoles, so less versions of same game to make so lesser development costs? Or MS and Sony makes deals with these publishers and developers to push out nintendo out of market?

Myrddin

Jeez, another 'not coming to Wii U' article. I've defended the Wii U up to a point, citing its relative young age...but its pushing on a bit now at this stage. Ninty really need to give people a reason to actually want this console, because its nothing but doom & gloom from 3rd parties

Nollog

EnterNow wrote: »

Jeez, another 'not coming to Wii U' article. I've defended the Wii U up to a point, citing its relative young age...but its pushing on a bit now at this stage. Ninty really need to give people a reason to actually want this console, because its nothing but doom & gloom from 3rd parties

Most of these have been EA games though.
Well, except the games that were in development since before Nintendo told anyone about the console being in development.

Myrddin

/\/ollog wrote: »

Most of these have been EA games though.

True, but I wouldn't mind seeing a big 1st party title come out just to balance the scales for the mo. After Lego City, its gone all stagnant again

wayne040576

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I am not in to conspiracy theories and shiet, but this looks like some sort of evil plan against nintendo... Dice said it does not look promising, but it looks promising on horrible cell processor on ps3 and outdated xbox360, but not on several times more powerful wii U.
Unreal engine 4 droped. So whats next? No next Call of duty for Wii U, due to emmmm engine issues? A lot of games were ported to old fashioned Wii, but now shockingly Wii U is some sort of magical box.
It all looks like big boys trying to push poor nintendo off the stairs. I know some people could clear it up as they got more experience in the business, but wont big publishers and developers win out if there would be only 2 consoles? Market distributed between 2 consoles, so less versions of same game to make so lesser development costs? Or MS and Sony makes deals with these publishers and developers to push out nintendo out of market?

No conspiracies , no pay offs. If it was financially worth the effort for them to make the games for the system they wouldn't hesitate.

Oafley Jones

wayne040576 wrote: »

No conspiracies , no pay offs. If it was financially worth the effort for them to make the games for the system they wouldn't hesitate.

I've no doubt that EA have a grudge against Nintendo, but I agree that if they thought it was worth it they'd invest. This is a company that's on a cost cutting mission, they've just announced that 10% of their staff is being laid off. I'm guessing that the logic is that their core market will own either a Nextbox or PS4 and maybe a WiiU to supplement them - so why bother developing for WiiU. It's also looking that the two new machines are extremely alike and subsequently fairly cost efficient to develop for.

TheIrishGrover

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I've no doubt that EA have a grudge against Nintendo, but I agree that if they thought it was worth it they'd invest. This is a company that's on a cost cutting mission, they've just announced that 10% of their staff is being laid off. I'm guessing that the logic is that their core market will own either a Nextbox or PS4 and maybe a WiiU to supplement them - so why bother developing for WiiU. It's also looking that the two new machines are extremely alike and subsequently fairly cost efficient to develop for.

^^^^ This ^^^^

As said, the rumour is that the PS4/nextbox are going to be pretty similar and easy to port across. However if it actually is true that games have to be ported to an entirely different engine in order to run on the Wii-U then it would only make sense financially if there was a huge install base already in place. Which there isn't. They are gathering dust on the shelves and, unfortunately, unless something RADICALLY (And I don't just mean a "new" Mario game and a Zelda game for Q4 2014, I mean something like a 50% price drop with HUGE advertising campaign) I can see them staying there when the next machines come out.

I'm not a Nintendo hater, I'm not a fanboy of any of the systems, I own each of the current gen. But, let's take off the nostalgia glasses: The Wii-U is already looking underpowered. It looked underpowered at E3 in 2012! Do I want my Link and Metroid? Yes..... But not more than I want my next Mass Effect and Dragon's Age and Final Fantasy and whatever else comes out on that are sure to be the next gen standard engines

... Dice said it does not look promising, but it looks promising on horrible cell processor on ps3 and outdated xbox360, but not on several times more powerful wii U.
Unreal engine 4 droped. So whats next? No next Call of duty for Wii U, due to emmmm engine issues? A lot of games were ported to old fashioned Wii, but now shockingly Wii U is some sort of magical box.

Come on, let's be reasonable here, the Wii-U is not "several times more powerful" than the XBOX/PS3. Take a look at the stuff that's still coming out for the PS3: Beyond, Last of Us etc. I'm sure the Wii-U can run these games nicely if they were ever to be ported over, but what next? ( Did you actually SEE COD on the Wii? It was an embarrassment) Unreal 3 was the go-to engine for the current gen. You can bet your bottom dollar that Epic and Dice will be killing themselves to make their engine the go-to one for the next gen. And if neither can run on the Wii-U then the developers/publishers will just not bother porting games from these engines to previous ones unless they can guarantee a return on their investment.

EA/Nintendo dispute or not, it's all about MONEY!!!!! That's it

Sparks43

EA can go and **** themselves tbh

Lemming

wayne040576 wrote: »

No conspiracies , no pay offs. If it was financially worth the effort for them to make the games for the system they wouldn't hesitate.

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I've no doubt that EA have a grudge against Nintendo, but I agree that if they thought it was worth it they'd invest. This is a company that's on a cost cutting mission, they've just announced that 10% of their staff is being laid off. I'm guessing that the logic is that their core market will own either a Nextbox or PS4 and maybe a WiiU to supplement them - so why bother developing for WiiU. It's also looking that the two new machines are extremely alike and subsequently fairly cost efficient to develop for.

So, with the massive - and fairly loyal - customer base that Steam has; when did anyone see Mass Effect 3 or Battlefield 3 appear via Steam? EA are trying hard to get Origins established; to the point where they are willing to shut off large revenue streams for their products from markets unwilling to buy into OriginOrish1te.

As for cost-cutting; EA are always firing staff. They have an appalling reputation for how they treat their studios & staff. They're the Walmart of gaming; very good payoffs until they tire of you and then it's an economic death sentence because they want personal ownership of what little of your assets remains by that stage having been bled dry by a thousand cuts.

TheIrishGrover

Lemming wrote: »

So, with the massive - and fairly loyal - customer base that Steam has; when did anyone see Mass Effect 3 or Battlefield 3 appear via Steam? EA are trying hard to get Origins established; to the point where they are willing to shut off large revenue streams for their products from markets unwilling to buy into OriginOrish1te.

To try to force people to use THEIR online store over the competition. They'll take the short/medium term hit if they think that it'll pay off in the long run.

Lemming

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

To try to force people to use THEIR online store over the competition. They'll take the short/medium term hit if they think that it'll pay off in the long run.

My point (perhaps poorly worded) was that these companies will not always chase the money on offer, or not hesitate, etc. If they believe they can get more money out of denying entire markets in the long run whilst taking a financial hit, some companies are prepared to try it. And EA are trying to do just that.

Otacon

Engadget Article

Earlier this month, EA DICE's Johan Andersson dropped a major bomb: Frostbite 3 won't be ported to the Wii U. The news meant that the company's next-gen franchises were doomed to skip the console: No Battlefield 4, no Star Wars games, no Mass Effect spin-off. Now, EA's Jeff Brown is saying the same fate applies to all of the company's titles, telling Kotaku that the company has "no games in development for the Wii U currently."

The last console EA stopped developing for? The Dreamcast.

/gulp

Varik

Otacon wrote: »

Engadget Article



The last console EA stopped developing for? The Dreamcast.

/gulp

There are like 15 Frostbite 2/3 games in development, what games are they making that don't actually use the this engines. The keep announcing that games are being moved to using frostbite rather than their other engines or any 3rd party one.

Otacon

Varik wrote: »

There are like 15 Frostbite 2/3 games in development, what games are they making that don't actually use the this engines. The keep announcing that games are being moved to using frostbite rather than their other engines or any 3rd party one.

I assume their sports titles like FIFA and Madden won't be coming to the Wii U in future.

This may also mean that the Star Wars games they are going to be making are also not making the jump to the console either.

FutureGuy

Quite frankly, I couldn't care less about this. I cannot remember the last time I bought an EA title for a Nintendo console.

Vyse

Otacon wrote: »

Engadget Article



The last console EA stopped developing for? The Dreamcast.

/gulp

They never even start developing for the Dreamcast:eek:

richymcdermott

Didn't Ea publish boom blox and bash party to the wii

they also released dead space extraction exclusively for awhile but due to low sales it was shifted to ps3.

i don't recall anything else they did for nintendo system that worth noting

Vyse

richymcdermott wrote: »

Didn't Ea publish boom blox and bash party to the wii

they also released dead space extraction exclusively for awhile but due to low sales it was shifted to ps3.

i don't recall anything else they did for nintendo system that worth noting

I think they released all the Fifa series. Not that I like them but they are a massive seller.

Deano7788

Vyse wrote: »

I think they released all the Fifa series. Not that I like them but they are a massive seller.

But were they that big a seller on Wii? The Wii versions were always vastly inferior to the other versions. I'd imagine most of the sales were on 360 and PS3.

Vyse

Deano7788 wrote: »

But were they that big a seller on Wii? The Wii versions were always vastly inferior to the other versions. I'd imagine most of the sales were on 360 and PS3.

I would guess you are right about that but, regardless, it is still one of the biggest franchises out there.

I don't know if there were massive sales of any third party title on the Wii. That was probably reserved almost exclusively for 1st party titles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games

Nollog

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2013/05/21/ea-developing-wii-u-games-after-all

EA are very confused.
Now they have Wii U games in development.

richymcdermott

to be honest what they brought to wii u is confusing

they bring mass effect 3 but give ps3 and 360 the mass effect trilogy and then they scratch their heads why the game didnt sell well

then with fifa 13 it was shown the game is actually fifa 12 and missed alot of features compared to the ps3 and 360 version.

so after all this bashing the wii u from ea now they are saying they are making games for it.....

ugh my head hurts

CastorTroy

Maybe they realised their excuse of how the number of Wii Us sold didn't justify development wouldn't hold up once they revealed they had Vita games in development.

Banjo

Man, the games industry is turning into X Factor. EA hates Nintendo! No wait, they get on fine! Oh no, Danni is quitting the show because Iwata wore the same dress as her to auditions!

Look, clearly they were dipping their toes in the water, seeing how much weight they had to throw around and whether Ninty would cave and put Origin on the WiiU. Ninty held course and toughed it out. Had the MS Xbox One announcement gone better EA might have been content to leave things as they were, with all their eggs in 3 baskets (PC, XBox, PSx) instead of 4. It's still a long way from saying they'll port Frostbite 3 with reduced features.

I had a look through my collection last night. I have one EA game on the Wii - Big Beach Sports (in my defense I bought low on preorder with the intention of trading in in the first week, then forgot about it). I won't miss them on the WiiU, but if highschool rules apply then there's a lot to worry about when the biggest kid in the class says you smell and have cooties.

Star Lord

SSX Blur was ok (for an early Wii title) and Dead Space Extraction was pretty damn good. Other than that, I don't think I'd any other EA titles for the Wii.

Richard Dower

Wii U is dead now, Nintendo need to get out of the hardware game...just make good games.

Banjo

nah, the WiiU was dead last week

As of the "Xbox One" announce, it's back! Zombies are all the rage in gaming these days

CastorTroy

EA Sports Active people!!!

I don't think it would bother me if EA left. If Ubisoft pulled support, then I think it may be time to worry. Not because I bought loads of their games but they have supported nintendo the whole time.

Corholio

From WiiU Daily. EA do more backtracking than opposition wingers at the Nou Camp. They really are an awful company.

Electronic Arts has said a lot of things when it comes to the Wii U. From saying that there are no games in development to Frostbite 3 being incompatible, it seems like the company is doing an awful lot of backtracking these days.

Now EA Games Label Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund is at it again, saying that Frostbite 3 is compatible with the Wii U but getting it running is not high priority for the company.

"However making Frostbite 3 work on the Wii U is not impossible. Where there are gamers, we’ll be there as well. This is the true meaning of “omnidirectional”.

richymcdermott

Corholio wrote: »

From WiiU Daily. EA do more backtracking than opposition wingers at the Nou Camp. They really are an awful company.

Electronic Arts has said a lot of things when it comes to the Wii U. From saying that there are no games in development to Frostbite 3 being incompatible, it seems like the company is doing an awful lot of backtracking these days.

Now EA Games Label Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund is at it again, saying that Frostbite 3 is compatible with the Wii U but getting it running is not high priority for the company.

"However making Frostbite 3 work on the Wii U is not impossible. Where there are gamers, we’ll be there as well. This is the true meaning of “omnidirectional”.

i believe this to be the true story of developers reasoning why they dont bring their games to the wii u. what really gets me is they bring games like mass effect 3 to the wii u at the same time bring a trilogy to the ps3 and 360 then complain it didnt sell. Not to take into account the userbase is small and the console is brand new.

also they bring 6 month old ports to wii u with missing features and expect it to sell well.

the only 3rd party developer so far that has done an excellent job bringing a port over to the wii u is citeron with need for speed.

Radiosonde

Corholio wrote: »

Where there are gamers, we’ll be there as well. This is the true meaning of “omnidirectional”.

Glad they cleared that up. I was worried omnidirectional was just a stupid buzzword.

Banjo

In any relative frame of reference, "backwards" is a direction. Pedalling furiously in that direction is quite a windswept and dynamic action - any good company can move forwards, it takes a truly great one to move backwards at the same time. Kudos, EA.

CastorTroy

I'm confused. I have a Wii U so that means I'm not a gamer? Hmmm. Does that even cancel out the fact i also have Wii, PS3 and PC?

Captain Chaos

CastorTroy wrote: »

I'm confused. I have a Wii U so that means I'm not a gamer? Hmmm. Does that even cancel out the fact i also have Wii, PS3 and PC?

No, what EA and most developers are saying is that the WiiU is in no mans land. It's more powerful than the consoles that are at the end of their prime of life now and it's no where as powerful as the next generation mainstream consoles.
It's in a niche market that is too expensive to cater for, for the small returns involved.