Unreal Engine 4 won't support Wii U
Mark Rein says UE3 will continue to power Wii U titles
Unreal Engine 4 and Wii U are two great tastes, but they won't taste great together. Epic Games VP and co-founder Mark Rein told Kotaku at a GDC panel that his company's latest engine won't support Nintendo's latest system.
"We have Unreal Engine 3 for the Wii U," Rein said. "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."
Given that the Wii U's technical power is more comparable to current-gen systems than what we know about PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox, the decision seems reasonable, but it's still a shame--particularly taken with the news that Battlefield 4 and its Frostbite 3 engine are not planned for the console, either.
Epic released another tech demo for Unreal Engine 4 today, which we guess you could watch on Wii U's YouTube app if it's any consolation.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.
Take-Two boss says the Borderlands movie "was indeed disappointing," but it still helped sell some Borderlands games
Monster Hunter Wilds players use the Palico character creator to remember lost pets: "I have shed tears multiple times but I also feel happy that I can still fight monsters with my buddy"