The Wii U just never seems to get nice things. Nintendo’s console won’t be seeing the 25th anniversary edition of the wildly popular Madden franchise when it releases in a few months, and unfortunately, there won’t even be a press conference centered on the dual-screened device at E3. There’s also been little Nintendo support from DICE and its eye-popping Frostbite engine, but according to the team’s technical director, the console’s inability to even run Frostbite 2 has forced the developer to stick with the higher-end platforms for the upcoming Frostbite 3 technology.
This comes from DICE employee Johan Andersson, who confirmed that the developer’s absence on Nintendo products isn’t due to any strange dislike for the Mario maker. The engine the team works with just doesn’t blend with the hardware.
“FB3 has never been running on Wii U,” Andersson Tweeted. “We did some tests with not-too-promising results with FB2, and chose not to go down that path.”
Along with this news comes a fresh screenshot for the game, which can be seen above. This is what you can expect to witness on Sony and Microsoft's platforms, but sadly, Wii U owners will be out of luck.
Although not having any Battlefield game must be difficult for Nintendo to swallow, this has an even wider-reaching impact than just military shooters. Battlefield 4, Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, and even the next Mass Effect title will all be running on Frostbite 3. If what Andersson says is true, none of these projects will appear on the Wii U, giving consumers even more reason to look elsewhere for entertainment. And with Star Wars games now being published by EA, expect all that Jedi action to be running on the popular engine, too. It’s not the end of the world, but this isn’t the best news for a company that can’t seem to hit its financial projections.