The annual DICE Summit took place in Las Vegas this past weekend, where industry giants like Gabe Newell and Randy Pitchford gave talks concerning their specific games and business models. One thing that was conspicuously absent at any of the talks was the Wii U. According to Sidhe developer Mario Wynands on NeoGAF, the only thing developers had to discuss regarding Nintendo’s new console was projects that have been cancelled.
At DICE, nobody has been talking about the new Wii U projects they have started, only the Wii U projects that have just been cancelled.
Platform is in serious trouble.
This is troubling news this early in the platform’s life, but remember that Nintendo has always struggled with third party support since the days of Sony’s PlayStation overshadowing the Nintendo 64. Wynand’s goes on to further mention that a “top selling game for the platform” that was expected to sell millions only sold thousands. He doesn’t make mention which game he’s referring to, but we know Epic Mickey 2 did poorly and New Super Mario Bros. U hasn’t been received as well as it could be.
Pubs and devs never recoiled from PS3 like they seem to be with Wii U (though this is anecdotal). There was always the confidence that the numbers would get there over time with PS3. I’m not sensing that with Wii U.
What are your thoughts on Wynand’s statements? Keep in mind this is one particular developer speaking about his experience at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas. It’s obvious that Nintendo needs to step up their pursuit of third-party games for the platforms so that news isn’t what’s not coming to the Wii U, but is there more Nintendo could be doing? Let us know your thoughts.
For those interested in watching all the DICE Summit talks available, check out this Engadget post.