The problem here is not the Wii U, it is clearly Activision. THPS 2-4 were all released on many platforms, no fewer than 7 for any of them counting PC and Mac as separate.

Forget the Wii U. Where's the PC version? How about the Vita version? Those two at the very least should be braindead-easy ports considering the platforms already being supported. Activision put real work into the older games, tasking a separate developer with creating faithful and high-quality renditions of the THPS 2-4 for GameBoy Advance. A 3DS version surely wouldn't be as difficult as all that.

Activision has decided to release this game for only four platforms. They could easily -- very easily -- release it on seven or more platforms without breaking their backs from the effort. What they are demonstrating to me is that they have less confidence in this franchise now than they had when it was a brand-new IP back in the late 90s -- or perhaps they only lack confidence in this particular installment. Not a good sign for the quality of the game.

It's been too long since a decent Tony Hawk. EA should make a Skate 4 too.

Unfortunately, based on trends its not worth doing.

CoD numbers were pretty good on GC and Wii. But Wii U ports did abysmal.

If this is the broken logic being used by Activision then they must be run by a bunch of pugs. How are Call of Duty and Tony Hawk related? If the issue is that Wii U owners don't buy any third-party games at all, why does Activision publish Skylanders and a bunch of licensed games for the platform? Why are they releasing Guitar Hero Live for Wii U?

Furthermore, if the problem is the Wii U and not Activision, where is the PC version of THPS5? Call of Duty sales must be absolutely abysmal on PC. Maybe PC gamers don't buy third-party games at all.

But I know for a fact that Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified is one of the best-selling games on the PS Vita, so why not port of THPS5 there? Should be easy to get a PS3 game running on Vita.

Market has changed.  Western publishers don't want the small profits from porting their games everywhere anymore.  Same reason we don't get Need for Speed on Vita/WiiU (beside the cursory Criterion ports before they were pulled off the franchise altogether) despite that being a franchise that appeared everywhere in the past (and sold surprisingly well on PSP).  Same reason we don't get WWE games on every platform anymore.

I'd imagine mobile is a big part of it.  Since it's become such a decisive player in the market, why put 10 people on porting it to a console to get moderate sales when you can put those 10 people towards making the next Simpsons Tapped Out?  Might not work out that way, but equally, it might.

PC is an odd omission though.  I'd imagine it probably will come to PC at some point or another.

It's a rubbish business model, anyway, and why I find the Japanese market so interesting (because you still get devs like Koei Tecmo who port their games everywhere and still make a profit; or Bandai Namco who can make 30 games which sell 30k each and make money from each of them).

Cross gen games generally add more than sharper textures. Go taken a look at some digital foundry cross gen comparisons. It depends on which platform is the lead, but surely you know.

Maybe TH5 is a lower budget game just to test the water. The odds of it being a mega seller are low even with cutting edge graphics.

But they haven't put 10 people on Tony Hawk Tapped Out. They revealed an endless runner for mobile last year, then delayed it indefinitely. I don't see why they can't put 10 people on making a mobile game and a different 10 people on porting the game to another platform, either. Activision has immense resources at their disposal.

Anyway that just makes it sound to me like you agree that Activision isn't interested in putting effort into their games on any platforms other than PS & XB, and that the issue here is not Nintendo's platforms or Nintendo gamers but Activision themselves. Rather than making high-quality ports of this game available to a wider audience they will make a piece of crap to try to squeeze some money out of the mobile market. Don't blame Activision's scummy business practices on a nebulous boogeyman like "the market." Don't forget that Activision is one of the major players who made the market what it is today.

Really? No Wii U? They kinda missed an opportunity there.

I definitely remember throwing held items being a mechanic in THUG 2 at the very least. I don't remember if it was used in an earlier game. Taking a page from THUG 2 isn't a great idea but we'll see how it works out.

Well, the point wasn't that they were going to make a Tony Hawk themed mobile game.  I could've used Clash of Clans or Puzzles & Dragons as my example :P

Also, I'm sure you realise what a vicious cycle the 10 people thing is.  Why hire a different 10 people to port their game to another platform when they could be put on a mobile project; or start work on something else for PS4/XB1 (which is clearly where their priorities are), etc. etc.

I don't understand the bolded by the way.  Activision did nothing to make the mobile market what it is today - that was a whole host of other developers & publishers.  The state of the market caused by them (i.e. an attractive alternative place that can make some big money for little investment - a place that didn't exist during previous gens) is what I was suggesting was the problem.  Again, Activision had nothing to do with that.