Project Cars Stalls Out On Wii U Due To Flagging Framerate And Other Technical Issues
Project Cars appears to have gone from "coming later" to Wii U to "maybe not coming at all." Slightly Mad Studios director Ian Bell has opened up about some of the problems the studio is having getting the game working well on Nintendo's latest console.
"At the moment we're running at about 23FPS on the WiiU," Bell stated on the company's forums on May 24. "We're awaiting/hoping for more of a hardware announcement at E3."
Unfortunately for Bell, Nintendo has quashed any hope of discussion about the NX. The console was announced in March, as Nintendo presented its new mobile partnership with DeNA. There is no confirmation that the NX will be a traditional home console, but the company says it won't be sharing additional details until 2016.
Bell continued to engage with fans. "Honestly, unless we really cut the looks back, I think we're looking to Nintendo's next console." He also confirmed that the 23FPS Slightly Mad has been able to coax from the Wii U is at 720p, not 1080p.
Bell hasn't ruled things out entirely, though. "We could reach a fairly solid 30FPS but it might take a hell of a lot of work," he says. "On the other hand, about halfway through us finishing, Nintendo might announce a new console (I have zero knowledge on this BTW but I've heard 'rumours'). Our work might just be the best thing that ever hit that new console in the driving sim genre. So we're playing a waiting game at the moment and yes, economics do come in to it."
For more on Project Cars, check out our review.
[Source: Slightly Mad Studios via Matt Sainsbury on Twitter]
Our Take
It seems clear from Bell's statements that the time, expense, and compromise that would be required to get Project Cars running on Wii U would be excessive. While the game isn't canceled per se, I'd start saying your goodbyes, at least for now.