Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online put on hold indefinitely

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   September 11th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Ubisoft has put the Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online on hold indefinitely, with the development team at Shanghai studio shifting their focus entirely to the PC version of the game.

Talking to Videogame, Ghost Recon Online’s producer Theo Sanders conceded that the development team is only working on the PC version of the upcoming free-to-play shooter and therefore the version for Nintendo’s next-generation console has been put on hold.

“As of right now, the entire Ghost Recon team is focused on the PC version only,” he said. “The Wii U version is on hold.”

Explaining why the publisher had made such a decision, Sanders said that even though the development of both the PC as well as Wii U version of the game were being carried on simultaneously at one point, the studio eventually wanted to have the entire team working on the PC version.

He admitted that the fate of the Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online is not clear yet and that the studio is still to decide where they want to go after they are done with the PC version of the game.

“It’s hard to say how the future will go for Ghost Recon Online,” he later said, seemingly a bit unsure of whether the development of the Wii U version will be resumed at all. “I think in the future as different platforms evolve towards service models and towards being really online-driven, community-driven platforms, then we’ll definitely be looking at what our options are.”

While it is not uncommon to see development on a certain project being stalled as the studio works on another project, the decision taken by the publisher in the case of Ghost Recon Online comes off as a bit alarming for Nintendo since the free-to-play shooter was being considered as one of the games that would help in making the fate of its upcoming next-generation console brighter.

Being of the first games to be announced for Wii U at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the game holds a great of significance for the console. Nintendo is already on the back-foot ever since receiving an underwhelming response to their upcoming console. Even the announcement of the console launching with the likes of new Mario and Pitman game failed to get gamers excited, putting the Japanese company in an even bigger fix.

A number of developers had also bluntly stated that the Wii U GamePad was not going to work with first-person shooters, with Activision allegedly going as far as stating that it will not release a Call of Duty game for the console unless an alternative controller is released, which Nintendo complied to by revealing Wii U Pro Controller.

With Ghost Recon Online put on hold and possibly getting thrown in the dustbin, Nintendo will surely have to think of something quick to keep Ubisoft’s decision from having an impact on the sales of Wii U, which is expected to arrive in the market this holiday season.