Ubisoft again says Wii U needs sales to become a more mass market, liked E3 showing

The latest issue of MCV has a few more comments from Ubisoft about Wii U, courtesy of CEO Yves Guillemot and Alain Corre.

[JBSleek]

What does the mass market mean to Ubisoft because non of the new consoles have hit the "mass" market yet.

[NYC_Gamer]

Ubisoft aren't doing themselves any good by delaying Wii U versions of games

[jayzablade]

in response to your 1.2.1 comment...Exactly mate!!
Just because the machine sells doesn't necessarily mean people will buy their games...especially if they don't release them and they're half-assed incomplete ports!
Wii U owners ought to boycott Ubisoft solely for treating us badly by holding games back, giving us negative press and not having faith in the product!!
On saying that tho, if they were to release ZombiU 2 and it was half as good as the other i'd go crawling back!!!

[DC777]

They are not exactly helping their own cause. They could help push Wii U create a larger base to sell even their existing software on the platform. Yet instead they publicly belittle it and drive more customers away. They are not helping themselves by being overly cautious. Why drive away a certain group of customers? They are still customers nonetheless.

[avengers1978]

They make games for XB1 and that has less sales than Wii U so I don't really see ubisofts point.

[iamnsuperman]

Which is why they said "more mass market" and not mass market which is something that is hard to argue against for the One and PS4. One has historical backing (finacially viable for third parties) while the other is selling at a crazy more mass market rate (making it finacially viable for third parties).

What Ubisoft said makes sense. The are basically saying the Wii U needs to be more popular to warrant spending money in ports and advertisement (especially on a brand that struggles with third party game sales anyway)

[NYC_Gamer]

Wii U becoming popular doesn't equal into owners rushing out to buy Ubisoft titles though..These third party companies need to build some type of fan base on the console if they want sales.

@Below
Ubi and others have the wrong way of thinking in my opinion...They need to build a fan base instead of being stuck on more Wii U sales equal more of our software selling tons..

[iamnsuperman]

@NYC_Gamer

That would be true of small unknown publishers. But companies like Ubisoft that have big followings for their games don't need to build up a fanbase. It is already there. They don't need to convince people to get their games on the Wii U either as most will get it on competitive systems. That is Nintendo's job

[JBSleek]

What Ubisoft said didn't make logical sense though.

Non of these consoles have hit mass market success yet so in theory Ubisoft shouldn't be making games for any consoles.

What they meant to say and simply didn't was: "We think Wii U isn't selling well and we refuse to make games for it until it picks up, also the install numbers look dismal for third parties"

[SteamPowered]

Mass Market may be a stretch, youre right. But a quick look at the install numbers will tell you what Ubisoft meant. Ninty has a bit of an uphill climb to reach X1 and PS4. Ninty still has a strong docket of games to come out this year, so they may see a strong showing yet.

[MysticStrummer]

"a quick look at the install numbers will tell you what Ubisoft meant. Ninty has a bit of an uphill climb to reach X1 and PS4."

XB1 has an uphill climb to reach WiiU sales.

[iamnsuperman]

@ MysticStrummer

That is simply untrue. The Xbox One isn't selling at a lower rate than the Wii U has been. Ubisoft talk at the lack of mass market appeal with the Wii U which is a good description because the system has been selling at a slower rate than two historical poor (sale wise) systems (the Game cube and The Dreamcast). The Xbox One hasn't been like that even though it has seen recent dips in sales (which also Microsoft has reacted to quickly)

[MysticStrummer]

@superman - If you'll look at the quote I replied to, you'll see it says install numbers. That's units sold to customers, and XB1 has a ways to go before it catches up with WiiU. Until XB1 passes WiiU, games have more potential sales on Nintendo's console.

[Chrono]

It won't be, just forget about it Ubisoft. Actually Nintendo fans are already boycotting you last time I checked.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

No one is boycotting them.
People are waiting for Ubisoft to get their sh*t together and prove they can make some ports that aren't Gimped to hell and back, then show consistency with that going forward, before they get to see decent sales out of their multiplats.
Wii U gamers have wised up; they aren't feeding bad ports the sales that third parties want the bad ports to have.
They aren't letting third party bs slide anymore; the sales of these ports being so low prove it.

When Ubisoft gets their act together, they'll make money off of Nintendo systems. They shouldn't have let the low sales of zombi u scare them into making these mistakes.

[Lon3wolf]

They got ZombiU to the Wii-U not sure why I would boycott them for that. Yeah sure the Rayman thing wasn't the greatest way of doing things, but an outright boycott?

[Chrono]

BombiU bombed though.

[fonger08]

@chrono wow... bombiU? how long did it take you to come up with that?

[randomass171]

lol I didn't think anyone was being boycotted. People will probably avoid the poor ports the Wii U has received though.

[Reeze]

I was going to buy Rayman, but the delay took that off my radar... By the time it came out, I had plenty of other games to occupy my time.

[saviin]

And yet it still sold more than the other two consoles combined, I still don't know why they point fingers at the wii u for the poor sales of that game. Ubisoft is all hype, that's why you can buy all their games half price a month after they release. I plan on buying watch dogs, which might be ubisofts last big title, but given the reviews I already know I can wait for the price to plummet after release.

[stripe814]

hey Ubisoft why dont you just scrap those games or release it..you are like a kidnapper who hostage the people who developed that game for wiiU, you are locking their talent and money..seriously the more you delay those games the less your support will be..

i guess Ubisoft want to be like Atari with that ET game

[uth11]

"We need the sales to increase so it becomes more mass market, and then we will have the volume we need to justify big marketing campaigns and TV marketing."

Who knew it cost so much to add the words "and Wii U" to the TV ads you were going to run anyway?

[iamnsuperman]

It isn't as cut and dry as that. Third parties sell pretty poorly on Nintendo systems. Look at Zombie U which was a launch title. Porting cost money (millions) so you can't just add Wii U onto an advert since, historically, that makes no difference to that software sales. The cost has to be covered somewhere. So Wii U specific adverts needed to be done to get people to buy it for the Wii U. These cost money and are still unlikely to work (which would be an awful waste on money on a system that has low sales and doesn't sell third party games that well)

[fenome]

I'm indifferent either way, but what uth11 said is true. Having Wii U specific adverts isn't a necessity, it's a marketing technique. If they aren't willing to spend the ad revenue to market it properly, then they could just throw up Wii U boxart alongside the other systems it's available on at the end of the comercial.

The way I see it, your games should be the reason people want to play it, not a TV commercial.

You're also right, because porting does take time away from developers that could be making other projects, as well as costing a lot of money. In my opinion thay tested the waters with the Wii U pretty poorly to fully back out on it though. I don't understand why they shed a negative light on it. There must be some some sour grapes somewhere, for some reason.

I don't understand why third-party support is so rough on the Wii U though. The only way you're going to build up a fanbase on a particular system is if you actually release some games on it.

Then again most people that have a Wii U are multi console owners, and they can just get those games on other the other systems they own, so that's something to think about too. Ubisoft knows what consoles you own, and if they can spend less while still getting your money then that's all they care about.

[fenome]

^ugh, too late to edit, spelling sucks!^

Beer took over my keyboard :p

[WeAreLegion]

So, what they're saying is... Watch_Dogs is canceled?

[NYC_Gamer]

Ubisoft killed the sales of Watch Dogs on Wii U soon as they delayed it..Yves will come out and complain about how bad WD sold on Wii U without even questioning his own judgement to release it later on the platform.

[Kevlar009]

Yep, I was excited for it until I learned the game itself wasn't that noteworthy, the hacking wasn't that deep, and it will probably be sold at $60 with few improvements on stability. I'd spend at most $40, probably would wait until it hit $20 or so since I'm not a big spender

[kwandar]

In fairness to Yves however, programming for a PS4 or an X1 or even a PC is fairly similar as they are all on the X86 platform.

Wii U, while I'd argue on a technically better platform in many respects (more throughput per watt, for those who are going to ask), does require different coding, hence a different team, and the margins aren't as good as the code isn't transportable as say PS4 to X1 or PC.

[MSBAUSTX]

Ubisoft doesnt realize that Wii U sales right now are higher than ever because of Nintendo's loyalty to their customers by producing amazing AAA titles. So far Rayman was so so and Zombi U was great but didnt sell very well as the other ports. Also their ports lack the DLC that XB1 and PS4 versions get. Same goes for Activision titles. So perhaps, instead of waiting for Nintendo to do the work for you Ubisoft, quit producing half assed ports that pale in comparison the their cross platform counterparts and you may see that mass market margin increase. The third party problem on Wii U isnt the systems fault. It is the direct fault of the developers themselves not being able to create a game for the system that is as good as the first party titles. I enjoyed Batman, Injustice, Assassins Creed and COD BO2 and Ghosts. But all of those games got so much more on other systems. That is like telling someone these cars are completely identicle but after you buy one you find out that the one you didnt choose came with free gas and oil changes the rest of its life. At this point I would fear that the community is untrusting of Ubisoft to the point that when they do release their game, it wont sell purely out of principle.

[GordonKnight]

The problem is gamers are mostly sheep and follow the herd. That is what they mean by mass market. More brainless sheep purchasing the Wii U. Like that will ever happen.

[MSBAUSTX]

I agree with your statement based upon the fact that the people who buy the Wii U are not your normal "mindless sheep" type of gamer. They are calculating their purchase on the end user experience for the most practical amount of money. As recent sales would undeniably show you, based on Wii U MK8 numbers alone, more and more people are seeing the incredible value and appeal of the Wii U. So, depending on how you intended your claim to be interpreted, people are either getting smarter or Ubisoft is a bunch of clowns that are deliberately refusing to do their job as a developer.

[azricf]

Simply pathetic. There are 2 million more Wii Us out there than Xbox Ones. Not stopping Ubisoft from releasing games in waves on X1. These retarded excuses need to stop. Christ, as if they don't make enough profit on their yearly AC milkings..that sell over 10million each. Not to mention their other franchises. They STILL can't take risks. Pathetic.

[MSBAUSTX]

Precisely my point exactly! Check out my reply to the comment made about my initial comment above and you will see we both understand how stupid this really is. This issue really only further proves that Ubisoft is lazy and wants to pump out trash cross platform titles and the general Nintendo crowd of gamers that would buy them are not happy with sub par games for our Wii U when their counterparts for XB1 and PS4 get so much more love. Why would we reward Ubisoft, or any other developer, for deliberately ripping off the Nintendo players? Especially if Nintendo starts delivering these incredible first party titles on a regular basis, which they are for the next year and a half. So basically, IMO, Ubisoft is inadvertently admitting that their games can not compete with Nintendo's first party titles. Hell the indie games are selling better on the shop than Ubisoft games are on the Wii U. That isn't Nintendo's fault. That is Ubisofts trash ports fault.

[thezeldadoth]

Nintendo needs more third party support to get more sales, but third party wants the sales first. Seems like contradictory behavior. Build the good games players will buy them

[fenome]

Build it and they will come

You can't cook food without building a fire (it's a metaphor, so don't jump in with microwaves and what-not! lol)

The only way they're ever going to get support from the Wii U is by properly supporting it first, I don't get how they don't understand that.

[micky_21_uk]

Agree Nintendo needs more Third Party Support. But if Nintendo keep up the pace of quality of First Party Titles and advertise correctly then slowly but surely third parties will get on board again.

Sega did it with the Master System and the early days of the Mega Drive but that was for different reasons because Third Parties were tied to Nintendo. But same example applies to Nintendo if they can produce more First party titles which they are by the way.

[mamotte]

Third parties doesnt support the WiiU, wich cant sell well enough because third parties doesnt support it.

Madness.

[Geekman]

No duh, and no surprise.

[Flungsomepoo]

I did my part, and bought every Ubisoft game on wii U. Even the gay workout game.
I hope one day to see AAA come back to nintendo.

[kwandar]

And we thank you :)

[DeusEx-Machina]

please keep your "mass products" away from my wii U. thank you

[Bubbamilk]

Ubisoft says "please for the love of god stop buying our games on wii u"

They really could use me in their company for pr translation

I'm open ubisoft ill send u my résumé