Murdered: Soul Suspect Not Coming To Wii U Because It's Not A Lazy Port

Following up on the recent news that Square Enix is gunning hard for native 1080p resolutions for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One with their upcoming murder-mystery, action-thriller, Murdered: Soul Suspect, the company also offered an explanation as to why the game won't be coming to the Wii U.

GameSpot were busy bees, asking Square and Airtight Games all the pertinent questions that gamers want to know. Like what the resolution of the game will be? And, why the heck isn't this game on the Wii U?

Airtight's chief creative officer, Matthew Brunner, chimed in his few cents about why Square decided that Murdered: Soul Suspect wasn't going to be a good fit for the Wii U, stating...

In a way, that kind of makes sense. I'm also glad Brunner didn't say because of "power differences" or whatnot. That excuse makes zero sense for games still being produced on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

In some uncertain terms, Brunner is basically saying that they aren't making a lazy port of Murdered: Soul Suspect for the Wii U. I can almost respect that, considering that you can't quite copy and paste games for the system and expect great results. Also, in this regards, I think that's a good thing. Previous lazy ports haven't done much but damage the console's reputation anyway, and has only fueled the Nintendoom hate-train.

At the same time, it feels like a missed opportunity given that the Wii U could be used to do some very interesting things in a game like Murdered: Soul Suspect, and cutting the game out of the console's library feels like a disservice to gamers looking for something unique and different for the system.

That's not to mention that doing a port right for a console (or PC) can result in double-dipping. Tons of gamers bought GTA IV for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but then double-dipped for the far superior PC version for the better graphics and mods. Buying Soul Suspect on the PC for the graphics – or buying the game for the PS3 or Xbox 360 for the ease of access – and then buying the game again for the Wii U for some unique controller/motion/etc., abilities could have been a way for Square to cash-in on the double-dippers. But alas, the Wii U is getting the short end of the stick.

GameSpot went on to speculate that the shortchange has nothing whatsoever to do with capabilities, lazy ports or costs, but is instead associated with the Wii U's install base, with Eddie Makuch writing...

Now that's some flame bait right there, and I should know since I'm always barbecuing over it.

The takeaway from that erroneous statement is that somehow the Xbox One and PS4's install base, combined, is somehow separate from the single install base of the Wii U. Sorry, ace, that's not how things work.

If anything – if we're going by install base numbers – the Xbox One should be the one left off the table. The system only has 3.5 million units installed in homes, compared to the Wii U and PS4, both of which are nearing 6 million as their install base. Please, someone explain to me how a console with a higher install base is somehow less lucrative than a console with a lower install base?

I guess we're just throwing logic right out the window at this point.

Anyway, Murdered: Soul Suspect is set for release this June.

I'll be very curious to see if the “install base” excuse is still being tossed around after Mario Kart 8 drops. I guess we'll find out this May.