EA CEO says Wii U isn't next-gen, but pledges support for future consoles

The Wii U may not form as big a part of the publishing giant's plans.

[Jadedz]

From a ''cost perspective,'' the Wii U is an ideal console for developers whom consider development cost important. If you have the money to spend on software (EA is this case) - then sure, publishers will likely go big not worrying about the repercussions (I.E - bankruptcy).

Nintendo did the right thing with the Wii U by aquiring game engine licenses ( http://www.engadget.com/201... , http://www.develop-online.n... , http://www.cinemablend.com/... so we shouldn't fault them for trying.

[darthv72]

is next gen from the POV that it represents new tech that Nintendo had never released before. Unlike the Wii which was slightly better than the Gamecube. the wii and gamecube were closer in specs which is what lead many to proclaim the wii as being a gamecube 1.5.

Wii-u uses much better hardware than any previous nintendo system. It is next gen for nintendo.

As for the industry, sure the wii-u is only marginal when compared to the other platforms and will be surpassed by the specs of sony and ms. EA knows this and are wrong for saying the wii-u "isn't" next gen.

Especially considering there is no precise starting/stopping point for what is classified as a "gen" or generation. Sony made the bold claim of "the next gen does not start until we say so" back before the ps3 launched but even they knew they were wrong from an overall POV.

their claim only held true for them. Simply because it was "their" next gen system not one that was representative overall.

Nintendo started off the next gen with their wii-u. Sony and MS will follow suit and then once the last one enters the ring it will shift from "next" to "current" and the cycle will begin again.

[stuntman_mike]

@darthv72

well said bub+

[stragomccloud]

Clearly you don't know much about the hardware of the Wii or the Wii U. That comment made my day.

[Donnieboi]

So what if this tech is "new" to Nintendo, it's still old tech. So, by Ninty fanboy logic, Ouya is next gen too. Would u say Ouya is next gen COMPETITOR?

Also, when u said: "Nintendo started off the next gen with their wii-u. Sony and MS will follow suit and then once the last one enters the ring it will shift from "next" to "current" and the cycle will begin again"

All that quote made me think of is how the Wii U is the one who's actually late. Late for the Ps3/360 era. Sony and MS have nothing to worry about when it comes to the Wii U.

The Wii U is late to the last generation consoles, and a mere companion system at best (to the last gen and the next).

Ps4 is coming. Get worried.

[lfclee]

I will say one thing you clearly don't know anything about spec's and you are reading garbage , the Wii u has similar architecture has your ps4 , virtually the same accept for a few tweaks here and there ., you won't even notice anything unless you look at your tv close right up to the screen , honestly !

[darthv72]

"The Wii U is late to the last generation consoles"

you base that off of what exactly?

Sony was the last to enter the 7th generation cycle. Actually, it was both Nintendo and Sony that entered around the same time but with that you had 360, PS3 and Wii that made up the (then) current generation of main consoles. Since that time (06/07) we have been thinking about what is to come for the next gen.

Nintendo starts off the 8th generation with the wii-u. A significant bump in specs compared to anything they ever did before and people dismiss it as being late to the party? Sorry, i dont agree. Wii-u is next gen and we will see how much of an improvement the next xbox and ps will have in comparison.

Keep this in mind though, the one the succeeds in the consumer market isnt always the most technically advanced.

[Tei777]

Consoles don't actually carry around their own unique development costs figures. Its down to the developers to budget their games. Just because you're producing a game for a powerfull system it does not mean you are then required try and utilise all of its power. You can have a system 10x more powerfull then the ps3, yet produce a game which looks like it was made for the snes. And in reality its actually cheaper to develop for the more powerful platform because it means that you dont have to optimise as much, and thus development time shrinks.

I really do hope developers realise this and start budgeting and pricing their next gen games appropriately.

[madjedi]

And yet the 360 and ps3 will just magically disappear, leaving the wiiu as the only cheaper development costs option. You nintendo guys have funny logic.

[Jadedz]

I didn't factoring in those two consoles, but we're talking about ''next-gen,'' which the Wii U is.

The fact remains; Wii U still has licensing agreements with all those game engine manufacturers (which can't be said for the others consoles at this point in time).

[madjedi]

I am merely referring to development costs, i am not caring if it's last gen or next gen.

And the ps3/360 will still be more lucrative to develop for because a 140-150 million install base, verse a 4-5 million or zero install base.

"Next gen" Sorry i am seeing another gen 1.5 vs next gen consoles that aren't being labeled next gen just because it's the newest model.

Nintendo has their generation cycle and the industry has it's and they aren't the same.

Next gen should be a significant power increase, if not there is no point to having a next gen console.

[lovegames718]

lol hahaha

[Zeppelino]

Wow, you have really made your point there!

[metroid32]

WiiU is NEXTGEN it has a more powerful gpu than the rumoured 720 and ps4 so all this talk of nextgen look Nintendo have had Retro studios build game engines for the last couple of years for WiiU to make sure 3rd partys can make amazing games EA are the next studio to fail hopefully.

[patriotZero]

Wiiuuuuu!
Your body is reggie

[Jadedz]

Can you please provide a link (being serious here)?

[Highlife]

Weather it is or not doesn't even matter. third party titles didn't sell on the wii and it doesn't seem like that is going to change with the wiiu. I bought a wiiu for my kids the only titles they want on that system envolve Mario, Kirby, and Zelda. They only want the games that you can only get on nintendo. I can only imagine that is why most nintendo fans by the system. If you are not a fan of their games what is the point of buying the system when currently ps3 and xbox360 can hang with the system in terms of graphics and soon to be released ps4 and xboxnext that will most likely be more powerful than the wiiu in terms of power but also in terms of online capabilities as well.

[metroid32]

And Mario and zelda are for kids yeah just because u buy one for the kids doesnt mean shit mate real gamers played a snes ect not just a 360,and we all know mario games are hard to complete and have always been classed as hardcore,Zelda is the best game on this planet and all the devs that mean anything that develop on ps3 and 360 worship Nintendo as being the best developers ? WiiU is for adults mainly,your kids will get more fun out of a ps2 or a wii ????? crazy.

Xenoblade WiiU is the game to beat graphics wise END OF,and the rumour of Gearbox developing an UE4 FPS for WiiU but having problems with ps4 devkits ???? yeah WiiU is for KIDS only your kids will have a more mature console than you because JRPG'S are the most hardcore out there.

[XXXL]

Crack kills metroid

[1upgamer99]

You know when you post things like "more powerful" you should post links to back up what you say. As you should know, I love Nintendo but I have read nothing that says the Wii u is more powerful than PS4 or 720 will be. In fact I have read they will have quite a bit more power than Wii U.

[deafdani]

As a big Nintendo fan myself, you embarrass me. Spouting false information as fact does not make your point stronger. Ugh.

We. Don't. Know. The specs. Of the. PS4. And. Next Xbox.

WE DON'T.

Therefore you can't say the Wii U has a more powerful GPU than those consoles.

I don't fucking care if people want to label the Wii U as a next gen console or not. It is next gen only by virtue of being the sucessor of the Wii, that's it. Hardware-wise, I don't know how it will compare to the next consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

What I care about is the games, and Wii U has already quite a lot of exclusive games I'm looking forward to.

[jmc8888]

Actually we have a pretty good idea what it is, and they aren't that powerful. But this isn't surprising to anyone who understands the lay of the land.

If they wanted to put in a GTX 780 they could, and have a box that cost $1000+, sucked up twice-thrice the power, so on and so forth.

Seeing how they don't want to lose money, don't want RROD, don't want it to cost even as high as the PS3, yet at least for xbox want the Kinect 2 and hand manipulator in it, then you know they are not going to be very powerful.

Wii U/720/PS4 are fun, and will put out great games, but none of them are going to be powerful.

The rumors are of a downclocked and partially stripped AT 7850, aka the power of a GTX 560ti basically.

Now this can do a decent job, and is 2-3x faster than a Wii U, but will be 1/5th-1/15th as fast as a PC when they launch. (1/5th of a mid range single gpu card and 1/15th of a dual gpu card that is sli'ed). Roughly, but that's pretty much what it will be.

The rumor is 1.2 TFlops of performance.
The GTX 690 is 5.6 TFlops (non-overclocked)
The Nvidia titan is coming next month that will raise that by a rumored 10-20 percent.
Then we have the Nvidia GTX 7XX line in June, expect 50-100 percent bump up.

Which means the successor of the GTX 690 will probably top 10 TFlops and be able to be SLI'ed, meanwhile the GTX 770-780 might end up right around what the GTX 690 is.

Rumors? Sure. But this is how things work.

So when you compared Wii U to PS4/720 no doubt it is significantly behind, but still capable of running the same games, just at lower settings.

Just as the PS4/720 will run games at lower settings at launch then the PC. Starting from day 1, PC graphics will start pulling away, slowly the first year, but after that they too will be significantly behind.

A cheap PC built this summer will have a larger gap between it and a PS4/720 then a PS4/720 have over a Wii U.

The Wii U will hold it's own pretty well against the PS4/720.

[deafdani]

All of what you listed is a series of educated guesses, rumours and speculation. None of that equates to actually KNOWING what the next consoles will be like.

Don't get me wrong. I also think it's a possibility that the gap in power between the Wii U and the other next consoles isn't as big as it was between the Wii and Xbox 360 and PS3.

But I don't KNOW that.

For all we know, Sony could put out a console that's just as powerful as you claim, making multiplatform titles perfectly workable between it and the Wii U... while Microsoft launches a console that absolutely blows them both out of the water.

Again, we don't know. All that's going on here is just us playing the Pachter game.

[Qrphe]

Guys, just stop feeding him (I'm not much different either by posting this)

[chasegarcia]

The WiiU specs are too low.The same console concept with better specs would have been a Must-Buy instead of a Wait-and-See. The name is also _lame_.

[ahronith]

Yea because PS4 is just so amazing as a name...

[lfclee]

Honestly your ps4 is about the same specs has a laptop you can buy for three hundred bucks .

[chukamachine]

I don't think wii u would have done much more even with more power.

Nobody buys Nintendo for 3rd party games.

People buy it for Mario,kart, etc.

Now run off and play with your mii's

[Root]

It's just not future proof in my opinion

This year and maybe the next fine but after that once the PS4 and Next box really get going and third party devs realise they can do more on those two consoles then that one console....they'll just leave the Wii U in the dust, it's not a personal thing to them, it's just they want to create better games without being held back by something.

[jmc8888]

No tech is future proof.

Especially not a PS4/720/Wii U. PS4/720 will be 1/5th-1/15th the power of a PC when they launch.

So you dare call THAT future proof? Something that far behind? Yet the Wii U isn't?

How about none of them are, and the start of this console cycle leaves all of them severely more behind than last gen. Think if 360/PS3 released 1/3 as powerful as they are yet PC's had what they had, and well, you still might have to knock down the 360/PS3 to equal what PS4/720 will be versus PC's.

All will be fun. I'll buy them. Already have a Wii U. Have a GTX 670.

But let's just get real here. A GTX 560ti was bargain mid range in 2011 for PC's, and that's basically what they have in them.

[saint_seya]

How u can tell how powerfull the next gen consoles are when u dont even know his real specs..
U act like an inmature guy that try to tell us the difference betwen pc and next gen consoles, when is a fact u dont have any idea of how powerfull is the ps3 or xbox...

[MEsoJD]

I think the key word is "longevity". The wii had short term success, but is dead now. A big thing for devs I'm sure is a console that will last and will have backers that actually buy software.

[lovegames718]

This super lame metroid32

actually said that the Wiiu gpu is stronger than the rumored ps4 and xbox specs lol What a clown!!!! and you see i told you he was delusional. Take your underwhelming crap and shove it with your weak @ss cpu and moderate gpu lol I know some of you Nintendo drones are hating and crying about the rumored specs and are dreading the day ps4 gets announced lol

[fonger08]

It wasn't too long ago that EA bashed the PS3 when it came out citing Sony's arrogance would be their downfall this generation and PS3 did quite well. So I don't take much of what EA says seriously anymore since they really haven't been relavent since the PS2 hay days.

[cee773]

Actually it was ea who said ps3 would begin to outsell 360 since early 2008

http://www.joystiq.com/2008...

so unless you can provide a link to EA claiming to the downfall of sony(Because of arrogance), WE DONT BELIEVE YOU YOU NEED MORE PEOPLE lol

[Genuine-User]

As much I like and respect Nintendo, I just don't see the Wii u competing with Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's NextXbox in terms of raw power.
I will definitely buy a Wii u this year but I know my purchase will be based on the games, not the graphics. Nintendo has a way of making games that are entertaining for all ages.
I just hope they fix their archaic/ancient online infrastructure. I prefer a unified online ID that stores my digital content in the cloud and allows me to download it on more than one Wii u. I don't like my digital content to be locked on a single device.

[jmc8888]

It will. PS4/720 won't be that powerful.

A GTX 560ti isn't very powerful, which is basically the power of a downclocked and partially stripped ATI 7850.

A GTX 770 will probably be 4-5x more powerful and be available for about $400 for your PC. A GTX 790 will probably be 8-10x more powerful and if you SLI them, probably around 15x more powerful.

So compared to these truisms, how bad do Wii U's specs look when you consider these cards might be 30x or a bit more powerful than a Wii U?

In other words, on that sliding scale, the PS4/720 are closer to the Wii U than a PC. Meaning, they won't be left behind.

PS4/720 will have larger textures and a few more DX11 eye candy options, but essentially will run the same game.

People keep thinking...well Wii U won't be able to play Watch Dogs or Samaritan demo like we saw them, well neither will PS4/720.

A GTX 560ti IS NOT...I REPEAT IS NOT...THREE SLI'ED GTX 580's. So neither will PS4/720.

All fun. But people need to understand this.

Can rumors change? Sure. The problem is, they'd probably changed downwards, not upwards.

[Ck1x]

I keep saying the same thing as you! People know very well that when both Square and Epic showed off Agni Philosophy and the Samaritan demo. That what was shown was only capable on hardware pushing close to 3Tflops in power. So why do people continue to disillusion themselves into believing that these systems will produce something better than what we've already seen?

[Dno]

already 3rd parties backing out. i cannot wait to see what happens in a year when 720 and ps4 are actually out.

Edit:
O well i got it for HD mario and zelda and metriod and those games are worth 350 bucks IMO

[chadboban]

Well when you release nothing but a bunch of half assed ports of games that are already available on other systems with some extra functionality attached, don't be too surprised when your game doesn't sell on it. To think EA came up on stage at E3 to talk about their amazing partnership with Nintendo and the Wii U and that's all they have to offer.

[pennywhyz]

EA is not next gen with their games running on the same engine for 7 years straight. EA is a sham with their new games running on old engines.EA SUX IF IT WASNT FOR OTHER COMPANIES RAISING THE STANDARD EA WOULD STILL HAVE US PLAYING PS1 SO THEY CAN STILL MAKE A TON OF MONEY.

[palaeomerus]

Poor Wii-U just got Dreamcasted by EA. Big time DIS.

[Jek_Porkins]

The Wii U is technically "next gen", just like the original Wii was "next gen" when compared to the PS3/360. It is not the tech inside that makes a console next generation, it is simply the order or number of hardware that has been released.

I am enjoying the Wii U, if that had launched with the PS3/360 instead of the Wii, Nintendo wouldn't have won that generation. The Wii U will certainly be less powerful than the next Xbox and PlayStation, but it wont be as noticeable as the regular Wii was when compared to the PS3/360. The main reason is because the Wii U is HD and is capable of running games at 60fps and 1080p.

Nintendo went with architecture that should be very familiar with third party developers, they did the right thing, it's just that third party developers aren't showing much interest in the Wii U at the moment.

The Wii U should be fine and I see a lot of people picking one up when some of the better known Nintendo first party games are shown off. Nintendo has always been about gameplay and fun, not graphical power.

[chadboban]

Like you said, the next Playstation and Xbox will definitely be more powerful than the Wii U, but the difference in power won't be as stunningly huge as it was with the Wii and the PS3/360. It'll be noticeable though just not as much as everyone thinks(or fanboys hope).

[kingmushroom]

lol where else will they pledge full support ? Ouya and PC LMAO

[NYC_Gamer]

EA does support PC with software plus they have Origin

[Sucitta]

Origin is the definition of NO support..

[krazykombatant]

more doom gloom articles in N4G. God i can't wait till the ps4 and nextbox come out so that the MSONY fanboys can go back to killing one another.

[metroidfusion2]

Ha ha I like how dumbass people think they know the future lol

[LOL_WUT]

See the Wii U isn't next-gen its just a Wii 2 with HD, but SOME people just can't seem to accept this. ;)

[PygmelionHunter]

Err... You are aware that you comment on every single, negative Wii U article, right? If it's not a "next gen" console then why do you care so much?

[megamanX2]

you people sure are dumb do you really know what next gen really is? the willu is been out for a while since last year hence it's current gen, and i suppose it isn't newer/better than then wii making it not next gen. Lol its funny to read the comments people making in the past tense, so i guess the 360 want a real next gen as it definitely wasn't better than the original in anyway right? Any retard that thinks tech alone makes things newer and better needs their head checked, and if that was the fact my current pc will blow away any of the newer consoles making them inferior before than even exist.

[chronoforce]

Lazy EA ! getting a shooter and adding tablet support is lazy,pathetic and not a unique experience then publishers want to sell that to people who play Metroid,Zelda and Mario some of the greatest and unique games on the market. The PS3 and Xbox Libraries are saturated with sports and action games because they sell, so why don't publishers saturate Nintendo's market with platformers and action adventure games. take Ubisoft for example know a platformer on a Nintendo console is going to sell. Publishers should be looking at how well Rayman sells not >insert shooter<. mark my words, bayonetta, aliens colonial marines, injustice etc are going sell either poorly or moderately. Devs need to make new characters,worlds and lore specifically for Nintendo that are as appealing to their fans as Mario et al until this happens a lot of 3rd parties Devs will not enjoy success on a Nintendo console.

[3-4-5]

That was Dumb for EA to say.

It makes them sound arrogant, as if they know what they are talking about or doing.

They fail more than they succeed and are on the verge of not mattering any more next gen.

EA is terrified of Next Gen.

Next Gen for any console is a time when NEW dev's can come in and steal the show.

Everybody is on a level playing field and gets a fresh restart.

Let's see EA try and buy their way out of this one.

[Gamer-Z]

Its Nintendo's next console and the Wii's successor so yes its next gen, but if you want to throw specs around than no its not and neither is the PS4 or 720 because by the time those systems release they will be obsolete when compared to PC systems.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

"In many ways we would argue that what we're describing as 'Gen 4' is yet to come. It's that that we're excited about, and that's what we're investing in."

"what we're describing as 'Gen 4'"

This confirms everything we have always said. WiiU beats PS3 and 360 BUT will not beat PS4 and 720.

I am a Nintendo fan, but even Iwata said that Sony's and Microsoft's new systems would probably be more powerful.
------------ So, this is no surprise and it is a FarCry from what the WiiU-HATERS have been saying, "WiiU is weaker that PS3 and 360"

So, what's going on is WiiU is more powerful than current Gen but EA has no plans to exploit that power increase instead they are going to push Max Specs on PS4 and 720.

It is Next Gen but they aren't classifying it as such-
"Ours is an industry where a lot of devices come in and represent themselves as the next generation, or the next generation after that,"

No matter what, I don't worry about EA making games for Nintendo- They usually brought the big names to Wii even in 2012.

[stragomccloud]

People seem to be misinterpreting what he has said. It's true that the next gen has yet to begin. This is because the other players are late to the party. Once Sony's and Microsoft's next consoles come out, then developers can start making games for all three of the consoles. Instead of porting last gen games to the Wii U.

[wiiulee]

lol...wiiu is exactly what next generation needs a unique system..not just prettier pixels..nintendo has delivered in spades but haters are not use to thinking outside the box or really think of innovation

[Thepcz]

all these articles are shit.

plus, how does ea think its good business to diss its customers. all it does is paint an extremely bad picture of ea. unprofessional to say the least.

maybe they are pissed because their latest (identical) installment of fifa didnt sell. no wonder, seeing as it was shit and a poor effort.

they arent very open about how 'not-very-next-gen' each yearly update of fifa is.

to spell it out, ea are shit. there comment just hammers the last nail in the coffin for my support of any of their software.

even as a kid when booting up a fifa game, when the intro says 'e-a sports... its in the game!' i would instead say 'e-a sports... its fucking shit!'

nothing ever changes.

[CaptainN]

Of all the companies that are going out of business, why couldn't EA be one of them :/

[Ck1x]

With the rumored specs of the 720&PS4 only putting them at 2-3x the power of the WiiU respectively. You guys really need to be honest with yourselves here and admit that this next-gen isn't as big of a leap as many were hoping. I remember people claiming that the PS4 would be 6-8x more poweful than the WiiU... But 6 & 8 are a long ways away from 3. As I've stated before on multiple occasions. The PS3 on paper is theoretically almost 2x the 360, but name one game that gives the PS3 such credence to say it's twice as powerful. If the 720 is only 2x the power of the WiiU, its fair to say that the visual difference between the two consoles will be about as much as it was with PS3/360.

[Gamer39]

Sorry, what that's EA?
Ok, clear, this is huge 90% medicore games publisher. Not interesting, NFShit, Fifa 300040, awesome MoH, Sims etc.

System seller brand EA?
Wii U isn't next-gen, Wii U isn't next-gen...boring, EA isn't interesting many quality games.

[Game3s]

Didn't EA CEO say the exact opposite when he went on nintendo's E3 press conference, something sounds fishy.

[Ck1x]

Yes! And he declared an unprecedented partnership and support with Nintendo as well. So the only thing that had changed between e3 2011 and up to the launch of the WiiU, was that Nintendo had decided on not using Origin as its primary service! Sounds like hurt feelings to me.

[quantae06]

Even the first Wii was even considered Gen 3 by EA, and it was heavily underpowered. So, it's not a power thing people!!! EA could be saying that they wont fully support the Wii U. With Nintendo & EA Origin breakup EA has been crappy towards Nintendo. EA stated they would fully support the Wii U out the gate until the nasty Origin rejection happened. Now, we see some EA games not coming on the Wii U.