Battlefield prod: No successful shooters on Wii so far

NewsPublish Date 10/02/2009 - 2:30pm GMT

Confirms DICE has no plans for Nintendo's console.

There haven't been any successful shooters so far on the Wii, the lead producer of upcoming download-only Xbox 360, PS3 and PC shooter Battlefield 1943 has claimed.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com in an interview to be published tomorrow, DICE producer Patrick Liu confirmed that the studio, which is owned by US powerhouse EA, currently has no plans for the Wii.

He said: "I can say we currently don't have any plans for the Wii. The Wii is a very difficult platform, not just because of the performance but mainly because of the controls. There haven't been any successful shooters so far, as I see it, on Wii."

Liu's comments disprove speculation that a Wii version of the parkour-inspired Mirror's Edge, also made by DICE, was in the works following EA CEO John Riccitiello's recent promise that it will produce half of its upcoming console games for Nintendo platforms.

EA hopes to release games that rival Nintendo's in terms of quality, from casual experiences like a new tennis franchise to core games like Dead Space, which the company released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last year.

When asked what EA's plans meant for DICE, Liu said: "DICE as a studio is quite autonomous. We focus on what we think is best for the studio. If that involves Nintendo or not, well we'll see about that."

Check back tomorrow for the interview with DICE's Patrick Liu in full. In the mean time, head over to our hands-on preview of Battlefield: 1943.

What do you think readers? Do you agree with Liu's claim that there haven't been any successful shooters so far on the Wii? Let us know in the comments section below.

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User Comments

elmer

Insanity.

Sheer insanity.

I bought Mirror's Edge on the PC, played it, loved it, and thought, "wow, now I understand why this game must suck on the PS3/360, this game CAN NOT WORK WELL on a control pad, but this MUST be made for Wii"

It was a game that didn't require precision gaming, that was about intuitive kinetic movement, and wasn't about bloody guts and gore. That seems pretty Wii to me. I can't go back to control pads after Metroid Prime 3, and I can't face a Mirror's Edge 2 knowing what could have be. You've lost a potential sale here. Did you or your parent company need it? Mirror's Edge did THAT well huh? I guess you should write a letter to the 1100 laid off EA staff explaining to them that their redundancies were due to poor console choices. Oh, EA already sent them that memo? Well fancy that.

Posted 02:50 on 11 February 2009

thpcplayer

agreed with Lee completely

Posted 16:21 on 10 February 2009

CheekyLee

Another display of developer stupidity. Despite having an installed base that outstrips 360 and PS3 combined, they still won't put any effort into making the most of the COLOSSAL opportunity that is put in front of them. It is no surprise that Nintendo games clean house when released, as they are the only developers prepared to release anything other than Grandma's Pet Sudoku Trainer on the console. No More Heroes, as 'core' a title as you could hope to see has fared well enough, with close to 400,000 units shifted to date.

I will never understand this assumption from developers that there is no market on the Wii for 'core' games. Mark my words, the first developer to invest any amount of time into producing quality content for the system will be richly rewarded. Red Steel broke the million sales barrier, something that all three versions of Mirror's Edge combined have struggled to do.

Posted 16:09 on 10 February 2009

FantasyMeister

To be fair, if you look up the number of shooters for the Wii you'll only get about 13 results, whereas PS3 has 44 and 360 has 100. So it's not really a case of shooters not being successful on the Wii, it's just that not many have been released for it.

Edit: Just pulled some figures from VGChartz.com, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption sold 1.5m on the Wii as of 1st December 2008, so whilst not critically acclaimed it can't really be called a flop.

Posted 14:45 on 10 February 2009