Nintendo signs Unity deal for Wii U

Nintendo has signed a deal with the makers of the Unity Engine for use on the Wii U. The engine has already been licensed for use on the Wii for several years, but a renewed deal for Wii U sparks hope that the platform will get some use out of the indie market.

CVG reports that Unity developers will still need a licsense to publish on Wii U, and digital games will go through Nintendo's approval process. But Nintendo did license the engine for itself and third-parties. This puts it on-par with the development communities of its closest competitors, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

"The rapid growth of incredible games coming from the experienced and talented developers in our community makes Unity the new development platform of choice for triple-A console developers," Unity CEO David Helgason said. "Nintendo's unfettered access to Unity will produce a wealth of insanely good games from knowledgeable Nintendo developers and the Wii U deployment add-on will create an amazing opportunity for our massive community of developers to showcase their incredible creativity on one of the most anticipated and innovative gaming platforms to date."