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Nintendolife: Project CARS for Wii U cancelled
- Thread starter dugdug
- Start date
Bioshocker
Member
That "tremendously powerful system". Thanks, Reggie.
To be honest, though. Nobody can be that surprised.
To be honest, though. Nobody can be that surprised.
Yup, never made much sense to me either, from a business and tech perspective.
It was one of SMS's staff members that handled the renderer porting of NFS:MW. THe problem is that the tire physics and drawing (sending draw calls) is very heavy in pCARS, and it's something that the Wii U handles very poorly.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
"It's not the same game."
that's on the developers for promising a Wii U version that would not be stripped down, which they specifically did when they cancelled the PS360 versions and kept the Wii U version going.
Bony Manifesto
Member
Out of interest, now the game's been out a while, what kind of return are backers getting/going to get on their investment?
Broken Joystick
At least you can talk. Who are you?
At leas the Wii U has BC.
It doesn't matter how hard it bombed - they took people's money when the WiiU version was still being promised.
But you say they shouldn't be mad? Jesus. Shouldn't be surprised, sure I guess, but not mad? Come the fuck on.
Pretty much this. I can't fault them for flaking out after how things turned out for the Wii U. 3rd party projects for the thing fail. That's a fact.
lwilliams3
Member
Their original scale and ambition were probably a bit smaller, but it has expanded throughout development. After the announcement of the NX, I guess it was no surprise that they decided to wait for that system instead. Still a bit disappointing, though.
I think it's fair to say that the crowdfunding portal works differently from Kickstarter, but it is also fair to say that the way it was originally presented as a pitch, it was never a "maybe" as far as the target platforms were concerned. They were definitely looking to leverage the support of fans on the console platforms, especially the WiiU, to build up interest and excitement on the project. They should be more candid about that rather than backtracking to "WiiU was always just a maybe, not something we promised".
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Oh, really?
Is not like the target specs of the console changed after all this time, they knew what they were aiming for and they still kept the lie until now.
WarMacheen
Member
playing the game?
They should have said "Maybe" in the original pitch...as it stands it looks like a certainty going by that pdf.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Was the game completely funded before the devs started talking about a Wii U version? I'm genuinely curious. If it was, then this cancellation isn't as big of a deal as I thought. If the promise of Wii U version was used to help with funding though, then it doesn't matter if it started as a Wii U game or not. They used that platform to generate interest and financial backing from people.
Mister Sloane
Member
None - they were able to get a refund but no share of the profits: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-25-slightly-mad-to-stop-accepting-funds-for-project-cars
clevbrowns94
Member
And let's not forget that back in April, they reconfirmed that it was still coming to Wii U, and releasing later this year. Then, just weeks later, they said it was probably canned, and they were waiting for E3 to see about new hardware (which was silly because Nintendo long confirmed that NX wouldn't be at E3).
There are games that it's a bummer don't make it too Wii U (mostly cross gen where you know it's not a specs issue). This wasn't one of them. It would have sold/looked like crap. But shame on Slightly Mad for how they handled it (and didn't even announce the cancel on their own until prompted).
There are games that it's a bummer don't make it too Wii U (mostly cross gen where you know it's not a specs issue). This wasn't one of them. It would have sold/looked like crap. But shame on Slightly Mad for how they handled it (and didn't even announce the cancel on their own until prompted).
Well not just that - were they still accepting funding during that period? Because as I understood it, it was an open-ended funding model.
Funding was closed to the public before the Wii U even came to the market.
That's the bit that never made sense to me. Who cares about sim racers and only owns a Nintendo machine? Absolutely nobody.
http://www.wmdportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WMD_Overview_160212.pdf
This is the original overview pitch pdf for their crowdfunding portal announcing Project CARS as the first project back in 2012. Check out pages 16, 19, 28, and 36. Especially page 28.
Ok, now I believe a 100% that this dev had a lot of promises for a Wii U version, and were selling as an important platform.
openrob
Member
It was developed with Wii U, 360 & PS3 in mind. XB1 and PS4 were announced and the last gen consoles were dropped. With that drop the game was pushed a lot harder. I remember reading something about the type physics being improved and that taking up resources. So when the game was improved it stopped performing at an acceptable rate on Wii U.
The thing that gets everyones back is that it was just one bad PR statement after another:
April 2012
Firstly announced for Wii U - along with statements about how the gampepad would be used.
March 2013
December 2013
Jan 2014
Jan 2014
July 2014
Wii U version delayd till 2015
September 2014
Oct 2014
Delayed till April 2015 all platforms. No release date for Wii U given.
March 2015
Project CARS pushed further back - no mention of Wii U.
May 2015
Project CARS Wii U 'basically dead'
July 2015
The thing that gets everyones back is that it was just one bad PR statement after another:
April 2012
Firstly announced for Wii U - along with statements about how the gampepad would be used.
Slightly Mad Studios Creative Director Andy Tudor said:
March 2013
Andy Tudor said:
December 2013
Andy Tudor said:
Jan 2014
Andy Tudor said:
Jan 2014
Andy Tudor said:
July 2014
Wii U version delayd till 2015
Bandai Namco said:
September 2014
Andy Tudor said:
Oct 2014
Delayed till April 2015 all platforms. No release date for Wii U given.
March 2015
Project CARS pushed further back - no mention of Wii U.
May 2015
Project CARS Wii U 'basically dead'
Studio head Ian Bell said:OK I’ll come clean. At the moment we’re running at about 23FPS on the WiiU. We’re awaiting/hoping for more of a hardware announcement at E3…”
“Honestly, unless we really cut the looks back I think we’re looking to Nintendo’s next console. 720p yes. I suppose if they don’t announce something at E3 or soon after we will have a go at it.”
“We could reach a fairly solid 30FPS but it might take a hell of a lot of work. On the other hand, about halfway through us finishing, Nintendo might announce a new console (I have zero knowledge on this BTW but I’ve heard ‘rumours’
July 2015
Ian Bell said:
OrbitalBeard
Member
That wasn't my question. Could people still fund the project after the Wii U version was announced?
Basically this. It would have been the decent thing to do a long time ago while the game was still in development and they cut out the 360 and PS3 versions of the game.
There is actual proof in this thread that people did care.
Stop being so dismissive. You're being a jerk.
The project started in October 2011, Wii U wasn't in the specs then. It was there during the backing campaign though, but you never explicitly backed that version and were never promised a Wii U copy though.http://www.wmdportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WMD_Overview_160212.pdf
This is the original overview pitch pdf for their crowdfunding portal announcing Project CARS as the first project back in 2012. Check out pages 16, 19, 28, and 36. Especially page 28.
It still sucks, but the move to next gen pretty much killed the version as the CPU simply can't handle the current physics engine.
Funding was closed to the public before the Wii U even came to the market or as it was just fresh to the market. The Wii U version was tacked on way after funding was closed.
Bony Manifesto
Member
But it says "Those who do claim a refund will no longer have access to new builds of Project CARS. They will not receive a slice of any profits that might be made by the game.", implying that if you don't get a refund, you will still receive a slice of the profit made by the game.
Not really, taking the timing into account.
Release date got moved, 8th gen started, and the wii u bombed its ass off between then and now. Target specs changed from 7th gen base to an 8th gen base, and it put the pc guys into the same situation 7th gen devs had with the wii--except only this timethe wii u doesnt have a 100 million+ userbase to hedge their bet on.
It put them into a situation where theyd either have to butcher the game, use the wii u as target (lol), or spend more resources than it was worth it to downport it.
They absolutely made the right call, and they did right by their investors as they went with the path that secured them the most return to their investors. If the investors cant handle that, maybe they shouldn't have invested in the first place and instead preordered the wii u version.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Again, you're not answering my question. They announced the Wii U version of this game long before the Wii U system launched. During that time, could people pledge money to the project?
If funding was completely closed before a Wii U version was ever announced, the cancellation isn't a huge deal. If the funding period was still open when the Wii U SKU was unveiled, then it is a problem, because they used the Wii U to drum up additional interest in funding their project.
Opus Angelorum
Member
not really, when they moved to next gen they hyped up the Wii U version even more
edit: and yeah I understand that that's actually what ended up killing the game, it's just that the developers kept talking that talk especially when the PS360 versions were canned
evilromero
Member
I doubt this if the rumors about the NX turn out to be true. It's not going to be much more powerful than the Wii U.
It's not dismissive, it's true. There has never been a sim racer on a Nintendo console and even if it had started with this one, it would have been a fucking awful game (no analogue triggers, no steering wheel on the market, 720p15-20 at best). People might be getting upset that they're getting one less game, but sim fans already have another machine to get their fix by necessity.
What were you referring? The T&C never explicitly promised a Wii U version, even though one was in the works (with Wii U code changes in 2012 and 2013).
Yeah, they were naturally working towards it (as evidenced by the later attempts to have the physics run on the platform), but the tight schedule and toughness of shipping a next-gen platform meant that development had to go with those platforms in mind and eventually optimization simply wouldn't be enough for the platform support.
I don't see how he's being a jerk. It's like owning only an Xbone and complaining about not getting Japanese games on the system. If you're a fan of sim racers you probably own another console or gaming PC.
Mister Sloane
Member
Many apologies - I misread that.
Look at page 34:
http://www.wmdportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WMD_Overview_160212.pdf
They brag to investors that they have extensive media coverage. This is why they kept stringing nintendo gamers along, as it kept their game in the headlines. Based on what turned out to be a lie.
http://www.wmdportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/WMD_Overview_160212.pdf
They brag to investors that they have extensive media coverage. This is why they kept stringing nintendo gamers along, as it kept their game in the headlines. Based on what turned out to be a lie.