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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Wii U only 2% of Ubisoft sales for Q3 2013 (PS4: 12% X1: 9%)

Mr Khan said:
Mnementh said:
Scoobes said:
Not entirely unexpected even though they're the publisher that's supported Wii U the most. The games they've released obviously don't have the audience they expected on Wii U. That's not the fault of the Wii U owners but Ubisoft's for not reading the market correctly.

To be honest, it's not something that Nintendo have made particularly easy to do.

I agree with you. Nintendo is pretty unclear with the vision for WiiU with customers, maybe that was also difficult for 3rd-parties.

The key is that Nintendo does not have it in them to build a red-ocean console. The core idea for the Wii U was sound: we crushed numerically with Wii but got none of the third party support. Let's remove the excuse *and* continue to provide the kinds of games that made Wii excel. The problem with that is how Nintendo was shooting for the PS3 and 360 as the "parity" target, knowing full well that those were on the way out, but part of it was their obsession with form factor and power consumption. The continued embrace of Yokoi's "lateral thinking with withered technology" mantra is not necessarily a bad thing, but if Nintendo really wanted to make a console that'll get all the third parties, they will have to chuck that mantra out the window. That was what kicked them in the teeth with GameCube, too, they wanted to make a console that could be a viable alternative for PlayStation to get back what they lost to the PS, but again, their engineers just didn't have it in them to make a PS2 with a Nintendo label, and while GameCube was strong, the need for lateral thinking in its design helped sideline it in other ways.

Basically, they either need to go all-in and fight Microsoft and Sony on their terms (which is a terrible idea in the long-run, but would get them the support they need in the short run as long as the box had power parity), or go back to the mentality that birthed the Wii where they go all-in on chucking aside any pretension of competing with Sony and Microsoft, and thereby proceed to beat the pants off of them.

That sounds about right. Thanks for this explanation.



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Mr Khan said:
Mnementh said:
Scoobes said:
Not entirely unexpected even though they're the publisher that's supported Wii U the most. The games they've released obviously don't have the audience they expected on Wii U. That's not the fault of the Wii U owners but Ubisoft's for not reading the market correctly.

To be honest, it's not something that Nintendo have made particularly easy to do.

I agree with you. Nintendo is pretty unclear with the vision for WiiU with customers, maybe that was also difficult for 3rd-parties.

The key is that Nintendo does not have it in them to build a red-ocean console. The core idea for the Wii U was sound: we crushed numerically with Wii but got none of the third party support. Let's remove the excuse *and* continue to provide the kinds of games that made Wii excel. The problem with that is how Nintendo was shooting for the PS3 and 360 as the "parity" target, knowing full well that those were on the way out, but part of it was their obsession with form factor and power consumption. The continued embrace of Yokoi's "lateral thinking with withered technology" mantra is not necessarily a bad thing, but if Nintendo really wanted to make a console that'll get all the third parties, they will have to chuck that mantra out the window. That was what kicked them in the teeth with GameCube, too, they wanted to make a console that could be a viable alternative for PlayStation to get back what they lost to the PS, but again, their engineers just didn't have it in them to make a PS2 with a Nintendo label, and while GameCube was strong, the need for lateral thinking in its design helped sideline it in other ways.

Basically, they either need to go all-in and fight Microsoft and Sony on their terms (which is a terrible idea in the long-run, but would get them the support they need in the short run as long as the box had power parity), or go back to the mentality that birthed the Wii where they go all-in on chucking aside any pretension of competing with Sony and Microsoft, and thereby proceed to beat the pants off of them.


I agree with your assesment of Yokoi's mantra but let's not beat around the bush:

Withered tech doesn't cost 300$. The Gamepad is killing the price point.



I have to say. I can understand blaming Nintendo or Ubisoft.

But blaming consumers? Are you serious?



Samus Aran said:
naruball said:
SubiyaCryolite said:
JazzB1987 said:
well behaving like they did with Rayman Legends sure does not help. I mean what do they expect?

It takes a whole generation to gain trust you lost because of bad business practices and so far they dont even try they just say they try.

If the whole WiiU gen gets constant quality support then the next system might have the chance to be very profitable.

I mean do they think that delaying a finished game for half a year and cutting modes in other games etc will help the sceptical Nintendo fanbase to buy more Ubisoft games? Third party is dumber than I thought.


How many games did they release on the PS4 in 2013? How many games did they release on the Wii U in 2013? Excuses everywhere, everytime.

I have to agree. Excuses all the time. That's what bothers me. It's always third parties' fault. Never Ninty's or at least people admit that 3rd parties don't sell well because there is not a big enough audience for them in wiiu. I think most of the wiiu owners are hardcore ninty fans who bought the console for first party games and have little interest in other games. 


So you're saying you wouldn't care at all if a great Ubisoft exclusive game got delayed for 7 months just so it could release simultaneously on the PS3 and XBOX360. After that they delayed a multiplat game just for your console.

Please don't be a hypocrite, if Ubisoft did this to PS3 or XBOX360 userbase they would've stormed Ubisoft's main office by now. 

I love how the word "hypocrite" gets thrown around here.

As for your points: no I would not care. I have way too many games to play (big enough backlog to game for years) and little time to do so, so any game getting delayed does not affect me at all. I game on multiple devices (psvita, ps3, pc, 3ds), so even when the psvita wasn't getting many games, I played more games on my ps3. I also almost never buy any game day one. So any delay does not affect me at all. I also like to believe that I think rationally, so even if a game was announced as an exclusive for psvita, was delayed for 7 months and became multiplat, I'd still buy it if it was good.

Ps360 fanbse would have done probably nothing, since they have too many good games to play, while the wiiu needed an exclusive, especially considering the incredibly long drought. They complained about Bayonetta because it won't be released on ms/ps consoles. I don't think there would have been a big deal if it was delayed and released on wiiu too. (Edit: Just remembered how upset ps3 gamers got with final fantasy 13 being delayed and going multiplat, so maybe things would get ridiculous again.) Even if Sony/ms fans complained, I don't see how that would make me a hypocrite, as I personally wouldn't care. A good game is a good game no matter when it's released. I'll probably buy The Last Guardian in 2018 if I have to.

Just an idea: before name calling, think.



vkaraujo said:
I have to say. I can understand blaming Nintendo or Ubisoft.

But blaming consumers? Are you serious?


No one is truly blaming them. The whole point is that wiiu owners' software purchases affect future sofware releases. If they don't buy enough games from 3rd parties, there won't be many if any 3rd party games released on it. They make their choices. They keep buying mostly 1st party games, so 3rd parties see no point risking losing money by making games for wiiu. Whether the games released so far have been good or bad is debatale and irrelevant. The point is that those games' sales have been below expectations, so 3rd party support is and will continue being almost non existant because of the choices that current owners are making. Should they buy "bad" games just for a better future? No. They shoudl buy what they want and unfortunately what they want is mostly 1st party games. At the moment, the number of people willing to buy third party games on wiiu is not high enough. Simple as that.



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naruball said:
Samus Aran said:
naruball said:
SubiyaCryolite said:
JazzB1987 said:
well behaving like they did with Rayman Legends sure does not help. I mean what do they expect?

It takes a whole generation to gain trust you lost because of bad business practices and so far they dont even try they just say they try.

If the whole WiiU gen gets constant quality support then the next system might have the chance to be very profitable.

I mean do they think that delaying a finished game for half a year and cutting modes in other games etc will help the sceptical Nintendo fanbase to buy more Ubisoft games? Third party is dumber than I thought.


How many games did they release on the PS4 in 2013? How many games did they release on the Wii U in 2013? Excuses everywhere, everytime.

I have to agree. Excuses all the time. That's what bothers me. It's always third parties' fault. Never Ninty's or at least people admit that 3rd parties don't sell well because there is not a big enough audience for them in wiiu. I think most of the wiiu owners are hardcore ninty fans who bought the console for first party games and have little interest in other games. 


So you're saying you wouldn't care at all if a great Ubisoft exclusive game got delayed for 7 months just so it could release simultaneously on the PS3 and XBOX360. After that they delayed a multiplat game just for your console.

Please don't be a hypocrite, if Ubisoft did this to PS3 or XBOX360 userbase they would've stormed Ubisoft's main office by now. 

I love how the word "hypocrite" gets thrown around here.

As for your points: no I would not care. I have way too many games to play (big enough backlog to game for years) and little time to do so, so any game getting delayed does not affect me at all. I game on multiple devices (psvita, ps3, pc, 3ds), so even when the psvita wasn't getting many games, I played more games on my ps3. I also almost never buy any game day one. So any delay does not affect me at all. I also like to believe that I think rationally, so even if a game was announced as an exclusive for psvita, was delayed for 7 months and became multiplat, I'd still buy it if it was good.

Ps360 fanbse would have done probably nothing, since they have too many good games to play, while the wiiu needed an exclusive, especially considering the incredibly long drought. They complained about Bayonetta because it won't be released on ms/ps consoles. I don't think there would have been a big deal if it was delayed and released on wiiu too. (Edit: Just remembered how upset ps3 gamers got with final fantasy 13 being delayed and going multiplat, so maybe things would get ridiculous again.) Even if Sony/ms fans complained, I don't see how that would make me a hypocrite, as I personally wouldn't care. A good game is a good game no matter when it's released. I'll probably buy The Last Guardian in 2018 if I have to.

Just an idea: before name calling, think.

If it looks like a hypocrite and sounds like a hypocrite... It's a hypocrite. That's not name calling as hypocrite hardly qualifies as an insult. 

I'm still going to buy Rayman Legends despite it being multiplat. It's however no surprise the game sold poorly when it was delayed for 7 months for a silly reason. It also released in a time period where good exclusives were hitting the Wii U. And it doesn't matter how good your game is, it's not going to compete with Zelda or Mario. I fail to see how this is an excuse. Besides, it's not like the PS3/XBOX360 games sold well. A good game released during a drought is always going to sell better than a good game released alongside Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3. It's called common sense and not an excuse as you seem to "think". 

I don't have a huge backlog simply because I don't  buy games I'm not playing. When I buy a game, it's to play it, not to sit there for a couple of months. Some people value their money and don't buy a 100 games in a year(or flat out can't afford it). 

I guess some people are also just more picky with the games they buy. More refined tastes perhaps. ;) 

As for me personally, I don't like first person shooters, third person shooters, sports games and realistic racing games. So the PS3/XBOX360 have very little to offer me because they're not that varied as some of you like to think.

Games like Infamous, God of War, The Last of Us and the Batman games made by Rocksteady I would enjoy however. And I'll gladly borrow my friend's PS3 to play them. ;) 



Samus Aran said:
naruball said:
Samus Aran said:
naruball said:
SubiyaCryolite said:
JazzB1987 said:
well behaving like they did with Rayman Legends sure does not help. I mean what do they expect?

It takes a whole generation to gain trust you lost because of bad business practices and so far they dont even try they just say they try.

If the whole WiiU gen gets constant quality support then the next system might have the chance to be very profitable.

I mean do they think that delaying a finished game for half a year and cutting modes in other games etc will help the sceptical Nintendo fanbase to buy more Ubisoft games? Third party is dumber than I thought.


How many games did they release on the PS4 in 2013? How many games did they release on the Wii U in 2013? Excuses everywhere, everytime.

I have to agree. Excuses all the time. That's what bothers me. It's always third parties' fault. Never Ninty's or at least people admit that 3rd parties don't sell well because there is not a big enough audience for them in wiiu. I think most of the wiiu owners are hardcore ninty fans who bought the console for first party games and have little interest in other games. 


So you're saying you wouldn't care at all if a great Ubisoft exclusive game got delayed for 7 months just so it could release simultaneously on the PS3 and XBOX360. After that they delayed a multiplat game just for your console.

Please don't be a hypocrite, if Ubisoft did this to PS3 or XBOX360 userbase they would've stormed Ubisoft's main office by now. 

I love how the word "hypocrite" gets thrown around here.

As for your points: no I would not care. I have way too many games to play (big enough backlog to game for years) and little time to do so, so any game getting delayed does not affect me at all. I game on multiple devices (psvita, ps3, pc, 3ds), so even when the psvita wasn't getting many games, I played more games on my ps3. I also almost never buy any game day one. So any delay does not affect me at all. I also like to believe that I think rationally, so even if a game was announced as an exclusive for psvita, was delayed for 7 months and became multiplat, I'd still buy it if it was good.

Ps360 fanbse would have done probably nothing, since they have too many good games to play, while the wiiu needed an exclusive, especially considering the incredibly long drought. They complained about Bayonetta because it won't be released on ms/ps consoles. I don't think there would have been a big deal if it was delayed and released on wiiu too. (Edit: Just remembered how upset ps3 gamers got with final fantasy 13 being delayed and going multiplat, so maybe things would get ridiculous again.) Even if Sony/ms fans complained, I don't see how that would make me a hypocrite, as I personally wouldn't care. A good game is a good game no matter when it's released. I'll probably buy The Last Guardian in 2018 if I have to.

Just an idea: before name calling, think.

If it looks like a hypocrite and sounds like a hypocrite... It's a hypocrite. That's not name calling as hypocrite hardly qualifies as an insult. 

I'm still going to buy Rayman Legends despite it being multiplat. It's however no surprise the game sold poorly when it was delayed for 7 months for a silly reason. It also released in a time period where good exclusives were hitting the Wii U. And it doesn't matter how good your game is, it's not going to compete with Zelda or Mario. I fail to see how this is an excuse. Besides, it's not like the PS3/XBOX360 games sold well. A good game released during a drought is always going to sell better than a good game released alongside Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3. It's called common sense and not an excuse as you seem to "think". 

I don't have a huge backlog simply because I don't  buy games I'm not playing. When I buy a game, it's to play it, not to sit there for a couple of months. Some people value their money and don't buy a 100 games in a year(or flat out can't afford it). 

I guess some people are also just more picky with the games they buy. More refined tastes perhaps. ;) 

As for me personally, I don't like first person shooters, third person shooters, sports games and realistic racing games. So the PS3/XBOX360 have very little to offer me because they're not that varied as some of you like to think.

Games like Infamous, God of War, The Last of Us and the Batman games made by Rocksteady I would enjoy however. And I'll gladly borrow my friend's PS3 to play them. ;) 


Please point out which point was hypocritical. And yes it is an insult. Would you call your boss a hypocrite to their face? Would you call your teacher/lecturer? It's an insult. Simple as that. But please go ahead and explain how I was being a hypocrite. Or is insulting people ok cuz it's the internet?

Also, you seem to assume that people who have big backlogs don't value their money. It's a not-so-safe assumption on your part. As a relatively poor phd/student/tutor, I almost always wait for the bargain price. Just yesterday I bought Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for £5 from steam. Had I bought it day 1, it'd be £40. I was looking forward to playing the game ever since I played the demo, but had to wait for a price cut. That's a way to end up with a backlog. Having very limited free time also doesn't help. In other words, 2 assumptions on your part. Both wrong.

I fail to see how the ps3 of all consoles lacks variety, but discussing this would be completely off topic. "As for me personally, I don't like first person shooters, third person shooters, sports games and realistic racing games". You just listed my 4 least favourite genres. Not saying that you should buy one, but as far as I'm concerned, the ps3 is the definition of a console with variety.



Look at this Wii U bundle that got sold out in a matter of hours http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=761150
Wii U Deluxe (Limited Editon w Zelda WW + W101 + Ninja Gaiden for $270)
This tells me that price is the biggest problem, and that if they were able to sell it for less than USD250, there would be no talk of Wii U being doomed.


Nintendo should pay for the last multiplats Wii U will be able to get that will run perfectly well on Wii U, for example Ultra Street Fighter IV that will be released on PS3 and XBOX360.
But I don't why should anyone care for a Wii U port of games that will also be released on PS4 and XBone when it will opbviously be much worse because of the power difference.
I would rather have Nintendo pay third parties for a couple of exclusives every year like Bayo 2 or the Wonderful 101, or the Prince of Persia Ubisoft made for Wii, than get inferior ports of games made with PS4 and Xbone in mind.



Scoobes said:
oniyide said:
Scoobes said:
Not entirely unexpected even though they're the publisher that's supported Wii U the most. The games they've released obviously don't have the audience they expected on Wii U. That's not the fault of the Wii U owners but Ubisoft's for not reading the market correctly.

To be honest, it's not something that Nintendo have made particularly easy to do.


But had they not brought those games people would have complained that Ubi doesnt support Wii U. They cant win.

The people that complain on the net obviously don't mean much though. Ubisoft and all the third party publishers need to find genres that thrive on the WiiU. Assassins Creed, Zombi U and Splinter Cell obviously aren't those franchises. They now have two options:

1. Give up trying and concentrate on what they know sells on the other platforms

2. Try other genres and see if they find an audience (like Just Dance on the Wii)

Option 1 is a lot easier than option 2, but that doesn't mean there isn't a large untapped market on the Wii U. They won't find them in the core genres though.

what are these genres? its not like there are just core genres on the Wii U. The Just Dance series isnt doing so hot, hell 3 party games period are not doing hot. No matter the genre. So what can they make? I almost wanna say platformers, but if its not made by Ninty nobody gives a damn. (looking at you Rayman AND Sonic)



Scoobes said:
Mr Khan said:
Mnementh said:
Scoobes said:
Not entirely unexpected even though they're the publisher that's supported Wii U the most. The games they've released obviously don't have the audience they expected on Wii U. That's not the fault of the Wii U owners but Ubisoft's for not reading the market correctly.

To be honest, it's not something that Nintendo have made particularly easy to do.

I agree with you. Nintendo is pretty unclear with the vision for WiiU with customers, maybe that was also difficult for 3rd-parties.

The key is that Nintendo does not have it in them to build a red-ocean console. The core idea for the Wii U was sound: we crushed numerically with Wii but got none of the third party support. Let's remove the excuse *and* continue to provide the kinds of games that made Wii excel. The problem with that is how Nintendo was shooting for the PS3 and 360 as the "parity" target, knowing full well that those were on the way out, but part of it was their obsession with form factor and power consumption. The continued embrace of Yokoi's "lateral thinking with withered technology" mantra is not necessarily a bad thing, but if Nintendo really wanted to make a console that'll get all the third parties, they will have to chuck that mantra out the window. That was what kicked them in the teeth with GameCube, too, they wanted to make a console that could be a viable alternative for PlayStation to get back what they lost to the PS, but again, their engineers just didn't have it in them to make a PS2 with a Nintendo label, and while GameCube was strong, the need for lateral thinking in its design helped sideline it in other ways.

Basically, they either need to go all-in and fight Microsoft and Sony on their terms (which is a terrible idea in the long-run, but would get them the support they need in the short run as long as the box had power parity), or go back to the mentality that birthed the Wii where they go all-in on chucking aside any pretension of competing with Sony and Microsoft, and thereby proceed to beat the pants off of them.

That's quite risky though and I'm sure they thought they had something that could do both when they designed the Wii U. It's not like the original Wii didn't have good third-party support, it just wasn't in the core genres that posters on here passionately discuss. If they'd spent more time marketing those genres and franchises that had been sucessful on the Wii (dance, sport, fitness, party, LEGO) rather than making such a big push for the PS3/360 audience, they might have had more success.

Anyway, my point was it's difficult to revolutionise the market with each console and I doubt Nintendo will be the next to do so (or Sony and Microsoft for that matter). Personally, I think Occulus Rift is going to be the next big thing.

I dont think that would have helped. I do believe that the audience has moved on to mobile pastures and even if most of them didnt, whats to stop them just countining buying those types of games on systems they already own? Its not like the WIi U version added much, and they surely dont care if a game is 720p or not.