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Game developers: Nintendo's Wii U is a 'disappointment'

Electronic Arts' Peter Moore hints that his company may not bring other games to the Nintendo console.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Nintendo's Wii U is in developer crosshairs after a less-than-stellar start.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in an interview published on Monday, Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore confirmed that his company -- one of the largest in the gaming industry -- has no games currently in development for the Wii U.

"We were there with four games for them [at launch]," he said in the interview. "It's been a disappointment when you look at sell-through and, as a company, we have to be very judicious where we deploy our resources."

Nintendo has been loath to admit fully that the Wii U has been a "disappointment." The company has acknowledged that sales are softer than expected, but it believes that first-party titles, including new installments in The Legend of Zelda and Luigi franchises, will turn things around.

Still, it's hard to argue with Moore's sentiment. Over the last several months, Nintendo has been unable to sell 100,000 units in a single month in the U.S. Meanwhile, its elder competitors, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, have been beating it in overall unit sales. And with both Sony and Microsoft preparing new consoles for later this year, even more trouble seems to be on the horizon.

A strong game library has always been the reason consoles sell well. That said, another major game publisher -- Activision -- has nothing planned for the Wii U. Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told GamesIndustry.biz that his company has "no announcements now" about upcoming Wii U games.

Even Ubisoft, which was one of the foremost supporters of the Wii U at launch with ZombiU, is taking a wait-and-see approach. The company's CEO Yves Guillemot said that ZombiU was "not even close" to profitable, causing him to shelve any plans for a follow-up. What's worse for Nintendo, he said that his company is willing to wait and see what happens with the Wii U through December, but if things don't turn around, Ubisoft would need to "see where we are from there."

So, what does the future hold for Nintendo and its Wii U? If publishers continue to ignore the console, nothing good.

CNET has contacted Nintendo for comment. We will update this story when we have more information.