Nintendo promised back in 2012 Wii U games making use of two GamePads would be released “sometime next year.” Next year being 2013. It’s 2014 now, and according to Shigeru Miyamoto dual-GamePad functionality isn’t part of Nintendo’s “objectives in the short-term.”
Prior to the launch of Wii U in November 2012, Nintendo stated only one GamePad would be included in the console box so as not to confuse consumers. The firm also felt there wasn’s a need to sell a second GamePad if users “didn’t have something to use it with.”
“We’ll make that available as an additional accessory when there’s content to support it,” said NoA’s senior product marketing manager Bill Trinen.
Flash forward one year and eight months later, Miyamoto says Nintendo’s priority to focus on selling the system itself first, which is a rather smart move actually since Wii U hasn’t even come close to being the hit the original Wii was with consumers.
“Certainly as we’ve been working on Wii U, I think we’re at a point where we don’t feel it’s realistic to expect people to purchase two GamePads yet,” Miyamoto told IGN. “We’re still trying to get as many people as possible to buy the system itself, and that’s where our focus is right now.
“For the time being, two GamePad gameplay is not within our objectives in the short-term. From a technical standpoint, I think if we decided to pursue that, technically we would be able to and we can perform system updates that would allow for that.”
At present and for the foreseeable future, co-op and multiplayer games will continue to be played using a WiiMote and Nunchuck; however, Miyamoto finds the idea of dual-GamePad play intriguing despite the drain it would have on resources.
“It’s very interesting from a gameplay perspective because there are a lot of possibilities,” he said. “But, at the same time, taking that kind of approach would be a drain on resources and require us to continue to utilize our development resources for that.
“So then it would become a question of where do we want to devote our resources: Is it to creating regular GamePad games, or creating games centered around two GamePads?”
There isn’t a market for an extra GamePad anyway, and why would Wii U owners want an extra GamePad if there aren’t any games to support it? Currently, Nintendo doesn’t sell the pad sepratley at retail nor via its online store. It only offers replacements should the controller break.
Thanks, MCV.
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