Dev says companies talked about canned Wii U games rather than new ones at DICE, more

Developers and publishers from around the world gathered at the D.I.C.E. Summit earlier this week. For Wii U, the main piece of news stemming from the event concerns the delay of Rayman Legends. But that’s not all – there’s another concerning Wii U update to discuss.

Sidhe co-founder Mario Wynands writes that other devs and publishers were discussing “the Wii U projects that have just been cancelled” rather than “the new Wii U projects they have started”:

At DICE, nobody has been talking about the new Wii U projects they have started, only the Wii U projects that have just been cancelled.

Platform is in serious trouble.

Wynands later clarified that these companies particular apply to ones from the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia.

Additionally, Wynands noted how “a high budget Wii U game” hoping to sell “millions” has only sold “tens of thousands” thus far. It’s unclear which game was being referred to, but “It is one of the top rated games for the platform.”

Pubs and devs never recoiled from PS3 like they seem to be with Wii U (though this is anecdotal). There was always the confidence that the numbers would get there over time with PS3. I’m not sensing that with Wii U.

I had a data point yesterday at lunch with a high budget Wii U game that was hoping to sell “millions” over time. It only managed “tens of thousands”.

And lastly, when asked if Nintendo’s handling of accounts have influenced developers on Wii U, Wynands said:

Apart from the clunkiness of the Wii stuff years ago, haven’t ever really had a dev complaining much about any account based stuff over more pressing issues. Hasn’t impacted any business decision I’m aware off (there was debate about the PS3 game sharing stuff).

These words certainly don’t paint a pretty picture for Wii U. You have to wonder what Wii U owners can expect in the third-party games department over the next year – and even the console’s lifecycle.