Epic Not Making Middleware for Wii

Each and every time Epic Games’ Mark Rein opens his mouth, there’s seemingly always something noteworthy that comes out. In a recent interview, the Epic vice president said the company has no intention of working on any sort of middleware for the Wii, and that their focus remains on systems that can really push the bar visually.

“I think the problem is that it’s not in our wheelhouse. I mean, what we’re doing is the really high-end, next-generation visuals. We’re pushing these [Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3] machines pretty hard.

“I just think that we have too many things on our plate to go back and put resources in that kind of situation.”

Rein believes that it doesn’t make much sense financially to work on middleware for the Wii, because unless you’re selling that middleware to Nintendo, there isn’t enough of a market to really make any sort of money.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of money on making engines for the Wii…because the big software dollars right now are being earned on Xbox 360 and they’re going to be earned on PlayStation 3, and I think unless you’re going to sell your engine to Nintendo, you’re going for scraps on that platform.”

So, no Unreal Engine for the Wii. I’d still love to see Factor 5 work on something for the system, as they’re as good as it gets with regard to pushing the limits of a console.via GamesIndustry.biz