Wii U’s Third Party Struggle: Ubisoft and EA Express (More) Concerns

"Since Nintendo’s lackluster presence at E3 2013, the Wii U has been fighting an uphill battle to gain third-party support from game developers. Following last month’s big video game expo, Ubisoft decided to reduce its plans for Wii U titles.

Yves Guillemot, chairman and CEO of Ubisoft, told GamesIndustry International that his company’s exclusive ZombiU launch title failed to turn a profit – and thus won’t be getting a sequel."

[BullyMangler]

Ubisoft disappointed at Nintendo because zomniU didnt sell well on the wiiU?

i dont get it .

just admit that you fugged up with making of zombiU ubisoft

zombiU got average scores everywhere, and sadly game scores determine if gamers will buy a game or not .

rare exceptions though like Metroid Other M got average scores too but damn . now that was a mistake . .

[LOL_WUT]

No, the issue was not the game the reason it didn't sell to their expectations was because YOU guys just didn't go out and support it. Let's not try and spin it.

“The lack of online engagement that we see on Wii U [is troubling],” Moore continued. “It's so integral to what we do. They're so small it's hardly worth running the servers. The Wii U feels like an offline experience right now.”

Those are some pretty bold words by EA ;)

[BullyMangler]

poor game = poor scores = poor saLes < fact

with rare exceptions

like sales really matter to nintendo more than boasting about being the 1st ones to ever have THE MOST BAD ASS CONENT o n pLanet EartH .

Nintendo for some reason likes to show off their inventions. They get a kick out of (being the 1st ones who brought >IT <

sony and microsoft actually competing against each other, like animaLs <

only losers compete < fact

[SilentNegotiator]

Ubisoft, Activision, EA...that's only among the top publishers in the industry, giving very limited support to the Wii U. No big deal.
/s

The denial is getting pretty old. Nintendo isn't handling the Wii U right at all. It's time to stop blaming publishers.

[deadeyes]

Its true though, I played Black Ops 2 the other day and there where hardly 2000 people playing. The most l have ever saw was around 9000 during the Christmas season. I don't blame Activision for not being more supportive. l wish l had waited til later to get a Wii U (after good games come out & a pricecut). If it wasn't for my wife & daughter l woukd trade it in and put it towards a PS 4... The original wii was great, but Nintendo dropped the ball this time. With all the money they made off the wii, they should have been set this gen. They should have embraced online & competive hardware this time around.

[Brasi1989]

How about 3rd parties judge how well their products sell by releasing a comparable product, with the same release date, and the same price point. I don't think a single person can name one game that is a multi-platform game on the WiiU that has the same features, same price, and the same release date. Even Injustice which was released the same time as other consoles and was excluded from the DLC until last week. Still doesn't have all of the features available as its brethren on the other consoles.

@SilentNegotiator
Nintendo may not be handling the WiiU right at the moment. But to imply that the publishers are not to blame is blasphemy. They are to blame at least equal parts, and should actually hold MORE blame than Nintendo for their poor and misguided efforts. (Seriously EA release Mass Effect 3 the same time the other consoles receive the entire trilogy for the same price?)

[SilentNegotiator]

"But to imply that the publishers are not to blame is blasphemy"

"Blasphemy"? Did you just make my sarcastic retort FOR me?

[refocusedman]

Not necessarily true, scores arent always indicative of sales. Look at dead island that game went onto to do pretty well and the scores were abt a 70-71. Resistance 3 had and an avg of 83 and sold pretty poorly. The reason that it sold poorly is due to the fact that now most people buy nintendo for mario and company. It started with the Wii and is continuing with the Wii U.

[deafdani]

77% is not average, it is a good score. 50% would be average.

Zombi U was actually a good game, and remains, to date, the best game to truly showcase what the Wii U is capable of (I'm talking about Gamepad integration here).

If Zombi U didn't do too well, it wasn't Ubi's fault, because the game was good, and had a ton of marketing behind it, and even had a Wii U bundle all for itself.

I don't always agree with LOL_WUT, but he's right on the money here: it's because of people that didn't support Ubisoft, people that didn't give Zombi U a chance, basically, people that didn't buy it. So Ubisoft is being more cautious with the Wii U now.

(And yes, I bought Zombi U and enjoyed it immensely. It's easily one of the most original game experiences I've ever had).

[BullyMangler]

you: No, the issue was not the game the reason it didn't sell to their expectations was because YOU guys just didn't go out and support it. Let's not try and spin it.

me: why would i support poorly executed game?
thats not how life works boi.

EA this EA that you? please . more quotes from the WORST COMPANY IN AMERICA 2 years in a row . .

[BullyMangler]

EA is trash < microSOFT is trash < like Reptillian ubiSOFT is starting to act like trash too < fact kus blaming their mistakes on others? at their age? man whomever is publishing ubisoft's comments needs to watch out. microsoft will fire that commentator (:

[BullyMangler]

there you go folks . ubisoft does it for the money . not for the passion of zombiU . . . instead of learning from their mistakes and making a better game ? it may just be to fool us into thinking they arent making zombiU sequel when they could possibly be . .

if not then yuve been exposed ubisoft (:

and watch dogs is generic for the money because ubisoft know majority of kids rite now buy shooters and city open world games etc . . shame shame shame ubiSOFT only for money not pleasure . .

rayman is diff story . . rayman is nintendos and rayman is coming to smash series

[SilentNegotiator]

There you go, folks. BullyMangler has convinced himself.

[ALLWRONG]

Have you lost your mind?

[deafdani]

He never had a mind to begin with.

[CleverHaiku]

How about someone other than my friend bullymangLer clicks "approve" so more people can get in on the discussion? Eh? C'monnnn ;)

[KrisButtar]

I think rough waters are a head for Nintendo. Honestly I don't understand why they don't look at what the others offer(for online) and then improve on it and make it their own. Even if they didn't do it that way, I'm sure 3rd parties would have told them the direction they were taking and Nintendo should have done everything to ensure that they had a robust online service. Ubisoft would have told Nintendo about The Division and The Crew but Nintendo hasn't got everything up to the online standards that everyone else has yet. The same thing happened with the PS3, people wanted a robust online and the PS3 had to adapt or die. I really don't see how Nintendo couldn't learn from others mistakes and not just their own.

[thomasmiller]

so long ubisoft and ea, hope you guys enjoy your unempoyment with THQ!!! wow! the sony and microsoft trolls are really getting desperate!! WHY HASN'T WARNER BROS. OR ACTIVISION, OR PLATINUM GAMES DUMPING THE WII U?? why are they not scared of losing Money?????? yeah or SEGA??? WHY ARE THEY STILL MAKING GAMES AND SUPPORTING THE WII U??? boy wait until the xbox one BOMBS, AND IT WILL BOMB!!! ubisoft and EA will run like little scared puppies with their tails tucked between their legs.. saying" WE LOVE THE WII U WE WE'RE JUST KIDDING!!! yeah just wait, but hey what ever helps the sony and microsoft trolls sleep at night!

[Parapraxis]

You think Ubi & EA will go out of business due to not supporting the WiiU?
This is a level of immature fanboyism that we as gamers do not need.
No rationality, no perspective, just blind fanboy drivel.

[thomasmiller]

nope not blindness just stupidity on Ea and ubisofts part!! read it and weep fan boy!! http://readwrite.com/2013/0... see MICROSOFT IS IN DEEP TROUBLE!! so yeah if EA AND UBISOFT spend millions of dollars making x box one games and they lose millions and millions on such a bad system, and then yes!!! they will end up like
THQ!! DOES THAT EXPLAIN IT NOW, OR DO I HAVE TO DRAW A MAP FOR YOU?? I MEAN SERIOUSLY!!

[TheEvilWithin]

Since when did the comments of EA named WORST company two years in a row matter all of a sudden??? I have never really cared for EA other then Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Ubisoft is a hit or miss company. They release a bunch of random crap from time to time. I own ZombiU and have beaten it three times if not more and the game is not that great what so ever. The scores were all over the place for the game stating it sucked and was not worth peoples time. So that means its Nintendo's fault for a not so well received release? My a$$ it is! EA and Ubisoft can eat sh*t for all I care. So next time a game comes out for the Playstation or Xbox and it gets bad score's I'm just going to point it a Microsoft and SONY for the reason it sold so poorly.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Since when did the comments of EA named WORST company two years in a row matter all of a sudden"

Gee, maybe because they publish some of the biggest games in the industry?

[mydyingparadiselost]

Game is a huge success-Ubi and EA say 'We're great'
Game is a failure- It's YOUR fault and Nintendos fault.

[deadeyes]

Star Wars Battlefront 3 is what matters to me. I bet we won't get it on the Wii U...

[BosSSyndrome]

That sucks so hard. i loved zombiu. i wish they'd make a sequel.

[TooCool4aName]

OMFG NINTENDO ALL U NEED TO DO THIS GEN IS RELEASE A WII2 WITH SPECS OF XBOXONE TO WIN THIS GEN. A HARDWARE WHERE PS4 AND XBOXONE MULTIPLATFORM GAMES CAN ACTUALLY RUN ON UR MACHINE. YOU HAVE THE BEST FIRST PARTY EXCLUSIVES GAMES. IF U RELEASE A CONSOLE THAT HAVE MARIO, ZELDA, ETC AND MULTIPLATFORM GAMES LIKE FALLOUT, GTA, ETC, YOU WIN AND PEOPLE WILL BUY UR CONSOLE BECAUSE IT IS VERSTILE SINCE I CAN PLAY ALL TYPES OF GAMES. IT ATTRACTS BOTH FAMILY AND HARDCORE FANS. WHY R U MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AS WII AND BY NOT RELEASING A PROPER CONSOLE NOT A LAST GEN CONSOLE. EVERYONE LOVED THE MOTION CONTROL OF WII, WHY RELEASE A USELESS DOUBLE CONSOLE WHERE NO GAMES KNOWS HOW TO USE IT.