Project Cars is likely to go down as one of the big successes of the recent crowdfunding trend. Foregoing the traditional publisher model, but finding distribution through Namco Bandai, the Slightly Mad Studios racing sim received backing from the gaming community, and has gone on to be a critical success. Fans have been impressed by the title’s in-depth simulation mechanics, in spite of a lack of tutorial space for newcomers to the genre.

Unsurprisingly, Slightly Mad faced some criticism over this reveal – particularly since Project Cars was funded by fan backers, some of which were looking forward to the Wii U release. Now, studio head Ian Bell has once again commented on the Wii U port of the game, as well as addressing criticism the developer has received head-on. Speaking with NintendoLife, Bell admitted that the Wii U release of Project Cars was “always” going to be touch-and-go.

“It was always ‘maybe’ as we had no knowledge of the system,” said Bell, addressing the original idea of Wii U development. According to Bell, funding members chose Project Cars to be a next-gen title for PC, Xbox One, and PS4, with the potential for release on Wii U and Steam OS. Since funding was closed on the project “long before this” decision was made, there was never any guarantee that the Wii U version of the game would ever see the light of day.

That’s not to say that Slightly Mad has already shut the door on the Wii U version, however, and the game is unlikely to be cancelled for Nintendo consoles altogether. “We still haven’t given up on the Wii U 100 percent,” said Bell. However, it may well be that Project Cars hits Nintendo fans via the NX. “If we can’t make it work [on the Wii U], we will move to the next Nintendo machine,” reiterated Bell.

Although it seems like there’s life for Project Cars on Nintendo yet, that’s still unlikely to be much solace for Wii U owners looking forward to the title’s release. It will also be interesting to see how long gamers have to wait for a version of the game if Slightly Mad does choose to wait for the NX to be unveiled. After all, there are still scant details about Nintendo’s next console, meaning that racing fans looking for Project Car’s thrills may have a long time to wait yet.

Source: NintendoLife