Just 2% of Ubisoft's Q3 Sales Were for Wii U

Posted Tue 11th Feb 2014 04:20 by Thomas Whitehead

Grim numbers

Confirmation that Watch_Dogs has been delayed again on Wii U, and will arrive later than on other platforms, is certainly a hot topic. While debates around the reasons, justification and ramifications for the game's sales will spin around, there are key statistics that highlight just why Ubisoft isn't exactly busting a gut to deliver the Wii U version alongside the others — the numbers simply don't add up.

Ubisoft's financial results press release paints a picture of the degree to which Nintendo's home console has struggled to deliver. Below are percentages of Ubisoft's overall sales that can be attributed to Wii U, along with how those percentages converted to actual figures.

Q3 2013/2014

Wii U delivered 2% of sales — €10.4 million / £8.7 million / $14.2 million out of a total €520 million / £433 million / $710 million

First nine months of 2013/2014

Wii U delivered 4% of sales — €32.5 million / £27.1 million / $44.4 million out of a total €813 million / £677 million / $1110 million

These are clearly low numbers, with the first two quarters including Rayman Legends and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the third quarter including Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Just Dance 2014; Black Flag shifted 10 million units to retailers, and Just Dance 2014 six million units. These are all multi-platform titles — controversially so with Rayman Legends — and the Wii U has contributed little; as a sign of Ubisoft not showing any interest in the 3DS, it's contributed 0% all year according to the same set of figures (it's not much better for Sony's Vita).

For the Wii U, it's the worst performing home console for Q3 and the first nine-months; below are the other main players in Q3.

PlayStation 3 — 28%
Xbox 360 — 27%
PlayStation 4 — 12%
Wii — 11%
PC — 10%
Xbox One — 9%

The big winners are the last-gen systems, with Wii catching the eye courtesy of the continuing impressive sales of Just Dance on the console; it's natural that the new hardware from Microsoft and Sony would be lower due to their launches in November. For the Wii U, a full year on the market hasn't delivered notable numbers.

There's a vicious cycle in that Ubisoft has either delayed Wii U games, made them multi-platform, or excluded features such as online co-op and DLC. They're therefore the lest desirable versions of these games in the eyes of some, which is combined with a comparatively small userbase.

We'll consider these issues in a feature later today but the raw numbers don't lie — the Wii U simply isn't making Ubisoft enough money and is worth less to the company than all other major home systems, including PC. That's why it's the one version of Watch_Dogs delayed once again.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/02/just_2_percent_of_ubisofts_q3_sales_were_for_wii_u?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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. They should know that they will not really have good sales during the next 5 years because of the way they handle Nintendo systems.

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.

Always look on the bright side.. WiiU performs much better than the complete handheld sector together (3DS + DS + PSP + Vita = under 1%)

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.

Oh god please stop with the excuses, Ubisoft isn't some kid that was bad at school. Its the Nintendo fans' fault for not supporting 3rd party. Now its starting to look like Wii U is about to lose yet another publisher and end up as a secondary console. Gamers want games, and if Wii U doesn't support them then this is what happens. BS hardware sales.

Next big mystery to solve: Why will Ubisoft's Q2 2014 sales be so poor on the Wii U?

It's all Ubisoft's fault though.

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.