Ubisoft Explains Why Assassin's Creed Unity Is Skipping Wii U

Unlike the two most recent entries in the Assassin's Creed series, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) and Assassin's Creed III (2012), next month's Assassin's Creed Unity is not coming to Wii U. Why? According to creative director Alex Amancio, the Wii U is not powerful enough a console to handle Ubisoft's full vision for the game, and it refused to compromise.

"It couldn't, it really couldn't," Amancio told Red Bull's video game blog. "I mean this is why from the beginning, this was going to be a new-gen-only title, because the crowds aren't aesthetic, they actually have impact. If we did anything to hinder that or to reduce that it would have a detrimental impact, it wouldn't be the same experience."

"I don't think that would be fair to fans, to sell the same game but with different levels of experience," he added. "Even the seamless nature of the series and the scale of the game right, we couldn't do that. We never load Paris. It wouldn't be possible, in our minds we'd be cheating fans by providing a lesser version of the same game."

This is not the first time Ubisoft has talked about why Unity isn't coming to anything but current-generation consoles and PC. In June, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Tony Key, said that Unity "can't be done" on last-generation consoles. "At least we haven't figured out how and we're not trying to," he added at the time.

The Assassin's Creed franchise will show up on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this year in the form of Assassin's Creed Rogue, but Nintendo fans are completely out of luck. It's not much of a surprise that Ubisoft is skipping over the Wii U for Unity, however, as CEO Yves Guillemot said in an interview this year that Nintendo gamers don't buy Assassin's Creed games.

Ubisoft hasn't abandoned the Wii U altogether, however, as the company will release Just Dance 2015 (October 21) and Watch Dogs (November 18) for the console later this year. But don't expect any more mature-minded Wii U games from Ubisoft, as Guillemot said previously that Watch Dogs will be "the only mature game we publish on it."

For more on Assassin's Creed Unity, check out the video above and our recent hands-on preview.