Nintendo fans hoping that Skyrim or possibly the next Fallout title will come to the Wii U stand a good chance of ending up disappointed, as Bethesda has made it clear that they currently have no interest in developing for the platform.
In the latest issue of MCV (via Videogamer) Pete Hines, the VP of PR and marketing at Bethesda explained that at this point in time, they don't believe Nintendo's upcoming hardware will be a good fit for the games that they make. “So far the Wii hasn’t fitted into that. Whether Wii U does down the road is TBD,” he said. “I don’t think the current generation of consoles are holding us back. There is still plenty that we are able to do visually, technically and from a story-telling standpoint. And there’s this huge built-in audience now.”
Hines went on to also point out the risks involved in developing for brand-new hardware, saying that jumping on board the Wii U bandwagon this early in the game may not be a wise move for the studio. “The developers are trying to hit a moving technical target, because the platforms are being built. A new console doesn’t just show up a year before launch and is exactly what it will be when it comes out. It moves and iterates along the way. And introducing something like that to games that are in development is always a bit tricky. And that is obviously an element of risk.”
Of course there's always that other deterring factor of a super limited install base, which Hines also points out. “The second point is that your install base always starts at zero. Then it comes out and suddenly a certain number of people buy it but it won’t be the same number as the current gen. So you have divided your audience.”
At this point Bethesda clearly has enough on their plate just trying to get Dawnguard to run on the PS3. Right now, I don't think they can handle developing for a tablet-based console.
