Rumor: EA and Valve looking to bring online services to Wii U
A source, who is friends with an engineer at EA, claims to have been given information online plans for Wii U.
This source has reason to believe that EA is looking to make their Origin service a significant aspect of the console’s online plans. If true, players would be able to take advantage of full-on voice/video chat, leaderboards, and comprehensive friends lists.
The source said:
“Many publishers are happy with Xbox Live’s features, but they aren’t happy with how strict Microsoft’s guidelines are. Nintendo went with an open flexible approach with online because when Nintendo asked developers/publishers what they wanted in an online service, that was the number one thing they asked for.”
The rumors don’t end there. Supposedly Valve hopes to bring their Steam platform to the console. EA, however, are “aggressively persuading Nintendo to go Origins exclusive with Wii U’s online so they can gain a competitive advantage over Steam.”
That’s assuming any of this is real, of course. We’ve all heard the “my friend/parent/dog works at X and told me X” story. This round of speculation is interesting, but take it with a grain of salt.
