While the teams that create such hardcore game franchises as Battlefield and Darksiders may be embracing Nintendo's Wii U platform, id Software creative director Tim Willits has his doubts about the viability of such content on the platform. Speaking to Eurogamer at E3 this week, Willits said that he has a lot of doubts that there is an audience on the platform for the games his company makes. id Software is currently working on its post apocalyptic shooter Rage for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
"The Nintendo market is a tough market for us to get into," said Willits. "A lot of first party games, a lot of licensed games – those are the ones that have done the best on that platform. I'd love it if we can get a hardcore FPS community going and build on it, but it's tough."
"I think we should keep our toes where we know best," he added.
Willits also said that his studio is not in any hurry for Microsoft or Sony to bring new consoles to market, citing the stability of both platforms as the core reason.
"If they want to stack another year or two on this generation I'd be more than happy. I know somebody is working on it somewhere but I don't want to hear about it."
Rage is set for a release in September.
Source: Eurogamer
Comments
Re: id Software Cautious on Wii U Development
I think they run into two basic problems:
(1) The hardcore FPS community is bending over backwards to hate the WiiU, even though they could easily be a group that would benifit greatly from it. They, more then any other game demographic, seem to have the biggest social barrier to new things that deviate from acceptable pissing points.
(2) Developing for a platform that has a significant unique feature is always a rick. Develop stuff for the PS3, XBox, or PC and you can have pretty much idential gameplay on all three platforms, thus all you have to really do is deal with middleware and tweak the build. A unique feature means either producing a unique gameplay experince or ignoring the feature.
Re: id Software Cautious on Wii U Development
Actually, from id's POV, I think there are two other legit concerns:
(1) Nintendo's history of avoiding 'adult' content going back to the days of Mortal Kombat, which is a big part of the reason that they have no real third party support right now.
(2) How modern will the system truly be. Nintendo has promised HD after their last console was intentionally last gen on graphics, but 'next gen' on innovation with the remotes. But the questions remains whether Nintendo can deliver.
Re: id Software Cautious on Wii U Development
*nods* I could see both of those too, though (1) is probably a much smaller concern then it was in previous decades.
Re: id Software Cautious on Wii U Development
It may not be as much of a concern now, no, but Nintendo has already dug themselves the hole on the matter. Because of both content and graphics, Nintendo is viewed as the kiddie/family console.
It's going to take a lot to change that perception.