Ubisoft Strikes Back at Wii U Criticism, Pledges Support

The "U" stands for "Ubisoft"

By Tynan Muddle

Ubisoft have reaffirmed confidence in Nintendo’s latest home console,Wii U, following a very public rant by an EA Sports employee.

Saturday, we reported a story of how Senior Engineer at EA Games, stationed in Cananda, lashed out at Nintendo and the Wii U, calling it “crap” and pointing out how only Nintendo’s own games can possibly make money.

[Root]

Oh yeah because pushing back Rayman Legends shows great support...

[weekev15]

They are a business at the end of the day. A combined install base of 163 million vs 3 million, makes it a clever decision. Bringing watch dogs, ac4 and splinter cell more than makes up for it.

Also the Rayman challenge app is a great apology. Long may their support continue.

[Root]

It's the way they hyped Rayman up though for the Wii U as being that exclusive "spring" hit, I mean I don't own one but I'm not going to be selfish and no see why fans were p***** off....it was a horrible thing to do, so close to the game actually releasing aswell

"Oh sorry we realised we could get more money off other consoles so were pushing it back...even though it's practically done on the Wii U"

It's the way they executed it to be honest

[Oh_Yeah]

Yeah, but they could have released Rayman Legends on Wii U already...its finished, then release it later for ps3/360. Problem is Microsofts policy, which states that they can deny any game if it's released at a later date then an other console. So if anyone is to blame for the delay of Rayman to Wii u its Microsoft. If they continue this along with pay to play multiplayer and lack of exclusives..I can't see how any sensible gamer would support them next gen.

[Shnazzyone]

That rayman challenges app. Yeah you can only get a little time per week to boot it up waiting for new challenges but it's freaking free and definitely showcases how beautiful and fun that game is.

It accomplished it's goal, i'll likely still pick up legends when ubisoft finally releases it.

[malokevi]

Maybe find a hobby, Root?

If you have nothing better to do than look forward to Rayman, and then whine after it comes later then expected, then thats just sad.

[Dj7FairyTail]

I think Microsoft is to blame.

[cee773]

Its crazy how Microsoft's policy would even effect next A gen system lol.

Example say certain ps4 and 720 games were then then scaled down for current gen at A later date would Microsoft deny the game on 360?

Mind Blowing isn't it

[ijust2good]

It wont last for long...This time next year, Ubisoft will have second thoughts in there statement of support.

[3-4-5]

It adds 30 new levels because of it.

How is that a bad thing ?

People can wait 2 years but not 2 years and 5 months?

[wampdog29]

They wanted to release it on all consoles. Microsoft has a clause within their contracts that says when you release a game multi-platform, the game cannot release on another console before a 360 version. They were kinda out of luck and didn't have a choice...

[Lucreto]

Ubisoft always supported the Wii so I expect the same with the Wii U.

The Rabbids were a good money maker on the Wii for them.

[nirwanda]

Exactly, EA refused to make game tailored to the wii thinking they could shovel everything from the 360/ps3 and suffered as a consequence

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Rabbids were rubbish games though, just crappy shovelware.
Still Ubisoft should be commended for showing their support for the WiiU. The system can't seem to catch a break. This E3 will be the deciding factor of whether or not to get one for me personally.

[weekev15]

I have to admit Rabbids is a guilty pleasure of mine. I enjoy the games, although the quality seems to get worse with every installment. The first 2 in particular were actually pretty fun party games. Pretty sure Just Dance, whilst being multi-platform, does some ridiculous numbers on the wii so Nintendo has helped Ubisoft become the profitable company they are today. Think about production costs on a game like Just Dance. It will pale into insignificance when compared to big AAA titles like Tomb Raider whixh wasnt profitable. And yet it sells bigger numbers at the same price .

[iplay1up2]

Dude what are you talking about? Raving Rabbids games are fun and funny. They are not the best, but far from "shovelware". I guess the Wii U Rabbids game is not so great though, but I have not played it.

[Venoxn4g]

Rabbids go home is amazing single player game, a really good one

[1upgamer99]

You think Rabbids go Home is shovelware? I don't it was a very silly LOL funny game. I liked Rabidds Travel in Time, not as much as Go Home, but still enjoyed it.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Lots of Rabbids fans coming out of the woodwork here lol. Hey if you guys enjoyed the games then good for you, I'm not gonna argue with that.

[Locksus]

It's still good to remember that Wii U is doing better than 360 and PS3 did when they were released. Once the games start rolling later on this year, it'll pick up on sales (duh), which results in more devs starting to develop games for the system.
I'll probably buy it later this year.

[WeAreLegion]

No...

It's not.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

is it really fair to compare wiiU's launch to 360/PS3 launch's? WiiU is a next gen system so shouldnt it be compared to PS4/720 when they launch.

[exfatal]

which havent launched yet. and to be honest its almost 100% sure its gonna have a higher entry point then the wii u. so i dont think the other two system will be crippling the Wii u in terms of sales. (unless they put in some monthly payment plan.. and even though doubtful)

[InTheLab]

Link please. And please don't link that article that only counted the first 4 months of sale for Xbox/ps3.

[zerocrossing]

Hopefully the Wii U gaining support from such a great dev like Ubisoft will put the detractors back in their place, EA have really only ever put out shovel-ware on the Wii that nobody cared about so it's not like loosing them is a big deal.

That being said, I still think EA have dropped support of the Wii U due to conflicting approaches to online play and other such services.

[Locksus]

I'm not completely sure whether this is true or not, but EA dropped the support because they wanted to get Origin on Wii U, but Nintendo refused the deal, resulting in EA being severely butthurt right now.

It's not like Nintendo's and Wii U's success rely on EA anyway.

[zerocrossing]

That sounds pretty plausible IMO, having Origin on the Wii U would have been a huge deal for EA but I'm not surprised Nintendo refused, I mean EA can't even maintain their own servers and do nothing but infuriate their consumers with needless DRM, DLC and accessible game design (aka ruining their franchises).

[MasterCornholio]

The problem with the origins issue is that its just a conspiracy theory invented by Nintendo fanboys to make it seem that it isn't Nintendo's fault that EA isn't supporting the Wii U.

Honestly everyone latches onto to this theory but when they are asked concrete evidence on the issue they never present any.

Even if the origins theory was true then how would Nintendo fans explain other developers abandoning the Wii U? I guess they will just invent another origins style conspiracy theory and just blame 3rd parties.

Motorola razr i

[Locksus]

@Master
I said I'm not sure whether it's true or not, but knowing EA, it might as well be.
And as for some other devs abandoning the console, I think it's because Wii U's install base is not very big at the moment, so it might not be profitable to develop for it just yet, but once the sales pick up, they've got no reason not to develop for it.

[zerocrossing]

@MasterCornholio

There's no reliable evidence that EA have dropped support of the Wii U truly due to it being under powered, if that was the case then why state back at E3 2011 that they are planning to fully support Nintendo's Wii U? they must have known the consoles limits at the time so if they had issue, way back then would have been the best time to mention it.

It's far more likely that they did try to push origin on Nintendo but where refused on the count of it along with DRM get in the way of actually gaming and of course being absolute arse when compared to Valves steam.

As of yet "all" of the specs for the Wii U aren't available to the public, however what we we do know is it has a weaker CPU & GPU but this isn't necessarily a detriment if it makes up for it elsewhere.

[SilentNegotiator]

It's hilarious that people talk as if EA and Nintendo were schoolground playmates and not megacorporations.

EA isn't "pouting" or "being butthurt"; they're making business decisions. I know pretending like they're being irrational makes some people feel better, but Nintendo's home consoles haven't been incredibly fruitful for 99% of third parties in a long, long time.

[zerocrossing]

@SilentNegotiator

It would have helped if those 3rd party devs had actually made something worth buying for the Wii, the devs behind Xenoblade, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Raving Rabids, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Project Zero 4, all made high quality, enjoyable titles that gained them high acclaim, if EA wanted make a crapy port for the Wii and moans it didn't sell then who is really to blame?

[rainslacker]

This isn't about some slight towards EA by Nintendo because of Origin. This isn't about the console being "underpowered". This is about the fact that EA games haven't performed well on the system.

It's purely a financial decision. They could make their engine work on Wii U because they claim it's scalable. However, from a financial standpoint there is no benefit for them doing so, since they aren't seeing enough returns on investment to continue engine development or making games for the Wii U right now. The reasons for the low sales is a wholly different debate.

Once the Wii U shows appreciable software sales for 3rd party games, have no doubt that EA will be showing Wii U games at their conference, or be up on Nintendo's stage claiming how much they love Nintendo. EA goes where the money is. Always have, and always will.

In the meantime Ubisoft and other 3rd party supporters will likely reap the rewards of less competition on the system, and be in a much better position for the long run when the Wii U finally starts to shine.

[wampdog29]

I've actually heard from quite a few people within the industry around the time the Wii U was going to be announced that yes, EA and Nintendo were in talks over having Origin as the backbone to Nintendo Network. However, EA would have had too much control. Part of the reason EA was willing to lose money on porting games over to Wii U at first was because they assumed Ninty was going to sign off on the deal. I believe the recent backlash from EA is in fact due to this deal.

If EA couldn't sell games on the system, then they would have just came out and said it. But, no. They completely bash and unprofessionally lay put down after put down on Nintendo and even question their other deals with Google.

[rainslacker]

@wampdog29

There was actually an article where EA was saying how Origin could easily be used on the console systems...of course implying that it would be a good thing. Obviously Nintendo thought otherwise, along with much of the community. Perhaps EA was hoping everyone would be like "Hell YEAH. That'd be awesome. Now I can have all those games I never brought on the PC Origin on my console...Make it happen Nintendo!!!". Obviously this enthusiasm didn't come from the community, and Nintendo did the right thing by telling EA it wasn't for them. In my view it was a pretty underhanded way for EA to get into the console business without offering much to it. I had respect when MS did it with the DC because they actually brought something worthwhile to the table. EA's interest were purely their own.

I have to admit though, I had never thought about that aspect of their financial ambitions before reading your comment. No doubt if Origin were on Wii U, EA would be it's biggest supporter and saying how powerful it is.

[GameCents]

Ubisoft are real stand up guys.

EA on the other hand are going through an identity crisis right now.

Scumbag EA doesn't want to support Nintendo because they refused to have Origin on the Wii U.

Morally Ambiguous Accountant EA have saved Star Wars from oblivion but may run it into the ground has they have many other IP's

Good Guy EA has done a 180 on the online pass program after realising how douchey it was.

[Catnip]

Go Ubisoft! Good for them for keeping the industry healthy. Even though I'm mainly a Nintendo guy, I support the decision to move Rayman Legends to all consoles, because it's better for the entire industry. I'm also so proud that Ubisoft is supporting Nintendo while EA is trying to bully them! Restores my faith in the industry.

[mcstorm]

Its good to see another developer come out and say good things about the Wiiu after Sega announced they were giving the Wiiu exclusive sonic games.

I can see where ea are coming from with the Wiiu as sales are low but I really don't think they are looking at the market in the right way.

They need to look at the times we live in and how people are now spending there money. The Wiiu has some of the best games that have been realised in the last 6 months from 3rd party studios like AC3, Batman 2, NFSMW, Tekken tag 2 and BO2 but that said people who want those games already have a ps3 and 360 so why would they spend £300 on a new console to play the same game that's on there current console?

Its going to be the same with the ps4 and next Xbox. If games like the next cod, fifa, BF4 ect are on the current gen consoles as well and the new gen consoles why will people get the next gen console?

I think alto of people will be in for a shock when they see the next Xbox and ps4 sales are not as high as the 360 and ps3 sales are now. The sales will not start to pickup for theses consoles until the developers stop support on the current gen and the 1st party give us some of the big name games like Mario kart, halo and GT.

[Jay70sgamer]

@mcstorm. This is the best comment so far I read .it's the same thing I was thinking ...if they are still making games for both generations it's gonna hurt next generation sales ..example if they release grand theft auto 5 on current and next generation ..why is someone going to buy the new system right away ..if they are on both systems ..also I don't believe it's gonna be much better on the next gen. Since its a new game on that system ..we all know new games aren't that spectacular maybe a little better than current for launch titles ..

[mcstorm]

Yep I agree. Ive been saying for a few months now that WiiU sales are not bad at all when you take into account what I have said. I also think a lot of people will be shocked when they see sales of the PS4 and next xbox not doing as well as they think it would.

People seem to forget it took the PS3 18 months or so to get going because Sony and the developers were still supporting the PS2 but Microsoft and Nintendo had stopped supporting the Xbox and GameCube when there new systems came out.

The WiiU is trying to cut into the core market at the moment and the list of games that are out at the moment show this but because they are on already owned consoles they will not sell the WiiU to this type of customer.

Once Nintendo start getting there big name games out the WiiU sales will pickup.

If people don't think the PS4 will have the same issue let me ask you this. Sonys biggest game is GT and GT6 is a PS3 only game and can not be played on the PS4 so why would anyone buy a PS4 if they want GT because they will not be able to play it. Once GT6 comes out I expect to see a spike in PS3 sales and depending when it is out depends on if it will have an impact on the sales of the PS4 or not to.

Nintendo had the same issue with the 3DS at the beginning. The brought the 3DS out with no big names but then brought Pokémon out on the DS and it was only after Nintendo gave us Mario Kart and Mario Bros sales of the 3DS picked up.

[jcnba28]

This is great news for Wii U owners.

[Moonman]

Watch Dogs > EA

[chestnut1122]

Don't Forget Assassin's Creed >> EA

[Dogswithguns]

Uplay all da waaaaaaaaaaaaay..

[objdadon]

Well they could just not bring rayman to the wii u like ea isn't, how about that? ????

[Sharius]

lol, remembered the day back when they delay their rayman game for WiiU? now compare with this to see how fanboy reach with Ubi

[OmniSlashPT]

In the of the day, Ubi still has a contract with Nintendo eventhough their games dont sell well and Rayman Legends is now multi...good luck at trying to sell Watch Dogs on the Wii U lol

[Venoxn4g]

good luck trolling, "lol"

[RTheRebel]

Yaawwwn FF7 fanboy shouldn't you be cutting your wrist?lol

[BosSSyndrome]

Um... your... avatar...

[Codey47]

Oh my god! Three months can make a difference!

Just remember comments like this all over the internet

"Unless Ubisoft releases the Wii U version at least 3 months before the PS3 and 360 versions, I am boycotting buying new Ubisoft games and buying any DLC from them. They won't be getting my money for Assassin's Creed 4. "

" To finish I will boycott your games like a lot of people "

" It seems to me ubisoft needs Nintendo more than Nintendo needs ubisoft Rayman Origins was not a huge success on PS3 or xbox 360 , the series appeals more to Nintendo's fan base so all and all I'd say they just hurt theirselfs with the over all sells of legend, I know of four people that are now not getting this game because of their decision to screw the Wii U owners "

http://www.nintendolife.com...

How pathetically fickle!!

[exfatal]

they apologized and made up for it with the challenge app which is actually really good. i was one of those people who were also angry at Ubisoft (4 good reason). But the hell u expect we are gamers folking over some news site. We all are a fickle bunch like it or not. But at least they apologized and are making up for it as we speak.
Beside im sure there are times when the ps and Microsoft fans have gone back on what they said.

[cleft5]

I am glad to see Ubisoft stand up for Nintendo. It sucks what happened with the Rayman game, but Ubisoft games can actually sell alongside Nintendo games so I can understand there frustration with the lack of big name Nintendo titles.

[DivineAssault]

Theyre going to need more than just ubisoft

[Realplaya]

Do you Troll every Nintendo article?

[masa2009]

Ubi is a good partner and always ready to throw a bone to manufacturers.
ACIII:L for Vita, Red Steel for Wii, ZombiU for WiiU.

But the real test will be when we leave 360/PS3 behind us, and there wil be less overlap between PS4/Durango games and WiiU games.
If you look at what they did for the Wii, they did release a few decent titles early on, but after they refocused on 360/PS3, they put out a lot of shovelware/casual games on Wii too.

I hope in one year from now, they are not unveiling "Ubisoft Sudok-U" at E3.

[Realplaya]

Ubisoft actually is smart. Let EA stick there foot in there mouth then swoop in to play the good guy with what the fans want. Oh yeah and here is more proof that Nintendo realizes the severity of the problem and they fully understand what is going on. Also Nintendo isn't one to respond to criticism but this is a few things from Iwata take special note of the 3rd party part.

The following comes from Iwata when asked about Wii U third party support and the stigma that the Wii U is a low-powered system.

- Nintendo's initiative was to "expand the range of software developers"
- says they've already received inquiries from several hundred new developer
- these requests came in after their GDC panel on Nintendo Web Framework
- teams working on this sort of software are quite small
- this allows for quick updates in a short time-span
- with Unity support, hundreds of thousands of developers for Unity exist
- Iwata knows that there are some third parties that are actively supporting Wii U, while others aren't even giving it a second glance
- Iwata aims to fix this by making third parties not currently supporting Wii U regret that decision once third parties that do support it start to produce hits
- Nintendo is working to help create these results this Summer and onward

[Myst]

After playing ZombiU I think I will enjoy what Ubisoft does and hope they really bring more variety to the system. ZombiU showcased an interesting way for gamepad usage and hopefully they will continue this knowledge and trend with their next game.

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

Nintendo can always count on Ubisoft.

[YoungPlex]

Give me Ubisoft ANY DAY over EA!