System Faults Didn't Stop THQ From Bringing Metro: Last Light To Wii U

[zarx]

Aielyn said:

zarx said:
The Wii U isn't even close to a tenth of the addressable audience of even the PS3 and the devs already said due to how the game uses the CPU the Wii U version would show the game in an unfavorable light.

Metro 2033 sold twice as much on PC as 360, adding the PS3 may add upto (most likely less) an extra 25% more addressable market (gamers interested in this type of game that own a PS3 and not a PC or X360) the 360 version will be the best selling console version by far so 15% is probably more acurate. But the Wii U currently has an almost nonexistant market share, so the gain in addressable market would be negligable to nonexistant. I can't see how diverting the resources from the Wii U port into making the 3 versions with the largest market share better, is a bad business decision for a company that might not exist to see any potential rewards from establishing a market on an unproven platform.

The dev has since said that that wasn't true, that Metro wasn't ever actually tested on the Wii U, so they couldn't tell you whether the CPU could handle it.

The Wii U has practically nonexistant market share *now*. It launched three weeks ago, of course it doesn't. Guess what - every platform has been in exactly the same position. Did developers refuse to develop for the 360 because it had only sold a couple of million, after a few months? No, they put their games on the system. And taking risks is also known as doing business. THQ are in a hole that is deep enough that continuing to do what they've always done, and playing things safe, is pretty much a guaranteed death sentence.

No THQ PR went into damage control mode. There is a differance. They had early dev kitts and the head of engine development got the impression that the CPU would cause problems for his engine and that a potential Wii U version would show the game in a bad light. So they decided with THQ to scrap the Wii U version and focus on the other 3 as they decided it wasn't going to be worth the investment. 

Yes there is plenty of good reasons to be at a console launch, which is why THQ launched Darksiders 2 on Wii U. But that only makes sense if the game will be better on the new platform (past launch where people will buy almost anything as there is not much choice) on X360 there was much more hardware power to drive interest over the old platforms, on the Wii motion controls brought new novel game experiances. The Wii U on the other hand would most likely be a slightly worse performing version with some buttons thrown onto the tablet. Unless you have a gimmick to do with the Wii U pad such as Zombi U's inventory, BLOPS 2's local multiplayer or even the Aliens motion tracker there is no reason for someone to buy the Wii U version of a game over another platform, unlike past new consoles so you would only be addressing Nintendo fanboys with Wii U versions. Metro has no split screen, no real need for a map and no real inventory management there is really nothing to gain from a Wii U version of the game.