Game Publisher THQ Declares Wii U Processor Is “Horribly Slow”

Nintendo is the first of the 'big three' console makers to launch next generation hardware, but the Wii U has already found some criticism among game developers as an underpowered machine. Specifically, 4A Games' chief technical officer (CTO) Oles Shiskovtsov told NowGamer that the "Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU," citing that as the reason the platform will not see Metro: Last Light.

Shiskovtov's comments may have caught THQ off guard. The game publisher almost immediately went into full damage control.

"I think there was one comment made by Oles the programmer -- the guy who build the engine," THQ's Huw Beynon, who works as a full time representative of 4A Games, told Eurogamer. "It's a very CPU intensive game. I think it's been verified by plenty of other sources, including your own Digital Foundry guys, that the CPU on Wii U on the face of it isn't as fast as some of the other consoles out there."


Beynon defended the Wii U, saying that "lots of developers" are able to find ways around the underpowered CPU, adding that he's frustrated by "the way the story's been spun out."


"We could probably get Metro to run on an iPad if we wanted, or on pretty much anything," Beynon said. "Just as in the same way that between PC and current console versions there are some compromises that need to be made in certain places and we strive to get the very best performance that we can from any platform we release it on."

Beynon's point is well taken, but at the same time, it's not very comforting that a game developer is talking about having to make compromises on new hardware in order to get the same performance as consoles that have been out for six years.