Tell us what you really think, Epic Games
Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 10:37am by Blake
Epic Games doesn’t like Wii. Here’s what president Mike Capps had to say in a gang-bang interview with IGN.
“Pffffffffft…[when asked by reporter Nate Ahearn what the chief officer thought of Wii, to which Ahearn replied, "I think the same thing!"] It’s a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they’re like, ‘Oh my God that’s so cool, I’m gonna go buy it’. So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they’ve showed it to someone else who then goes out and buys it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on.”
Capps then proceeds to call Wii a great business investment but that his company will not be investing. “We go forward, not back,” he said, suggesting that any company that develops Wii games are digressing the medium, not progressing it.
Sounds like someone is scared Nintendo will eat into their lucrative middleware business, which makes its money selling pretty graphics tech to game developers. It’s one thing to dislike Wii for what it is, but another to dislike it due to conflict of interest.
Beware of anyone who brags about buyer’s remorse.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:05 am
I actually read this http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/technology/21wii.html?ref=business this morning and I don’t think we (as the Infendo community) can really comment on how things really are through out the industry. Sure, most of the people *I* know play their Wii all the time, but I do know that at least one buddy of mine plays his Xbox360 more and hardly touches his Wii.
I’m really surprised to hear that sales of Brawl have slowed down as much as it is claimed in the article.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
I think the same thing! Just kidding.
The Wii is very much like the DS in that only 1 in 10 games is worth playing. But that small percentage is highly addictive and often replayable. Other than Guitar Hero, does PS3 have a good party game? Does 360 have a Mario Strikers? Sure, both of those systems have a ton of gorgeous games coming out every month, but do those games offer more than a few weeks worth of fun? I still throw WiiSports in my Wii almost 18 months later.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:15 am
Dustin,
The issue isn’t who plays which system more (there have been periods where I haven’t played my Wii that often). The issue is that Epic stands to do better financially if Wii isn’t as snuff as the majority of people find it to be currently. That said, I wouldn’t expect Capps to say anything different.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:39 am
I guess what I failed to get across is that I agree to some extent with this guy. Just this morning someone mentioned to me that they finally got a Wii so they can Bowl. Right away I thought, it’ll never be used for anything more than Wii Sports. This is great for Nintendo in that they sold some more hardware (at a profit of course) but not that great for software makers.
To hear that sales of Brawl dipped so radically after the first week shows how large the real Wii install base is, it’s considerably smaller than what has actually been sold.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:51 am
What an arrogant jackass. I’ve owned my Wii for over a year and I still play fairly regularly. I understand that I may not be ‘the norm’ statistically, but the fact that sites like this exist show that there are MANY people who still play the Wii regularly.
to him.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am
In response to both this and the NY Times article: I’m an early Wii adopter (Late Nov 2006) and I still get plenty of use out of the system, but I also don’t have the time or money to buy three games a month anymore, so I pace myself and pick things up when I’m actually done with the last thing, or I get them from Gamefly and then send them back when I’m done. Protip: those of us who grew up with Atari are nearing 30 now. We have jobs and families and we don’t generally get to play 4 hours of games a day unless we’re lucky enough to work in that industry. I still love my games, and I still play through them, but it takes longer and that’s fine with me.
As for the Wii specifically, I bought the heavy hitters - Twilight Princess, Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Smash Brothers… I’ll be buying Mario Kart and Wii Fit, and I’m looking forward to picking up Okami and No More Heroes and Boom Blox. For the speed at which I can play through them, there’s no lack of good gaming on the system, but that certainly doesn’t equate to “I don’t want more”. Of course I do. I just don’t buy them like a 14 year old using his parents’ money anymore.
As for Epic’s comments… whatever. I played about an hour of both Gears of War and UT III on the PC, and wasn’t the least bit interested in either of them. Gears of War seemed like a fairly entertaining game, but I guess it wasn’t what I was in the mood for at the time, and UT III was actually far worse, in my opinion, than UT 2004. The graphics are technically better, but the environments are all a muddy grey-brown mess, the weapons haven’t improved, and the new vehicles don’t feel as good as the 2004 ones. I’m not at all surprised their PC sales were crap for that.
In short: I don’t think the Wii is missing out on anything, not having Epic’s games.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:10 pm
What? People make public statements that are intended to help them make more money? Astonishing!
(Remember Factor 5 telling us that PS3 was the answer to gaming before Lair was released, and then doing the Wii flip-flop not long ago when it was announced they were working on a game for Nintendo’s system? Somehow this has a similar ring to it.)
April 21st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
“…but that certainly doesn’t equate to “I don’t want more”. Of course I do. I just don’t buy them like a 14 year old using his parents’ money anymore.”
LOL… brilliant, because it’s true.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Dang it! There goes our port of Jazz Jackrabbit!
April 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Best line and away of life for Wii owners!
“Beware of anyone who brags about buyer’s remorse.”
Yep any one thats says they bought a Hummer and the gas prices are killing them will just look stupid or like a sheep. Yet people do this online so many times on the “hardcore” sites. Seriously to say there is nothing to play on the Wii is like saying you don’t really like gaming or shall I say console gaming. Because arcade and PC gaming are really different. Maybe people can’t afford all the good games on the Wii and VC? After paying for a $400 consoles funds seem to draw up a little I guess.
So many people are part of the dust bunny club online and you have to ask your self why are they not playing the VC games how come the last game that they’ve played was metroid or some thing? I mean really I and many others have like 11 Wii games almost and 1 Sd card of VC games already. Some of these games haven’t been beaten by most “hardcore” players. I mean really I can’t believe any one that did not download and beat sin and punishment. Seriously that game blows gears of war out of the water.
Blake is right though if epic pushes there stuff on to the Wii they can’t charge more for their tech then. Seriously the HD systems provide a nice bank roll from MS. If MS falls then they are at the mercy of SONY. That is not a good thing at all. I think Mr. Capps is just frustrated with the fact that they spent all this money to make such a nice looking graphics engine that plays just ok. Then nintendo just uses the same old stuff and crushes every one.
The funny thing about this virus he speaks of is that it actually called having fun? It’s crazy how he takes a word like fun a turns it into some like a virus. I guess that explains why most console gamers don’t really care for their games. Yet developers and PC players love the stuff and right fully so you get to play with the engine for free!
Seriously People have not have this much fun gaming in a while and that is the truth. Thats why the Wii is dragging the realistic games over gravel. It’s such a bloody mess when COD4 totally knocks out Halo3 and UT3 is actually ignored when it is actually better than gears of war. The problem is they have a problem with making things fun for every one. This is the same reason why 2d shooters and skill based platforming disappeared. Epic knows middle ware doesn’t make stuff fun designer do.
Stuff like the above is frustrating and epic is about to make console development their only platform. For over a year fan boys, gaming media sites and various other people have told gamers that the Wii is a fad, it won’t last, only nintendo makes money on it, it’s not powerful enough, mini games, not enough games, yet they are all scared of it now. The PS3 guys and xbox guys all band together to preach about how much it sucks because just like capp they are afraid that it will make high end gaming irrelevant. Thanks to the success of the PS2 this has already happened. That system is what killed PC gaming and the xbox 360 was the nail in that coffin. Yet PC gaming will always be a vengeful zombie! All I know is even though people keep claiming they no longer play this system it keeps selling. Capps also knows that Wii fit has caused many night mares to any one expecting huge sales during it’s release. Then they all look at the fact that this was not done with any sequel based big hitters from third parties.
Wiiware is also going to become a problem because indies start to make money you know then suddenly they can invest in graphics. Then you have factor 5 getting shunned by the hardcore on the other systems, suddenly they are out for blood graphically which is pretty serious. Those where the only developers who didn’t complain about the cell’s setup and the game actually shipped on time. Seriously factor 5 and the guy behind conduit and other middle ware guys claim PS3 graphics is going to make epic work too hard and we all know their games are not great unless your box is spec’ed way over the requirements.
So you got two or three thing here. Hardware thats not designed for them even if it may be capable. Then you have the fact that epic hasn’t done any thing fun for a large range of gamers in a while if ever. Then you have a chance that some other middle ware guy will actually out do them on this platform because we all know red steel used a version of the UT engine and look how that turned out. Hell yeah the Wii is a virus but a good one thats catching on. Hell it’s even a epidemic of fun! Since well it is killing the competition. 700,000 in march is no joke! I don’t think Capp is laughing. The Wii is a monster just like the PS2 was.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
yeah- his experience mirrors mine… most people I know don’t play their wii much…
given what i see, wii is for kids or parties that are winding down
April 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I don’t agree with the way he put it, but I can’t disagree that for myself and pretty much everyone I know that has a Wii, the excitement has died down and several haven’t touched their Wii in a good while. Most of the people I know that got a Wii got it for Wii Sports and haven’t gone past that, and these people got it around the launch. And it’s not because they aren’t big gamers or can’t find the time or money, I see most of them on Xbox Live every other night.
April 21st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
lol ….that idiot.. wii is number one without his help so maybe we should be thankful he is not developing.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Is this an old article? Did he make these comments in 2007? Newsflash to Epic: Nintendo and the 3rd parties lining up to make bank off their systems don’t really need you as much as you’ll need them in a few years.
Also, on a related note, is it really wise to criticize the system that just outsold your bread and butter systems, combined, by a 2:1 margin?
Plus, if the “future” is faster, bigger, stronger, prettier, then it’s already here with PC gaming. And, last I checked, PC gaming was in the tank because the audience shrank and it became too expensive to play the games for the average person. Which, coincidentally enough, is why Epic Games, the same Epic mentioned above, is cutting back on PC gaming and focusing on consoles. Seems to me Epic doesn’t know what the hell it wants, other than for things to stay the exact same way they’ve been for the past 10 years.
I wish them luck though. It costs tens of millions of dollars to create the kinds of games Epic produces these days, meaning they’ll need safe, multi-console games to survive. Oh, and they’ll only be able to make one a year. Can’t wait to see the line of sequels that business strategy requires. Bland alien shooter 6? And there’s a limited edition version too?! Sign me up for a pre-order!
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Hey Epic: Better hope Gears 2 is a 15 million seller and you better make sure it’s for PS3 too.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
Lots of great responses in here.
They opened my eyes to some new perspectives about these crotchety old dinosaurs. I had lots of fun with Unreal Tournament back in 2001, but didn’t really play it after that. If they continue down their current myopia, they’ll probably go the way of other former gaming giants, like Origin. Good luck to them…
I can’t understand why they wouldn’t embrace the Wii’s limitations as a challenge. Sometimes it’s better to work with constraints. It often produces a better product. Yerli, the Crysis engine guy understands this sort of thing. Even John Carmack from ID enjoys working with limitations — funny thing about him though, is he completely underestimated the DS’s power when porting Orcs and Elves to it.
Anyways, I wish developers like Looking Glass were back in business. They could produce absolute gold for a 386, when Epic has trouble churning out a well polished, but fancy looking Doom-clone turd for even a 4x SLI monster setup these days.
My current virus is Okami. This game is fantastic. And unlike that tard from the ‘new’ Nintendo Power, I can control my Wiimote accurately.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:10 am
I am so putting a Wii sticker on my toilet later - genius!
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Just to substantiate the idea that Wii owners are NOT remorseful on the whole, I grabbed a screenshot from 43things.com (an online ‘bucket list’ of sorts) which shows that 98% of the 113 members who bought Wiis, only 2 say it’s “Not worth doing.” Here’s the link to the pic:
http://flickr.com/photos/7417674@N04/2434309294/
My guess is, when the smoke clears, it’ll be Epic wishing they’d ‘moved forward’ with the Wii.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
what a ridiculous claim that the Wii is a virus and people only play for two months and then it gets dusty. how can you even make a statement like that i don’t remember him knocking on my door and asking if i still play the Wii. anyway i know a lot of people who play their Wii all the time and i know a lot of poeple who play their Xbox 360 all the time. it’s just a difference in personality not that one sucks more than the other. by the way i still play mine constantly and i might be a bit behind in buying games (just picked up Zack and Wiki awesome so far only $19.99 new) but everything that i’ve bought has not let me down (except Sonic and the Secret Rings my wife bought it so i don’t count it :))
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I sold my Wii last week. Something had to go and it just didn’t live up to my expectations. I had more fun with it with other people, so I’m happy to go to friends’ houses and play there. I do miss Fire Emblem and MLB Power Pros though.
Oh, and Epic has been on my shit list for a while now. Cliff has been especially annoying lately.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I did some research.
After the same period of time here’s the dropoff for other games:
SSBB: 91.0%
Halo 3: 97.2%
Halo 2: 91.8%
GTA: SA: 82.0%
Gran Turismo 4: 91.1%
Twilight Princess: 66.1%
COD 4 (X360): 65.9%
Gears of War: 64.6%
Madden 07: 92.5%
SMG: 56.3% (and the next week, presumably holiday shopping: 10.2%)
So, what I see is that blockbuster openings translate into a huge dropoff. Duh. What a stupid article. Who paid him?
Oh, and let’s do a GHIII comparison across all four platforms at week 5.
Wii: 63.4%
PS2: 50.8%
PS3: 65.3%
X360: 87.6%
By their logic, everything should be on the PS2 still.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Ugh. I totally posted this on the wrong article. Ugh.