Wii U Does Not Support EA's Frostbite Engine

News
By Catherine Cai
published

Yes, this means EA's Star Wars game won't be coming to the Wii U.

Nintendo's goal for the Wii U was to bring on board plenty of third party developers and third party titles. It was the publisher's attempt to tell gamers that they could still be considered hardcore, even after their long association with casual gaming on the Wii. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Nintendo's attempt to court third party developers with its new console is working out too well. So far, the Wii U's have been playing catch-up with the current-gen, receiving re-releases of third party titles that have already been out long before being on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Now, after bringing FIFA, Need for Speed, and Mass Effect to the platform, EA may be jumping off the Wii U ship. According to the publisher, the Frostbite Engine 3 won't be coming to the Wii U. "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," explained DICE technical director Johan Andersson via Twitter.

This means that the Wii U won't be getting some of EA's biggest upcoming titles including the next Mass Effect, Dragon Age 3, Battlefield 4, and the unannounced Star Wars game that will be coming out of the new EA-Disney deal.

Things aren't looking good for the Wii U on the third party end. Nintendo might be able to get by this generation cruising on the power of the first party, yet again, but it won't be able to survive riding its train by itself for forever.

Catherine Cai
50 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nevilence
    This console seems to have been a rush job with little real foresight. I mean if it is playing catch up with current consoles then someone in Nintendo is dropping the eight ball. Which is a pity, as I am a fan of Nintendo and have played since the original
    Reply
  • wiinippongamer
    Good.
    Reply
  • Ninjamonkeh
    IIRC the unreal 4 engine wasnt on wii u , or at least epic wouldnt use it but maybe someone else would. Doesnt look good for the wii u.
    Reply
  • hero1
    Someone dropped the ball at Nintendo. I am glad I didn't get one because I was that close to doing so. Phew, dodged that one!
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Never really understood the hubbub about the Wii U. It seems like a rushed console, barely superior to the XBOX 360/PS3. Microsoft & Sony's next-gen consoles will smoke it, as they did with the Wii. Oh well, Nintendo's sales will reflect this. Suck for them.
    Reply
  • dormantreign
    I bought the WiiU for its first party games. No Regrets....give me the Zeldas :)
    Reply
  • Its because the Wii and Wii U were designed for the casual/family/sub 12 yr old crowd that game. Not hardcore fps shooters. The next gen graphics such as frostbite don't mix and shouldn't with the Wii. Stick with Mario Nintendo.
    Reply
  • unknown9122
    Wii-garbage
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Sorry to say this, but the premise/title is very stupid.
    Hardware doesn't adapt to software; it's the other way around.
    Cheers!
    Reply
  • themissingpiece
    Doesn't support it? More like EA/DICE is too lazy to adapt it to WiiU/they can't make money off Frostbite WiiU games. If they can adapt BF4 to the Xbox 360 and PS3, they can adapt it to the WiiU. I'll wager that the WiiU can run Frostbite better than those ancient pieces of technology can too.
    Reply