In an interview with Nintendo Life, Rive developer Two Tribes has revealed that the game will be delayed on Wii U and might in fact switch to NX
Having been confirmed during the Spring for a September release on Wii U, PC, PS4 and Xbox One, there’s now some disappointing news for Nintendo fans. Two Tribes has confirmed to us that the Wii U version of RIVE won’t be hitting that window, and at this moment of time doesn’t have a fixed date. Two Tribes is keen to bring the game to Nintendo hardware and it may transition to NX – depending on what the next-gen system actually is – as the studio wants to ensure that the experience reaches its standards of 60fps performance, a benchmark vital to shooters and bullet-hell titles of this nature.
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First of all, can you talk us through the reasons and thoughts behind RIVE being delayed for Wii U, or perhaps being moved to NX instead?
It’s very important to us that Nintendo users will get a great version of RIVE, but unfortunately we don’t know at this point when or how we’ll be able to deliver this. There are two main reasons for this, one technical and one business related.….
The market has also changed. The game was supposed to ship over a year and a half ago, and things are a lot different now. Nintendo is exiting the Wii U market early in favor of the NX which means a long tail in sales is not looking likely. So that is the business part; do you release a game on a platform in its last days or on a new one that’s better suited and can reach gamers for years to come?
While this is disappointing , we can hope that Rive will be a success when it does arrive on a Nintendo platform. Whether that be on the Wii U or the NX. It is understandable that many are worried about the long term viability of putting a game on the Wii U with the NX looming, considering that Nintendo is winding down support. That said however, there is still a market of Wii U owners who would like games to play and this would be perfect. Either way, we wish them the best.
You can read the full interview here