Topic: Ubisoft Waiting for Bigger Install Base to Release Finished Wii U Games

[Aaron Brown]

Multiple finished Wii U titles are under Ubisoft's belt, but we might not see them for a while.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/37685/ubisoft-waiting-for-bigger-install-base-to-release-finished-wii-u-games

Ubisoft has an unconfirmed number of finished Wii U games that the company is waiting to release until the system gets a larger install base, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has told Polygon.

According to Guillemot, the number of products Ubisoft planned for release on the console was scaled down in accordance with the quantity of consoles sold, leaving the Wii U shorthanded. "We need the sales to increase so it becomes more and more mass market then we will have the volume that will justify massive marketing and TV marketing," Guillemot stated.

Aside from the unknown number of finished games, he went on to mention one game in particular that was developed specifically for Wii U and has been finished for as long as six months. Guillemot commented on the possibility of it never coming out for the system, but said it could come out on another platform in some form.

[Leo13]

OUCH!!!

[Spak-Spang]

If these are ports or multi-console releases this is the stupidest idea they can do.  Either cancel them, or release them.  Waiting to release them after you already released the other version will not gain you new sales. 


Also this is a pretty dick-ish move to announce.  It is like, sure Nintendo fans we actually finished the game, but you will never see it. 


Sometimes the best move is to not say anything.  I wish more businesses would learn this fact.

[Enner]

It is one Wii U exclusive, according to the Polygon article. On Gametrailers, Yves mentioned it being a family title.


It must not have costed very much to develop if Ubi Soft are pausing at marketing and distributing it. Or maybe it costed a lot. Or maybe it's not a very good game in their eyes.

[Mythtendo]

**** you Ubisoft

[Mythtendo]

Maybe i'll wait to buy any Ubisoft games at all til they support Wii U more

[Soren]

I'm sure the non-Wii U exclusives are ports of of the last-gen Assassins Creed that is being released and Valiant Hearts (which was made with the Ubi Art Framework engine), which was announced for everything but Wii U.


Hopefully the sales bump from Mario Kart 8 will encourage Ubisoft. I am very surprised they still have that much hope  for Wii U still.

[Stratos]

Ooooh. I hope it is an Assassins Creed HD Trilogy. Would love to get a number of old PS360 titles for the Wii U.


Am I a sad person for thinking this way?

[Soren]

By last-gen I meant "Comet".

[Stratos]

It may mean that we get a surprise or two from them this Christmas. Perhaps Nintendo can partner with them on marketing.

[the asylum]

Never thought I'd begin to reconsider EA as my most hated developer...

[Soren]

Never thought I'd begin to reconsider EA as my most hated developer...

I'm pretty sure EA also has loads of unfinished Wii U games waiting to be released.


Oh wait...

[ShyGuy]

Are we finally getting Ghost Recon Future Soldier?

[the asylum]

Never thought I'd begin to reconsider EA as my most hated developer...

I'm pretty sure EA also has loads of unfinished Wii U games waiting to be released.


Oh wait...

If there's one thing I can't stand it's stick-and-carrot bullshit like this.

[Adrock]

Not really sure what's gained by announcing they're withholding games. Just don't say anything until the install base is large enough to release said games.

Still, unless one of those games is a sequel to ZombiU with co-op, I can't say I'm especially interested. The support would be good for Wii U though.

[azeke]

But XBone has lesser install base than Wii U.

[Leo13]

But XBone has lesser install base than Wii U.

But all 3rd parties hate nintendo and find any excuse they can to drop them even if the excuse doesn't make sense

[Khushrenada]

But XBone has lesser install base than Wii U.

Yeah, I know. But developers keep saying that XB and PS have such similarities that it is very easy to make a game for both but that the Nintendo architecture is different and graphic capabilities are different requiring it to take more time and effort to port. How true that it is, I can not say for I am not in the business nor have I tried to port games to test it out.

[Neifirst]

It's probably just another Rabbids game or something completely uninteresting.  On a happier note, if you haven't yet picked up ZombiU for some reason, it's only $10 brand new at Bestbuy.com right now.

[motang]

  Oh come on! Here I am anxiously awaiting for Watch Dogs! 

[ejamer]

Eh, I don't like hearing the news but can (maybe) understand the reasoning.


Lots of people like buying games when they are new, and marketing it once to the biggest possible audience is usually more cost effective than marketing the game several times (either across different systems or as the market expands). There is also the fact that people will often associate a game with the first console it was released on - especially if the game is successful - so if Ubisoft wanted to port the game to other systems then it might be better to do that porting before marketing/releasing the game.


That said, all rumors I read online were that the Rayman Legends delay earned more ill will than it generated benefits so it's a bit surprising they are so up front about repeating that decision now. Maybe Ubisoft figures Wii U really is done and pissing off the fan base doesn't matter?

[Sundoulos]

I can understand not pouring the resources into developing new games for the Wii U, but it would seem like a waste for them to at least not put a finished game out at least as a digital release.   

[nickmitch]

Seems like a lot of sunk costs for Ubisoft.  I'd like to think that they'd be better off with eShop releases than nothing.

[Ian Sane]

So these are cancelled, right?  That's what this really means.  What hope does a console have in selling better if third parties feel it's worthwhile to sit on completed games?  While I doubt knowledge of Ubi doing this is going to spread to the mainstream, announcing this publicly is more likely to HURT sales than anything else.  This just looks really bad for the Wii U.  It would be better for Ubi to just not say anything more than "we'll support the Wii U more agressively if the userbase increases".  Either Ubisoft are being morons here or they're pissed about sinking development costs into games they don't feel are worth releasing and are intentionally sticking it to Nintendo.

[Mop it up]

I have multiple finished posts, but I'm waiting until NWR gets more popular.