The latest news about Injustice: Gods Among Us led to a personal revelation to me: none of the game’s DLC is expected to come to the game’s Wii U version. Now, getting shortchanged for being a Nintendo console owner is no surprise to me… in fact, I’ve come to expect it from certain companies, like Electronic Arts, who apparently have a really big burr in their saddle when it comes to Nintendo lately, only exacerbating the divide by recently declaring Battlefield 4 on the Wii U to be “too risky.”
It’s no secret that many in the gaming community consider Nintendo’s first-party titles – Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. – to be the only reason to buy a Nintendo system, citing that third-party title sales haven’t been strong since the Super Nintendo… and while that’s true, is it the fault of the gamers for not buying third-party titles, or the developers for not giving their all on Nintendo machines?
They could’ve been excused for not pushing themselves on the Wii, which was underpowered compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but they really have no excuse now… the Wii U is on-par with – and in some cases better – than the other current consoles, so WB Games’ latest move disappoints me to no end.
I am a DC Comics fan, so when Injustice was announced I got excited… even more so when a Wii U version was listed, since I’ve been hankering for something to play on my new system. Then the warning signs started popping up:
No collector’s edition of Injustice: Gods Among Us for Wii U.
A complete and total lack of response from WB Games officials, despite multiple attempts by myself to confirm whether or not the Wii U version will be getting certain pre-order bonus DLC.
An announcement that the DLC “Season Pass” will only be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.
And finally, a tweet – since deleted, apparently – that confirms no plans for DLC content for the Wii U, despite Nintendo’s assertion in a recent Nintendo Direct that it was in fact coming.
Again, all this information shouldn’t be surprising, but it is frustrating. Developers all jumped on board when the Wii U was announced, saying they were going to do great things, and despite it having performed better at launch than the PS3 and Xbox 360 did, they’ve all gone back on their words, whether it’s pushing back a game that is clearly finished so you can release a multi-platform version, or in this case, just flat-out gimping a third of your release copies… I expect that WB Games and Netherrealm Studios will then express shock and disappointment when the Wii U version doesn’t perform as well as its obviously more complete siblings on the PS3 and the Xbox 360.
Yes, gamers need to support the Wii U’s third-party games if they want the system to succeed; but third-party developers refusing to meet gamers halfway are only causing the problem to get worse.