Wii U hardware sales in the US for the month of March will slump to only 55,000 units, analyst Wedbush has forecast in its March 2013 NPD Preview.
55,000 units is a 17 per cent decline over the 66,000 units moved in February. The console sold 57,000 units in January, following the November/December 2012 tally of 463,000 units.
While on stage with Dina Bass at The Bloomberg Technology Summit the President of Xbox, Sarah Bond, was asked about the Xbox studio closures of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios
Of course she did. She's part of the problem and will just tow the company line.
I always wondered why xbox had multiple leaders with similar titles like Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond, like, how many heads do you actually need?
Seems to me it would be more cost efficient to cut 2 of them instead of all those studios.
While many gaming layoffs are cruel, Tango Gameworks being culled after Hi-Fi Rush doesn't even make sense.
Good read. I think the point is important. Cuz the message it sends is, make a bad game? Well shut you down. Make a good game? We still might shut you down. How the fuck are you supposed to feel any sense of job security under those conditions. The level of core incompetence at play in the upper levels of this industry is staggering. This is common sense shit. You can’t chase trends on a 2 year cycle when games take fucking 6-8 years to make. Just let artists fucking art for gods sake. They don’t understand the basic principle that they’re all haggling for the same slice of fucking pie and the market will not bear it. Find a different fucking pie.
"The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn’t finished.
This week, Xbox began offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax, which it purchased in 2020 for $7.5 billion, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way.
Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said.
Game Pass has not seen the massive growth that Xbox boss Phil Spencer may have been hoping for."
"Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said"
So what you're saying is...you bought all these studios and you guys can't run them.
Jesus.
Reports are suggesting that Game Pass will be getting a price hike soon and that Call of Duty may not be added to the day one offering. I honestly have a hard time believing this but it does beg the question why exactly did GP fail? I think the answer is that it just didn't get the growth that it anticipated. Jim was right but I wish he wasn't because at the end of the day, its gamers, devs and other front-line workers who have to absorb the blow for Spencer and team's miscalculations.
For all the armchair executives who were calling for Sony to release its big-budget AAA games on PS+, the same exact thing would have happened at PlayStation. Game Pass has killed Xbox. Congrats.
What happened with MHU and Lego Batman boosting HW sales? If you listened to the N4G Nintendo pundits, those titles moved boxes like gangbusters.
That's quite a dreadful number if its true too, as the March HW tracking is a 5 week period, I believe.
People seem to foret that most of the world is in the middle of a recession, jobs are being lost everyday. Of course this is going to have an effect on sales.
No hating but ever since the Wiiu came out fans have been saying every new release would sell units lol Not too long ago it was Monster Hunter and although it sold better then most games on Wiiu in Japan it didnt sell Monster Hunter numbers. I keep saying those games wont sell units the way Pikmin wont and Bayonetta 2 wont they are games that didnt even sell that much to begin with. Both games dont go past 1 million no matter what system its on.
Recession we already know is a dumb excuse especially since ps3 and xbox are still selling well above Wiiu and arent that much cheaper in price (at least ps4 isnt), not to mention Apple products keep selling through the roof.
200 price point with Mario Kart and Zelda releasing should do it for Nintendo and make sales wise otherwise its going to be a hard, bumpy ride.
Not sure why.... Monster Hunter 3, LEGO City Undercover and Need for Speed Most Wanted U are all very good games and should've given the Wii U a bit of a sales boost... I guess people are just waiting for Nintendo to release their big guns.
Keep in mind the eShop has some AMAZING games as well.
This is surprising if true. I thought for sure sales of the Wii U would be higher with Monster Hunter and Lego City.