Bethesda working on 'really big Wii game' @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on May 20, 2009

News: But it's still a secret.

GamesIndustry.biz recently sat down with Sean Brennan, the European Managing Director of Betheda Softworks. During the two part interview, Brennan confirmed the company is working on a major new Wii project with the following quote:

We are going to make an announcement on a really big Wii game this year.

Obviously, further details were not revealed. So it's currently unknown what form the game will take. As Bethesda is rather famously known for their RPGs, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the company is bringing a game similar to Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to the Wii.

But it might be a long time before we find out for sure.

For context, here's the full quote from the interview relating to Bethesda's Wii work:

Q: Bethesda is very much focused on the triple-A blockbusters but is there any focus on more modest productions? Products that can be profitable if the scale is right?

Sean Brennan: We've got Vir2l at ZeniMax which are working on handheld games, iPhone games, and trying to exploit that market. We don't like the casual games area as such. We have huge respect for the Nintendo platforms, and from a marketing perspective globally they've been phenomenal. It would be churlish to ignore that space. We've had a couple of minor products that we've released there. Looking at the opportunities in the Nintendo space is interesting for us because it's more driven by getting the right product for the demographic and also the right quality. We're not going to do a hamster simulator, it's not us. We're not going to produce games for girls or pet-sim products. There's nothing to distinguish them from one another.

Q: You product is more adult-orientated, so you must be watching a company like Sega who are trying mature titles like House of the Dead and Mad World on the Wii. Do you see a market for product like that on the Wii?

Sean Brennan: House of the Dead is great brand and the product is great too. I think it's difficult, I've got consoles at home but I wouldn't sit and play an 18-rated game with my family on the Wii. Is there space in the Wii market for that? I think there is, but again, it' all about finding out how big that is. Is it 5 per cent? If it's five per cent of the market and you can own that space it's worth doing because you can achieve volume. If you can't own it at five per cent, it's not worth doing, quite frankly. We are going to make an announcement on a really big Wii game this year, we've got a couple of other things in the pipeline, and it's a format we're really looking at with the right approach. We're not going to establish a new range and call if 'My Girly Game Range' or whatever these other companies are doing, it's so me-too and boring.