Baldur's Gate not coming to Wii U, says Beamdog: We don't do Nintendo

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Studio founder reveals axe to grind: “Wii is a toy, not a console”

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition won't be coming to Wii U, says Trent Oster, founder of distributor Beamdog. Which is regrettable, but hardly show-stopping news. Only Oster's not done: the Bioware veteran took the opportunity to clarify his company's stance toward Nintendo, explaining why Beamdog has no further plans to work with the Japanese giant anytime soon.

Beamdog and subsidiary Overhaul Games, which is in charge of the Baldur's port, previously worked on a WiiWare conversion of MDK2, which Oster says was enough to swear off working with the company in future. He cites the company's high sales threshold and tight developer restrictions: “6000 unit sales before payment, a 9 month certification process and a 40mb [game data] limit.” He says this experience gave him the “belief that Nintendo isn't a good platform for developers.”

“The Wii is a toy, not a console,” tweeted Oster (via Eurogamer): “you buy a Wii, Wii sports and never buy another game. Bad for devs... we made a great version of a fun game, MDK2 for Wii, and it didn't sell anywhere near our expectations.”

Of course, charges of Nintendo's strict control over third-party devs are hardly new – and Oster allows that the company's own efforts, such as Ocarina of time and Mario 64, “blew me away on N64.” However, he says that the company's now focused on “110% Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition for the visible future” – and if Wii U owners want in, they'll have to pick up a real console like the iPad.