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Pikmin 3, the only Nintendo produced Wii U launch game which thus far appears to appeal to the core gamer, will not offer online multiplayer, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has told IGN.
Given Nintendo’s new focus on connected experiences – see Miiverse – you’d have thought online multiplayer would be a given, but apparently not.
“You have to be very careful that you don’t drop frames as you’re trying to sync up with other players over what could be a very great physical distance, over the internet,” explained Miyamoto. “But in the situation of Pikmin, for example, since you would have lots of individual, small creatures, the Pikmin, whose every movement and location is going to be really important in the game, it would be very difficult to sync up over an internet connection.”
Pressed on the issue, particularly the argument that plenty of other games manage to synch up lots of units just fine, Miyamoto added: “So I think what we’ve decided to do is focus on the single-player and local multiplayer aspects, which are really fun. But unfortunately, no online multiplayer for Pikmin 3. But the co-op local multiplayer is really fun.”
Pikmin 3 is expected this holiday alongside the Wii U.
