Are These The Early Last Days Of Wii U?

Unreal Engine 4, Frostbite 3, not coming to Wii U.

The next generation of consoles has dawned, and with it the reality of Nintendo’s Wii U, as major game engine companies like Epic Games and DICE have revealed that Wii U doesn’t fit their strategy moving forward.

Things got really animated when Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein was asked about Unreal Engine 4 appearing on the console. A laugh ensued, then this answer:

Hahaha no.

I mean, sorry, it’s not really a correct answer. We’re not… we have Unreal Engine 3 for the Wii U. Right? And Unreal Engine 3 is powering all kinds of amazing games, still lots of games are being made with Unreal Engine 3. We announced today about a new Unreal Engine 3 license. Unreal Engine 3 doesn’t disappear because of Unreal Engine 4. But our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles. That’s really what our energies are focused on. If you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it’s powering some of the best games on the Wii U already.

Nothing controversial, guys

Well, it was controversial. Rein winded up backpedaling almost immediately, telling Engadget his comments were a “stupid gaffe”, and reiterated that “if someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen.”

But Unreal Engine 4 isn’t Wii U’s only problem. DICE’s Frostbite 3 won’t create games for the console, as DICE has confirmed.

So is this the beginning of the end for the Wii U? Will its fate be like that of the GameCube?