The Wii U Won't Be Getting Unreal Engine 4

This week at the Game Developers Conference, Epic Games took their usual opportunity to show off the latest developments in their whiz-bang Unreal graphics technology. In addition to theshooty/demonic demos in futuristic/fantasysettings, one of the most touted features of the engine was that it can scale from next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 all the way to mobile devices and even web browsers. Which raises the question: If the Unreal Engine 4 is so scalable, can it run on Nintendo's still-new Wii U?

The Wii U uses hardware that's more or less as powerful as the current Xbox 360 or PS3. It's certainly still more powerful than your average mobile device. Epic has been unclear about the Wii U's support for UE4 in the past, with Epic co-founder Mark Reintelling Videogamer that Epic doesn't intend to bring the engine to Wii U, but that "if a customer decides they want to port an Unreal Engine 4 game to Wii U, they could."

I figured I'd ask straight-out, so during the Q&A with Rein, I did. "Will UE4 run on the Wii U?"

"Hahaha no." Rein said, with expert comedic timing. The room erupted with laughter. As the laughs died down, Rein continued: "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," he jokingly chided.

So, it sounds like for all intents and purposes, the Wii U won't be getting the Unreal Engine 4, and therefore won't get games made using the engine. Coupled with the news from earlier this week that the Wii U won't run EA's new Frostbite 3 engine (which runsBattlefield 4 as well as the next Dragon Ageand Mass Effect games), it's looking like Nintendo's console is going to have an increasingly difficult time keeping up with the competition.

http://kotaku.com/the-wii-u-wont-be-getting-unreal-engine-4-462919060

Nintendo E3 conference preview:

Nindendo fans, good luck with Nintendo exclusives only again.

It is what it is

They're not even trying...

"But our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles."

Weak, not next-gen hardware, etc... that is not me only the gamer industry laungh at the Wii U.

Wii U have no power to use next-gen engines.

Why do you expect games like that to buy on Wii U anyway? I got a PC for that, Wii U for the unique japanese games.

Why would it come to Wii U? I didn't hear any plans to bring it to 7th gen hardware.

Well yeah. This must be why Nintendo is pushing Unity and the other free engines its including with the system so hard.

I wonder how easy it is for a dev to scale a game between UE4 and UE3?

I think I said it a few months ago, but this again is a prime example of what the industry thinks about Nintendo. It's just the way things are. Nintendo is going to have a tough time ever being taken seriously by the current industry leaders.