Nintendo’s thus far underwhelming Wii U console may have recently hit another stumbling block: next generation EA games powered by the Frostbite 3 engine won’t be coming to the Japanese company’s console due to performance issues.
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EA DICE technical director Johan Anderson revealed to fans on Twitter Monday that the company ceased development of Frostbite 3 for the Wii U after Frostbite 2 tests yielded “not too promising results.”
@mutedpenguin FB3 has never been running on WiiU. We did some tests with not too promising results with FB2 & chose not to go down that path— Johan Andersson (@repi) May 6, 2013
The result is that Wii U owners will miss out on many highly anticipated next generation titles, including Battlefield 4, Madden 25, and the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games.
The loss of Frostbite 3 is the second disappointment for the Wii U in recent months. At the Game Developers Conference in March, Epic Game’s VP Mark Rein told the audience that the company’s Unreal Engine 4 would not be designed for the Wii U. Unreal Engine 4 games could still be ported to the Wii U using a different engine, but that would be an expensive and time consuming process that many developers want to avoid.
Nintendo has struggled since launching the Wii U in November 2012. The console was met with mildly positive reviews but failed to generate the excitement and sales of its predecessor. With an expected 2012 loss of $366 million, Nintendo is now trying to shore up its financial position by modifying the console to support smartphone and tablet games with the hope of attracting a new demographic of gamers.
The loss of major next generation titles due to engine incompatibles, and the impending launch of the PS4 and next Xbox will place Nintendo in a precarious position during this holiday shopping season.
The Wii U has sold approximately 3.5 million units as of March 31, compared to a cumulative total of 99.8 million for the original Wii.
