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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Watch Dogs Wii U Version Release Windows Pushed to Fall 2014

Zero999 on 16 April 2014
Seece said:

When you're talking about a franchise like Watchdogs, 300k on a platform is DIRE. And WiiU only has 1 third party game above that. It was exclusive and bundled, if Zombie U released on PS360 simultaneously and wasn't bundled with WiiU what do you think its figures would be?

Lego City Undercover is the only successful third/second party game on WiiU, again tho it's exclusive .. along with Monster Hunter (the added benefit of being popular in Japan as well).

320k is the highest a multiplatform game has done on WiiU.

XB1 and PS4 have several multiplatform games double that.

AC Black Flag, the closest thing you could compare people interested in Watchdogs too

WiiU - 240k
XB1 - 740k
PS4 - 1.53m

XB1 version is three times the WiiU version, PS4 version is a whopping 6 times the WiiU version. Also to take into account, the PS4/XB1 versions were competing more directly with the PS360 versions. (as many who bought PS4 and XB1 had a 360 or PS3).

You are confusing two things:

1. This isn't a discussion about the game selling more on wii u than on other platforms.

2. The meaning of business sense. ubisoft guaranteed that the wii u version of watch dogs isn't going to sell well while not getting extra money in return + they pissed a lot of people. basically the same that happened with rayman legends. that DOES NOT make business sense, period.



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oniyide on 16 April 2014
Zero999 said:
Hedra42 said:

Unfortunately it did make business sense to delay the Wii U version; in this case it's balancing delivering quality against financial risk, and here's why.

There were (and still are) huge expectations for Watchdogs; it had a high profile among all the hype building up for the console launches, and so they couldn't afford to deliver a half-baked game in November 2013.

We have already seen Ubisoft take a huge risk by delaying all versions for six months, thereby missing the launch of the X1 and PS4, in favour of delivering that quality. The delay had a huge negative impact on them at the time. It wiped 26% off their share price, and they had to adjust their forecast from an operating profit into a loss. It's not realistic to think they could announce another delay across the board and expect their investors to stay happy.

A quick exercise taken Here using VGChartz install base and pre-order figures gave a rough estimate showing that only 4% of Watchdogs' potential audience would be Wii U owners.

Taking into account the install base and the fact that ZombiU and other Wii U releases have not been profitable, if Ubisoft had been faced with the decision of choosing one platform to delay so that they could meet their deadline and avoid risking another hit to share prices and profits, delaying the Wii U version seems to be the better decision businesswise.

Indeed, in February 2014, CEO Yves Guillemot said: “We made the difficult decision to further delay the release of Watch Dogs on Wii U to focus the team’s resources where they could have the broadest possible benefit for both our customers and Ubisoft”

it doesn't make business sense. don't bother.

LMAO he broke it down like a fraction even gave you a link and thats ALL you have to say, LOL you didnt even try to rebuke anything he said.



oniyide on 16 April 2014

LOL to anyone who thinks those sales are good on Wii U. you cant even pull the whole userbase argument out of your butt because PS4 AND XBone are way better. One must think there sales are astronimical.



Hedra42 on 16 April 2014
Zero999 said:
Seece said:

When you're talking about a franchise like Watchdogs, 300k on a platform is DIRE. And WiiU only has 1 third party game above that. It was exclusive and bundled, if Zombie U released on PS360 simultaneously and wasn't bundled with WiiU what do you think its figures would be?

Lego City Undercover is the only successful third/second party game on WiiU, again tho it's exclusive .. along with Monster Hunter (the added benefit of being popular in Japan as well).

320k is the highest a multiplatform game has done on WiiU.

XB1 and PS4 have several multiplatform games double that.

AC Black Flag, the closest thing you could compare people interested in Watchdogs too

WiiU - 240k
XB1 - 740k
PS4 - 1.53m

XB1 version is three times the WiiU version, PS4 version is a whopping 6 times the WiiU version. Also to take into account, the PS4/XB1 versions were competing more directly with the PS360 versions. (as many who bought PS4 and XB1 had a 360 or PS3).

You are confusing two things:

1. This isn't a discussion about the game selling more on wii u than on other platforms.

2. The meaning of business sense. ubisoft guaranteed that the wii u version of watch dogs isn't going to sell well while not getting extra money in return + they pissed a lot of people. basically the same that happened with rayman legends. that DOES NOT make business sense, period.

I think we are getting to the crux of the matter.

1. Seece has kindly posted some facts and evidence, comparing how 3rd party and cross platform titles do. The figures suggest that they don't do so well on the Wii U. This has a direct impact on the discussion at hand, which is about why Ubi have elected to delay the Wii U version.

2. The meaning of good business sense is not what you believe. If something makes good business sense, it will help a business to succeed. You can look up the definition, if you like.

You like to use pre-order charts as an assessment of how potential sales are gauged, so let's look at the pre-order charts just before Ubisoft dropped the bombshell in Oct 2013, that ALL versions were going to be delayed until 'Spring' 2014. Everythings on an even level, here, because at this point, everybody believed all versions were coming out in Nov 13.

PS4 - 120k

X1 - 96k

X360 - 65k

PS3 - can't see, and Wii U less than 25k.

The potential loss if only the Wii U version is delayed is far less damaging than the potential loss if all versions were delayed.



oniyide on 16 April 2014
Seece said:

When you're talking about a franchise like Watchdogs, 300k on a platform is DIRE. And WiiU only has 1 third party game above that. It was exclusive and bundled, if Zombie U released on PS360 simultaneously and wasn't bundled with WiiU what do you think its figures would be?

Lego City Undercover is the only successful third/second party game on WiiU, again tho it's exclusive .. along with Monster Hunter (the added benefit of being popular in Japan as well).

320k is the highest a multiplatform game has done on WiiU.

XB1 and PS4 have several multiplatform games double that.

AC Black Flag, the closest thing you could compare people interested in Watchdogs too

WiiU - 240k
XB1 - 740k
PS4 - 1.53m

XB1 version is three times the WiiU version, PS4 version is a whopping 6 times the WiiU version. Also to take into account, the PS4/XB1 versions were competing more directly with the PS360 versions. (as many who bought PS4 and XB1 had a 360 or PS3).


brilliant, but to be fair. Lego and MH both had versions on 3ds so they are not truly exclusive.



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SR388 on 16 April 2014

I would guess this is to try and increase WiiU sales by getting closer to Christmas in Q4. I am not sure how the current sales distribution of video games through out the year is, but I know that less than a decade ago Q4 accounted for about half of annual video game sales.



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KHlover on 16 April 2014

Oh man, to think that I actually planned to get this game in Fall 2013....



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bobgamer on 16 April 2014
oniyide said:
Zero999 said:
Hedra42 said:

Unfortunately it did make business sense to delay the Wii U version; in this case it's balancing delivering quality against financial risk, and here's why.

There were (and still are) huge expectations for Watchdogs; it had a high profile among all the hype building up for the console launches, and so they couldn't afford to deliver a half-baked game in November 2013.

We have already seen Ubisoft take a huge risk by delaying all versions for six months, thereby missing the launch of the X1 and PS4, in favour of delivering that quality. The delay had a huge negative impact on them at the time. It wiped 26% off their share price, and they had to adjust their forecast from an operating profit into a loss. It's not realistic to think they could announce another delay across the board and expect their investors to stay happy.

A quick exercise taken Here using VGChartz install base and pre-order figures gave a rough estimate showing that only 4% of Watchdogs' potential audience would be Wii U owners.

Taking into account the install base and the fact that ZombiU and other Wii U releases have not been profitable, if Ubisoft had been faced with the decision of choosing one platform to delay so that they could meet their deadline and avoid risking another hit to share prices and profits, delaying the Wii U version seems to be the better decision businesswise.

Indeed, in February 2014, CEO Yves Guillemot said: “We made the difficult decision to further delay the release of Watch Dogs on Wii U to focus the team’s resources where they could have the broadest possible benefit for both our customers and Ubisoft”

it doesn't make business sense. don't bother.

LMAO he broke it down like a fraction even gave you a link and thats ALL you have to say, LOL you didnt even try to rebuke anything he said.

I see you have just met Zero. Enjoy your stay :)



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NintendoPie on 16 April 2014
Seece said:

To end, any talk of Watchdogs selling really well on WiiU, is backed up by nothing but hope. There are no figures, facts, reason or common sense applied to that idea. Thus it is and should be an afterthought for Ubisoft, they need to go where the money is, and that is PS360, XB1, PS4 and PC. Where they can establish the franchise into a multi million seller.

Perfect business sense. End of discussion.

This isn't perfect business sense. "Perfect business sense" would be cancelling the game all together so they wouldn't have to waste anymore money on it considering, according to your arguments about the sales, they wouldn't make any back anyway.



curl-6 on 16 April 2014

Ubisoft could use the extra time to make sure the Wii U version isn't another incompetent shovelware port, but they won't.

Expect another AC3/AC4/Splinter Cell hackjob. (Pun entirely intended)