Crytek chief puts on his Warface and says why Crysis 3 for Wii U 'had to die'

GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi interviews Crytek chief executive Cevat Yerli about the upcoming free-to-play shooter Warface and the GFACE social network.

[yewles1]

"We did have Crysis 3 running on the Wii U. We were very close to launching it. But there was a lack of business support between Nintendo and EA on that. Since we as a company couldn’t launch on the Wii U ourselves — we don’t have a publishing license — Crysis 3 on Wii U had to die."

Oh EA...

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

a lack of business support between Nintendo and EA.

Could this mean it's part nintendo's fault?

[TheGamingArt]

90% of the time it is (cough Nintendo and history of lack of 3rd party support cough). It's not a coincidence.

[MacDonagh]

I'm sure that Nintendo would love to have a game like Crysis on their console. Perhaps EA didn't like Nintendo's terms or EA just doesn't want to invest in a console like the Wii U?

[darthv72]

EA and their terms of service regarding any kind of online connectivity?

The Wii-u may not have been up to EA's requirements in order to host any kind of multiplayer portion of the game.

It seems like an issue with both sides. Its easy to blame nintendo but lets look at EA for being strict with their online structure.

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Ah, let us not forget that EA wanted to control all of the Wii U's online infrastructure, so this just shows a case of EA's spitefulness if nothing else.

Edit: AO1JMM beat me to it...kinda.

[mistertwoturbo]

Yeah because the Wii U version would have looked "Dramatically Better" if they would have released it.

http://www.gameranx.com/img...

But eh, just your normal Nintendo generation. Sucky 3rd party support.

[Gamer1982]

Typical fanboy response.. Get a room with your console will you..

[mistertwoturbo]

^I have a feeling you didn't see Reggie Fils-Aime

[DeadlyFire]

Too early to launch Crysis 3 on the console. Profit margin is very low for a new console until after the first year or 2.

Funny thing is how Crytek got it running in how long on the WiiU?

[just-joe]

Seems developers were interested, but EA not so much.

[DigitalSmoke]

Because without high res texture's the game gets exposed for being completely mediocre, thats why.

[Jek_Porkins]

Would have been nice to see the graphical improvements a Wii U version could have gotten. I mean if Need For Speed was getting PC textures, why not Crysis 3?

Sucks that companies want to put their games on the Wii U but publishers aren't willing to risk it at this time.

[AO1JMM]

Wonder if this was a result of the NO ORIGIN on WiiU thing.

[MikeMyers]

EA has always tried to push themselves and their clout on others. They didn't support the Dreamcast, they were hold-outs on Xbox Live until Microsoft caved in and let EA run their own servers. They didn't support some games on Steam because they are trying to get people on Origin (Battlefield 3).

The problem with EA is they have their own online infrastructure. I also expect EA to fully embrace digital content and discontinue physical discs in the near future.

[Sashamaz]

In short what you are saying is that EA is a business trying to make money in the same way that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will never have their 1st part game on other platforms.

[MikeMyers]

Yes and no. You can see Microsoft trying to expand Live features. I think they even have IOS support. Of course they also have Windows that can tie the Xbox brand to it. Then you have Sony who are willing to work with Android and now with their acquisition of Gaikai expect that streaming service to be available on other platforms. Perhaps smartphone and such.

Do you see one large company missing from that? It's Nintendo. You see their problem is they are too wrapped up in history and are the slowest to adapt. They want to keep the value high and thus by doing so they make sure their games remain within Nintendo.

With EA there is a bit of a conflict of interest because they have Origin and have invested a lot into their own cloud features and online infrastructure. They are first and foremost a 3rd party publisher so they of course want their games out there. Which is why they support consoles. But they also want you to be in the EA world which is why they are now implementing your EA account that can run across multiple platforms. This of course may have issues with how Valve, Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Nintendo want to integrate it with their own infrastructure.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Just another example of 3rd party devs/publishers jumping ship and hedging their bets on Nintendo and the WiiU. Rayman...pushed to launch with 360&PS3 and now Crysis 3 not even seeing the daylight on the console. NOT a good sign for the WiiU.

[MacDonagh]

The Rayman debacle doesn't make any sense whatsoever. They've got a finished Wii U game in a warehouse somewhere scheduled for release in February, a bare month for gaming in general and they postpone it to run concurrently with the releases on the 360&PS3? IN SEPTEMBER!?

Choosing to go against the plethora of titles that are coming out for the Wii U in the near future is a stupid move. Choosing to go against a behemoth like GTA V is probably the worst mismatch since Mike Tyson vs Michael Spinks.

Check out this Miiverse video of the various Wii U users being angry at the fact of Legends being pushed back to September. Each angry person is a customer lost forever to Ubisoft and Rayman Legends.

Get some tea and watch. It's worth noting that most of them aren't even mad about it going multi-platform.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I get what you are saying...BUT from a business sense if they are worried about Rayman under performing on WiiU it actually makes more sense to hold it and launch all 3 sku's together. When games come out at the same time they have a higher success rate across all platforms vs if you have one sku come out months before. Look at Mass Effect 2 on PS3..it sold far less than its 360 counter part even though it offered up lots of extras free. WiiU owners that were going to get it now more than likely will still pick it up in Sept.

Also....on the off chance the game is bad you don't want bad reviews of the WiiU version out there for PS3 and 360 owners to pre-judge their versions. Look at Aliens Colonial Marines for WiiU...do you think that game has a snow balls chance in heck to sell great on the WiiU since it got delayed from the original launch window?

[MacDonagh]

I agree to an extent about Rayman being held back for a simultaneous release but it's a problem. The first month of sales is the most important for any game. If the first month is disappointing; the games will be cut in price while stores try to clear inventory and the publishers/developers are screwed. That's a problem for most games.

Releasing in a launch window when GTA V and various other games that are going to be released is suicidal. Rayman Legends looks great but it looked a lot better when there weren't that many games to play. Not to mention that it's not as if Wii U won't have any games in the pipeline for the September window. So the people who were waiting for Legends will move on from that point and will either be playing GTA V, the various other games that will have been released between March and September or a Wii U game like Windwaker HD for example.

Aliens CM was an utter omnishambles. Gearbox should be ashamed for allowing it to even be released. It's not as if they didn't have enough time. They probably used their resources to concentrate on the Borderlands IP and handed it off to Timegate to salvage under 9 months.

If it turns out that the Wii U is the "best" version; it's still not going to sell thanks to all the negative controversy that has been generated. It's a poisoned game and Gearbox may have lost a lot of trust between gamers and publishers because of their actions.

[DwightOwen]

EA: Bend over.

Nintendo: Fuck you.

[kevnb]

sounds about right. But its the same reason sony was able to dominate them for two generations. And in the long sony still is dominating them. Even evil Microsoft knows you can screw with the customer as long as the devs are on your side. Screwing with the devs/publishers is suicide. Nintendo could be in big trouble without a fad gimmick.

[Dubaman]

Seems like EA is really pissed about the whole 'middle finger to Origin' malarkey. Maybe Nintendo wanted a Crysis Trilogy released after people keep asking for a Trilogy of Mass Effect as opposed to just releasing Mass Effect 3. EA didn't want to do it after ME3 pretty much bombed on the WiiU, which any sane person could tell you it was going to happen. Personally, i'd love a Mass Effect and Crysis Trilogy on my WiiU. The tablet interface really does change the experience of the game and with the new hardware it really make some (NOTE: Some. Crysis 1 will always be 'a PC game') of these games shine a little brighter.
Either way it shows lack of thinking on EA's part though Nintendo has been known to be quite Draconian with third parties so it could be various reasons. They should just grow up and release some f*cking games..

[LastXeno]

Gotta be careful what third party companies you support if you're a Nintendo only gamer like me. It's pretty cutthroat.

[kevnb]

I dont blame them, most of the people who would buy crysis 3 will do it on another platform even if it was on wii u

[CaptainN]

I am so done with EA...between their lack of support, crappy ports, sabotaging game releases(Mass effect 3 vs Mass effect collection) Micro transactions, and recycled sports games every year like Madden, Fifa, Tiger Woods and now not allowing games to be finished like Crysis 3 on Wii-U. The only positve is the Need for Speed release on the U, and even that comes out later then the other versions. Its time for EA to be put out to pasture and people need to stop supporting this company !!! EA keep your stupid Origin, nobody who plays on the U wanted it anyway.

[Gamer1982]

Meh your not missing much anyway Crysis 3 should be played on a decent PC NOT a console. Crysis is a game to show off how great your PC is. It's not a great game it just LOOKS a great game. Looks horrible on consoles compared to my £300 PC.