As part of a press release detailing Activision’s upcoming Wii U lineup, the publisher has confirmed that Call of Duty: Ghosts is scheduled for release on November 5th for Nintendo’s latest video game console.
Activision Publishing’s CEO, Eric Hirshberg, confirmed the good news for Wii U owners, saying:
“As we have said before, we’re committed to doing everything we can to support the Wii U, which is why we’re excited to be bringing some of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world to the platform this year. The Call of Duty franchise continues to be one of the most powerful forces in gaming and Skylanders continues to enchant new fans around the world. Our studios have been hard at work creating brand new immersive experiences perfectly suited to the Wii U platform and our fall lineup has something for everyone.”
Historically, Activision has supported all of Nintendo’s consoles with ports from the Call of Duty franchise, however, Ghosts for the Wii U has been anything but a sure thing.
The game’s official reveal back in May failed to make any mention of the Wii U. An Activision representative later stated that the omission was due to the console’s “next-gen” status, as the publisher was not dating any next-gen platforms at the time. Following the initial debut, Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin threw more fuel on the speculation fire by stating that he did not know if Ghost was in development for the Wii U or not.
Thankfully, Rubin’s lack of knowledge turned out to not be a sign that Activision was abandoning Nintendo’s platform.
Outside of Call of Duty: Ghosts, Activision also confirmed five other titles for the Wii U. Skylanders SWAP Force is scheduled to release on October 13th in North America (October 16th across Europe), Angry Birds Trilogy on August 13th, Angry Birds Star Wars on October 29th, SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton’s Robotic Revenge (fall 2013), and Wipeout Create & Crash (fall 2013).
It is unlikely that Call of Duty: Ghosts will create as big of a splash on the Wii U as it will on the other platforms, but I’m still glad that Activision is putting forth the effort to bring the game to Nintendo fans. I’ve always enjoyed playing the Wii ports of the various Call of Duty titles over the 360/PS3 versions due to the IR pointer controls, and I am excited to see if a community will form around the Wii U version of Ghosts.
Call of Duty: Ghosts will launch on November 5th, 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC. The exact release dates for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions have not yet been announced.
[Update]Treyarch has confirmed that they are the studio tasked with porting Call of Duty: Ghosts to the Wii U.