Laura Parker: 'Xavier Poix, managing director of Ubisoft's Annecy, Montpellier, and Paris studios, has spoken out about the challenges of developing launch titles for next-generation hardware, using Nintendo's Wii U as an example.
Speaking with GameSpot at the annual D.I.C.E. summit in Las Vegas this week, Poix said the Wii U message is hard to convey, something he believes has greatly contributed to the console's slow start in the market.''
The publisher on the Switch price, the launch line-up, development challenges and why it doesn't have a new IP at launch
So confident we decided to not make a brand new AAA game exclusively for them at launch
Why would Nintendo have to pay them? If they were confident that the Switch will be a huge success, they would want to get in there early and establish themselves.
Ubisoft couldn't even be bothered to make sure Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition was a NS launch title
Nintendo has been rather sparing with the dev kits prior to the reveal announcement.
In the past Ubisoft has already spent positive words against Nintendo Switch on several occasions. The last certificates of respect comes from Xavier Poix, managing director of French studios (Annecy, Montpellier and Paris), according to which Switch could have an impact similar to that of the Wii.
Not even close...
- Wii was relatively cheap when it released. NS will be very costly
- Wii had free online. NS will have paid online.
- Wii launched before the smartphone and tablet boom. NS will release many years after said boom.
- Wii's competition had more costlier consoles. NS's competition's prices are on par with it and in some cases even cheaper.
- Wii was following up on DS's casual market. NS has to create its own market.
- Wii's marketing was positive all the way to its release. NS's marketing has become very divisive ever since its conference.
- Wii appealed to various nongamers. NS will mostly cater to Nintendo gamers.
I don't see how anyone could compare them. If anything NS has more in common with Wii U.
HD rumble (Haptic feedback), hipster-styled looking tablet, play at home or on the go, multiplayer right out of the box (two Joycons), new Zelda game at launch (Wii launched with Twilight Princess), better software support from Nintendo and indies.
it may have the same impact but it may very possibly have the same failed fate also ....Nintendo we like you and you know it , cancel (or let it be your portable option) this freak of a console and release a normal thing on par with others, we will buy it instantly
Your first 2 reasons are wrong. Switch at $300 is the same or cheaper than $250 back in 2006 when you adjust inflation. You get 2 controllers not just one pretty much. And the online thing is not that relevant to success, it's not stopping PS4 is it?
But I agree Switch isn't the Wii. I'm calling 20-30 million lifetime consoles sold.
Isn't it sad that one of your reasons is better support from Nintendo?
@mikeslemonade
That may be true but you understand the economy is shot these days, right? $299 is more difficult to spend when there's shoddy production value and a gimmick at hand. Most gamers would rather upgrade their PC or buy more games for consoles than fall for a gimmick. Believe me, I bought a Wii U and was disappointed at the quality. I don't have an extremely high bar set either. Something like Mario Odyssey with some good AA and a bit better detail would suffice. Mario Kart 8 looks almost the same as Wii U with a slight res bump. I imagine the detail isn't better(crowds for instance) and there's no real AA solution yet either. SSMB looked really lackluster last-gen. Considering it's a fighter you'd expect their offering to look atleast as good as some XB1 and PS4 games since there's less going on. But really it looked lesser than PS360.
Nintendo has been under a very low bar set for alot of us, and with a high price-tag for such weak graphics, it's hard to invest in it for a gimmick. I mean this portable will require a large case to bring around at all times. It's not like this is a pocketable console. It's totally a gimmick and they should have done a real console and 4DS separately instead. It's laughable how they came up with a freak hybrid concept between portable and console. It's screen is huge for a handheld but doesn't fit in your pocket, meaning the only plus it has is for flights, or to show off at parties, to which the screen would be very small to play two-player. It doesn't make any sense. They didn't provide mini-HDMI to connect to a friend's TV which would have been the only portable positive this thing really could have had. It's also extremely weak for a main console, but costs more than one. So what the hell is the point of this thing?
^
I didn't expect much. I expect what Nintendo is today.. which is about 3 must-play games per year.
$300 is cheap. I think it should be $350 and prefer it to be $400.
The Wii was before the big Smart phone boom and mobile gaming.
All the Wii casuals now have smart phones and no need for another Nintendo console.
$300 is cheap, but not for those graphics. That's like saying $5 is cheap. Sure it is, but I wouldn't pay $5 for a single raisin. I pay $5 for a box of raisins. See where I'm coming from? That's the value proposition I see in their console. I'd gladly dish out $400 for an upgraded model though, and I'm still disappointed that they could have done 3-4x better at a lower price tag if this thing was stationary.
@naruga
Are you dumb? Cancel it? A piece of technology that took thousands and thousands of engineering hours to design and develop and millions in investments? Even if you don't like the damn thing, do you not understand how ridiculous that statement is? How much work by /people/ went into this thing? Of course they won't cancel it, that would yield absolutely zero ROI and even if the Switch isn't a huge success they are still going to get some burst sales when it releases (proven by the sold out preorders). Nintendo is a business. They don't give a shit about you. Just like Sony and Microsoft don't give a shit about you. They are here to make money and nothing else and of course they aren't just gonna throw such a huge investment out of the window. Speak with your wallet, and I know you will, but please stop this absolute nonsensical rhetoric.
Do I think the Switch will be a resounding success? I'm not optimistic, but I see the potential. I was disappointed in the presentation myself (mostly due to paid online) but the crap people on N4G spew all day and all night is so god damn cringy, that I often ask myself why I even bother to read these comment sections anymore. It is nothing more than pseudo tech savvies and teen fanboys that can't see past their own front door. It absolutely boggles my mind how your comment got 12 thumbs up but I guess that's an indication of what this site has become more than anything.
Wii Online was garbage though.. jesus ever tried downloading something from the Wii shop, zzzzz dear lord.
PS4 and X1 are both $50 cheaper and substantially more powerful than the Switch.
Agree, the Wii was way different to Switch, it's very hard for gamers now days with these dumbphones and iPad things, gaming has changed for the worse, I still can't wait! 6 weeks! Lol
* Switch is the 3rd or 4th cheapest console ever launched factoring inflation.
You just lied to everyone on this site.
You forgot :
The Wii was bundled with a free game called Wii Sports. Switch does not include a free game.
"Ns marketing hass become very divisive" No...this is only on n4g
If you saw comments on n4g when the reveal of the wii happend it was also bashed.
- NS and Wii price gap is negligible especially when reflecting on 2006 to 2017.
-Wii online is crap and probably was seen as valueless, Switch has half a year to sell the service and offers many more ways to play than any other platform.
-Smartphone/tablets are now owned by everyone, yet the 3DS outsold the PS4 in July 2016. There is clearly a market for handhelds.
-Wiis competition did not exist, arguably the PS2 was more competitive against it in the casual space. Switch could be said to have no competition in a handheld space that last gen consisted of 70M+ units. That console/core space though the value is almost nonexistent very much like the Wii.
-NX has to create its own market... wait this is not made by Nintendo, handheld extraordinaire?
-The Switches only negative aspect and overall impression is it is very much not a console powerhouse made to compete with console competitors, rather tackle a different market very much like the Wii.
-Nonsense...
This Ubi guy is clearly full of crap, however the system seems to have only one light shined on it in many spaces on the internet and that is it is a weak console while not acknowledging it could offer amazing mobile experiences. Nintendo is solely to blame for it, as usual. This system if handled right can push 30M easily and that is bottomline, but as I said if handled right it could end up the next Vita
Well, if they don't sell then why should they? If people buy the games then they will come. Plain and simple.
Look at what they chose to put on the Switch though. Just their shitware like girly dancing games... no big guns.
Think about this. Ubisoft had SIX titles for Wii U launch, and three additional within the first four months. Ubisoft Wii U launch >/= Everyone's Switch launch combined.
They had Assassin's Creed III and a from the ground up built (and really used the gamepad) ZombiU.
Contrast that to Switch. Where they are putting out Just Dance, like they did on Wii U. Then there is a Steep port.
6 vs 2 at launch, and nothing else announced... That's 9 vs 2 for the first four months, and potentially quite a bit longer.
If Ubisoft really believed that then what they have announced and the project or two they may not have, beget their true position. They aren't sure, and they are being careful with it.
They would be announcing the next Assassin's Creed supposedly in Egypt, South Park (out in March like Switch), Watch Dogs 2, Ghost Recon: Wildlands (March 7th release), For Honor (february), Far Cry or whatever.
Rainbow Six: Siege's 2nd season starts soon, they could jump on board there with their continuous season model.
(It's also the same thing Warner Bros, Activision, EA, etc. are doing with Switch)
When Ubisoft talks about Switch, doth protest too much, methinks.
So...millions of grandmas and casuals will buy it, play Wii Sports for a week, and then it collects dust? Tons of shovel-ware, gimmicky, motion-control games piled onto it with almost zero quality content?
No. Not sure why Nintendo doesn't get it yet, but they've lost the casual market. They've moved onto smart phones and will never come back. This endless chase to cash in like they did with the Wii is only alienating everyone else.
I'm going to get it for the occasional RPG and strategy game. Xenoblade, Disgaea 5, Zelda, that Octopath game looked cool, Fire Emblem. That's a pretty good start if all of those release soon after the system.
PS4 isn't portable. I already have it on PS4. Haven't gotten in to it because I usually play Disgaea games on my Vita.
By the end of 2017, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all will have launched new systems. These systems will signal the dramatic shift in console life cycles.
So are we going to acknowledge the launch of Switch as the beginning of the 9th gen
well then it puts Sony in a strange position. They will be significantly late to the next gen party if we pretend that the Pro is not an upgraded piece of hardware at all.
It's a mid-gen upgrade, and devs aren't making Pro-exclusive games, so there's no pretending needed. The Pro is the console equivalent of the New3DS, except without any Pro-exclusive games that the OG PS4 can't play, and unless Microsoft tells third parties that it's ok to abandon the XB1 and make games only for the Scorpio, the same can be said for them, too.
By the circumstances presented, the Switch will be the only truly new console of the three, because it will be playing games that the Wii U, which was its last gen predecessor, will not get.
But just because the other two are mid gen upgrades doesn't mean people won't want them, if they're concerned over 4k or VR.
I don't think being late to the new gen is going to matter much to those two, when they've made it pretty clear they're trying to extend the lifespans again, only with mid gen upgrades this time instead of just sticking to the original consoles of this gen.
They'll still see plenty of success.
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well there isnt much games announced to be coming out soon for the console. i thought nintendos last nintendo direct was a farce because they basically said - " here are some obvious exclusive titles we have in production that we make every year or two, then look at these two other games without release dates. now shut up fanboys and wait til we decide we will release games" fanboys " but we have been waiting for new games". nintendo- " these are new games with two having vague release dates. just continue waiting and buy all the games out now and tell everyone how you are loving the system and how much the graphics and tech are above all other system"
i guess the nintendo fans are back to more waiting like every generation.
this wasnt meant to be harsh but an eye opener to the people who still are blind to nintendos silliness. im only here to educate and open eyes. we can all rejoice together about the future on feb 20th
Game was too creepy for me, tried the demo.
He's not saying anything that's untrue.
But I called this months ago. Ninny been riding on handhelds and nostalgia for far too long! And now 3rd party devs are becoming more vocal than ever about their issues with Ninny.
What's truly shocking is how Ninny thought they could pull the wool over gamers (core) eyes again with a faux-tablet controller!
SonyNGP..... Res.
If he is Akuma what does it matter to you? Ppl on here get banned for the dumbest @hit and is the only place where they ban you for sharing your opinion even if your not cursing and call it trolling. Are you a mod? If not you should become one smh.
I don't really see how this is negative. I understand that they could have done a little better about showcasing the Wii U, but this article seems to focus more on the development side and creativity.
Learning new things is always a bit stressful/scary, but eventually people will get the hang of it. Even for the developers (according to the article) it's hard to get used to something this new and different, but it will just help inspire more creativity and hopefully better quality games too!
The same goes for smartglass. It's pretty obvious to see that the 2nd screen is something that is catching on pretty quickly.