Nintendo of America Issues Refunds After Warner Bros. Cancels Batman: Arkham Origins Wii U DLC

Quelle surprise

I was very nearly going to buy this yesterday, and now im not, in fact i think i think ive purchased my last wb game on wii u, sick of developers/publishers going back on their word

I call bull...top to bottom. Based on demand? Does it really cut into their pockets to put out something on a console that people will buy therefore putting it back into their pockets tenfold, likely? I just don't get it..maybe we're not supposed to understand it.

Well maybe If they never omitted multiplayer from the wii u version demand would have been higher.

They have the game engine. Does it really take more than a button click to release the game on the WiiU lol? I am sure it needs QA afterwards, but whatever. Not that I own the game or care at all

warner is making themselves look bad while nintendo is doing the right thing. cool that i didnt buy the game, was but now im not

Frankly the 25 hours I played Origins for is enough. Worrying that these stories are now the norm though. I don't think you can trust any 3rd party outside Sega and Platinum at the moment, which is part of the Wii U's problem.

I know all common sense will go out the window and we'll get all the "lazy third party" trash Comments Wii U owners like to spout. It's simple business, not enough of us bought the game so we miss out on the DLC. You want support from third parties then pony up the dough and support them back, with sales.

@Godlike_Virus - WB will know how many copies the game has sold on the platform and also know the estimated percentage of the total number of people that purchase DLC add-ons. From that they have no doubt worked out that developing the Wii U version is not viable let alone "putting it back into their pockets tenfold". If that was the case Wii U would be getting it.

Porting from 360/PS3 to Wii U is also not straight-forward as Wii U's architecture is very different from those machines so it would take considerable effort to port to Wii U.

This is not a company trying to piss off Nintendo gamers as some people seem to think, it is a company out to make money like all companies do and it seems in this case they would not.

Soooooo....The Star Wars pinball DLC?? I woulda got it on ps3 If I knew the wiiu ver. was gonna get the shaft ..

This is so frustrating, hearing news like this all the time is making me lose all hope for the wiiu. But I gotta admit,as much of a duff move it is by warner bros, how many people actually bought the season pass for dlc? Seeing alot of comments saying"oh this sucks,glad I didnt buy the game/dlc" gives me the answer I think...

Man, why aren't any 3rd party developers bringing games / content to Wii U anymore? I'm going to stop buying 3rd party games / content!

Seriously though, this does feel like the vicious cycle of a dying console. Good thing Nintendo has its first party games and some indie support, but this isn't looking good.

Kinda sad to see people taking this so personal (as always), it's just business, guys. Do you expect publishers to lose money out of the goodness in their heart? =/

Glad i got it for the PS3 (where Arkham should be played)

But it's still a duck move by Warner! What are the people who want to play the story DLC going to do now? Buy the game again for a different system?? They should have Warner refund them the whole 60 dollars!
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

Well cant blame publisher if the number is too Low though.

Consumers whine that theres no 3rd party support on nintendo platforms.
3rd parties put water downed versions of the game.
Consumers refuse to buy said water downed product.
3rd parties complain that no one buys there games.
Consumers continue to complain.

Its bitter cycle that won't change unless both 3rd parties and consumers pull their fingers out.

Major ,MAJOR blow to Wii u PR!!!
Don't really see how this could be worse.....now people who have already paid are having features removed !!!!
Is there any way this could have been funded/subsidised by Nintendo....surely the pr damage is more costly than the programing costs!?!?!

@boynerdrambling
The lack of DLC support does not make a game watered down.

No surprise about the company's decision. Aside from Nintendo games, there doesn't seem to be a demand for anything on the Wii U.

It sounds like many 3rd party publishers are pretty much treading water these days with very high production costs which means the have to sell extremely well to make any profit. If the install base isn't there, then they already know they are going to make a loss. It affected other consoles at the beginning of their life cycles, look at the PS3. Now that it has a good install base developers a bringing a lot to it. If Xboxone and PS4 have a slow uptake of hardware then games will be delayed or cancelled until they know they can turn a profit.
I don't blame Warner Brothers, its nothing personal against Nintendo. At least Nintendo is doing right by its customers and refunding where necessary. What Nintendo needs to do is get as many wiiU's into peoples homes and then its up to the developers to make a decent game with a decent budget. The wiiU is a solid piece of Tech. Its just badly advertised.

@divinelite you can when the version released for Wii u is missing features....it's simply not fair to compare sales of products with different features in sales terms. Also, the dlc pass was already on sale for some time, if you sell a ticket , you honor it with the product. The right moral/business move would be to not sell until confirmed, or to honour the pass, lose money and then not do it again in future.
I support 3rd party games on Wii u, have bought loads, but.....I WILL NOT BUY AN INFERIOR PRODUCT FOR THE SAME MONEY!!! it's just common sense 0_o

@ULTRA-64

On the upside, if understand correctly this means Wii U owners who purchased the Season pass ended up getting the costumes and other stuff for free (not that they i would care for those, but a freebie is a freebie)

its like the dreamcast all over again!

I'm glad stuff like this is happening. Maybe this will slap some sense into Nintendo and it's fans..

@PokeTune

What, never buy a third party game because they are just going to turn around and cancel features? - in this case, customers gave Warner their money and still they didn't honour their end of the deal.

@KFlow325 Yeah I just checked the Star Wars pinball article on NLife. I DL'd it way back and they promised more tables but they never came...

@ULTRA-64 I know about non online but they made this game the lowest price of all three. And... Really, who have Wii u and like to play online? Oh except mario kart

And this is why you don't buy season passes.

@ferthepoet I love the optimistic view, always a silver lining ,eh! Guess I needed that to snap me out of doom mode, it's not all bad, my pikmin 3 arrived in the post a minute ago, I've still not finished deus ex either which has been amazing so far and a shining example of how to bring a game to Wii u in style. If people want to support 3rd party buy that instead, the DEFINITIVE version, dirt cheap, great game!

@divinelite "Who play online?" Well, I do, for starters. So far it seems the eShop Luigi-U is the only game I own that supports online. So yeah, if nobody biulds it into their games, then nobody will play online b/c the game doesn't support it. This fact needs to change.

Also, I loaded ExciteBike Wiiware the other day. Waited 30 minutes for other players to show up. Nothing. I suspect most Wii titles aside from Kart and Smash Bros are in a similar predicament.

@divinelite that's no reason to cut content. Warner was just too stingy to provide servers for the WiiU version. And now they kick WiiU version owners again.
But that's how it goes: third party developers want more profit, so they save it on the wrong end and betray their customers with inferior ports and cut content.

@SavantSupreme Wow, never saw anyone stoop that low recently... you should reconsider what Nintendo 'planned' andvwhat they 'promised'.
To clarify, they promised nothing. They had plans, and quite a few didn't work out. Nobody could've predicted this in the long-term run, but that's the risk of buying a console - there's always a chance things go wrong (see DreamCast for an example).

@Kaze_Memaryu I think the problem is it's not only
one DLC. Season pass means whole dlc will be more than one and its a kinda big effort to bring if so few people will buy it. If it's easy dlc like cosmetics I guess they will still sell it, but for story dlc it's hard

@StarDust4Ever Well as far as I know only Nintendo games is full of people play online... If they made it like mario kart and ssb. So I think it's normal for third party to skip feature that few people will use

Here's my question, is WB cancelling the same DLC for PC and PS Vita? I only ask because the Wii U version outsold both of those in America and if either of those versions of the game get the DLC, then we know that WB's excuse is BS and they are targeting the Wii U specifically. Personally, I was expecting something like this after the Wii U got shafted by WB on Injustice (with all DLC on disc) and the cut multiplayer on Batman (I'm waiting to get it for like $10 at this point).

@Guybrush20x6 - Actually, the season pass worked nicely for those who purchased it considering they got all current DLC for free due to the refund. It was also quite nice for Nintendo to do this when they could have left it in WB's hands who would've likely NOT given a refund at all. If you read the user agreements, these companies are not obligated or required to give your money back so my hat off to the Big N.

I'd like to make it known that I am one of the customers who got shafted. Granted, I do have $20 sitting in my E-Shop account, and I am grateful for that, but come on Warner... I bought this in trust that I would get what I paid for, not to get backhanded by you when things didn't look to good in your profit calculator. For Shame WB...

Anyone consider most of us are fed up paying for dlc thats already on the disc.Or for some stupid costumes. As of the multiplayer missing isnt some of the dlc for this part of the game as well. (still dont see why every game needs a online multiplayer. Wouldnt be better to spend the time on making more content)
Also the game was knocked to half price on all three systems pretty quick.

I can to a point understand why third party developers avoid the wii u ,there just isn't the demand , I personally bought the wii u for wii u games ,exclusive to nintendo .

I have cod ghost and I have never seen more than two thousand players on line at anyone time ,it was the same with Black ops 2 wii u , and one of the main reasons why treyarch didn't give us the DLC maps ,there simply isn't demand .

Perfect!! That means Wii U owners now pretty much have 0% chance we won't be getting Mortal Kombat!! First pull this, then don't even bother with a game that will most likely be awesome!

@LoBo The demand isn't there because third party's have been doing stuff like this to Nintendo fans since the N64 days. The reason it has had such a ripple through the years is because Nintendo fans tend to stick with their consoles through the years and don't forget the poor treatment on each successive machine. By comparison, Sony and Microsoft fans have often jumped between machines or just own both. Also, third party's don't have to compete with stellar first party software on those consoles and in turn they don't try as hard because they know their games will sell (this is why things like constant patching and on disc DLC has largely been accepted with third party's). When you add that most major third party games are now available on PC (and aren't gimped) which most Nintendo owners have, there is little reason to buy third party on Nintendo consoles when you know what will happen.

These companies have done this to themselves so I have little pity for them. Nintendo has survived for over 3 console generations on their own software so the loss of third party's is being blown way out of proportion. The N64, GameCube and Wii were all sold by stellar first and second party software (If you don't believe me, I challenge you to find a single third party game that was a system seller for Nintendo in the same way GTA III was for the PS2). When you consider that the Wii U already has 5 titles with over a million in sales each (all first party) then this whole third party thing really doesn't matter.

They should be refunding the entire cost of the game! Its all getting too much now. Nintendo should release a SNES/Nes/GBA emulator for Wii U And dump EVERY Ninty published game to download for free! Wouldn't cost them anything in production (ignore gamepad compatibility)! Sounds extreme but would boost hardware sales BUT still wouldn't make up for the trickle of games coming through and lack of "promised" 3rd party support. Sorry but having a NEW 330 quid console with a handful of games is completely unacceptable!!!

Glad I purchased the game for $20 used with the free DLC code still intact.. I had ZERO plan of buying any DLC.. I find the majority of DLC to be a COMPLETE F'ing RIP OFF!! You're pretty much a terrible consumer in my eye if you purchase this.. just go look at the "profit margin" spreadsheet for this tactic.. it's screwing over gamers and the gamers must love back door passes! NOT ME!! Very few companies offer "value dlc".. Nintendo being one of the very few.. even though I even found some of Pikmin 3 to be over priced!! Gof figure!

Wii U, Nintendo's new GameCube...

another one leaving, now I love Nintendo but something is really wrong over there right now and it needs to be fixed quickly or the WiiU will fail and fail hard (I know Nintendo will be ok but if this keeps up all it's going to do is keep thier relasionship with third partys dead and while Nintendo has some great franchises they can't live on just first party games no anymore, it's the Dreamcast all over again and I don't want Nintendo to go)

@Chrono_cross: your right it makes it an incomplete version. The watered down part would be the multiplayer that was realsed on all other platforms and not wii u version of origins. Not that I named any game by name, just talking in general. But thanks for jumping to conclusions none the less!

Would've thought Warner Bros was a better company than the likes of EA, but apparently they are all the same.

Don't apparently want paying customers.

All I know is that what little "demand" WB had, is now even less after this duck move.
Good one!
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

@GeminiSaint
God I hope so. I was thinking of buying a cube again so I googled the best 25 games- have you seen that list? It's possibly the best list any console has had! If at the end of it my WiiU has 25 titles like that I'll be well happy. That and an account system that lets me play my tonnes of VC games on all my consoles.

@boynerdrambling
I never named a game either, mi amigo. Like I said, a game with no DLC does not make it incomplete or watered down.

So please stop making assumptions.

<Insert crazy conspiracy about every 3rd party publisher hating Nintendo, ever since 20 years ago>

It's true the Cube had some amazing games, both first and third party. We'll see if Wii U gets anywhere near that.

@Kolzig
It has nothing to do with not wanting paying customers. It has to do with demand which sadly isn't there. Two of my friends are designers at Ubisoft and I was discussing the WiiU to them- actually defending it. They think the system is a joke. They produced arguably the best 3rd party game in ZombiiU which is quite frankly excellent but nobody bought it. They said the money they lost was silly and it's now being sold for £8 in bargain bins. So if anyone is to blame it's the WiiU owners who are not buying these titles. I'd rather we stopped moaning about the 3rd party issue and got Nintendo to sort out their own titles and their account system. I read the same comments again and again and someone on here put it quite intelligently- on PS3 and 360 the third party games are the main selling points, they are not on a Nintendo console. However it is now over a year and what have Nintendo released? Don't get me wrong- I love the system and have mario 3D, Pikmin 3 and really want Zelda HD but that's really it from them in over a year- it isn't good enough. My other games are Zombii, Lego Undercover (genius) and Rayman Legends- another poor seller for Ubi despite its excellence. In closing- if there is any company to be annoyed with it is infact Nintendo themselves. I really hope they pull it out the bag this year because they are going to need more than Donkey Knong, Mario Kart and Smash Bros in a year. As many others have stated- simply sorting out the VC and availability of their amazing back catalogue across WiiU and handheld would go some way to solving any problems. Sorry for going on- I'm off to play Lego Undercover!

@Collz No way. Dreamcast has some AMAZING games.

Wow that's sucks bra! Dem lazy third party developers not supporting the console, cause Nintendo has published and developed tonnes and tonnes of games for it, and on top of that they've been releasing loads of VC games for the Wii U too.

Nah Nintendo's kewl, they've done nothing wrong at all with the system. Let those lazy developers put DLC on the other crappy consoles cause nobody buys third party games like they do on der Nintendo.

Now I'm going to go back and play Splinter Cell Blacklist with all 98 (that's right 98) people online, cause we love that third party support!!!!!

*waits for some plank to complain about lack of local co-op in the game

Better focus on making that failed Gamepad a priority, Nintendo! That'll surely help!

@LDXD

That's not what we're talking about. boynerd is trying to say the Wii U got a watered down version of a game because the devs pulled the DLC option. His opinion is invalid.

I never knew DLC made a game whole before.

The more you know.

It seems that unless your an indie developer or nintendo then anyone else has given up hope on the console. I give it a couple of years before it's gone if we're lucky.

@1wiierdguy Many of us discerning gamers didn't buy the Wii U port because it's plagued with framerate issues. The usual cry of 'lazy third-parties' is valid here.

@LDXD

I never I said I did. I don't know where you're pulling this from.

If a game has good DLC, I'll buy it, play it, and try my hardest to enjoy it. It's not a big deal either way.

I'm sure they will still release Half-Life Blue Shift. I heard it went gold already...

(Hoping someone gets this )

Correct me if I am wrong, but they basically promised a feature, took money for it in advance, and then cancelled it, kept that money and Nintendo has to pay for that?

So besides liars they are thieves?

I'm fine with the base game at the discounted price I got it, dont want the season pass at all. The game was mediocre at best (and complete crap at worst) on any platform and the DLC is more of the same cash-grab crap we should be avoiding as gamers who want to play good things for one price.

As for WB, they lost my good opinion of them when they allowed Origins to release the way it did. I'm not even taking into account what they did with the WiiU version. It was a rushed launch for a bad game and I'll be much more skeptical of WB releases going forward.

I'm making this my "nail in Watch_Dogs Wii U coffin" article for today. For all those who say its too far along to cancel, people paid $20 IN ADVANCE for this DLC and they still canceled the Wii U version.

And since NL has somehow avoided this rumour going about the interwebs about W_D not coming to Wii U b/c it isn't on Nitnnedo's 2014 release list:

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/20156/article/watch-dogs-not-listed-for-wii-u-on-nintendo-s-official-2014-release-schedule/

The article includes a link to the PDF. I'm personally not buying that rumour b/c the Nintendo list seems to only go until May, and the game isn't due out until at least June, according to the lead voice actor. Which also does away w/ the GTAV pushed this game back idea. The game wasn't nearly done yet last year.

http://www.examiner.com/article/watch-dogs-release-date-hinted-by-voice-actor-of-aiden-pearce

So for the moment anyway W_D could still be coming to the Wii U, June or later. But news like canceled DLC isn't helpng the outlook any.

It is nice that they are paying back the $20 - but on another downside for Batman fans - if they are refunding $20 that means any future DLC is not happening on Wii U. And for a $20 season pass I would hope the company would be delivering more.

Next question - does Wii U get the next Batman game? Or Warner Brothers game? Or Rocksteady game? (I forgot what they are doing whiie somebody else was making Batman Origins)

Welp, you guys better buy Blackgate then....

@GeminiSaint
Have you seen the software and hardware sales for this console? Nintendo wishes the Wii U was the GC.

@Kamalisk I've asked that about CoD BO 2 and the DLC maps, not that I wanted the regular maps but really would have enjoyed the zombie maps.

They develop the game for year/s so as you said the engine and most game elements are done.

Then they say okay before going further we have enough game her to sell for 60, the rest will come down the ethernet highway

Then 3-6 months pass giving their dev (probably way smaller team) time finish the unfinished (full game) parts and say here you go DLC

Now, I know I'm making some mockery here but geesh I can't be that far off. Now of course if only 100 Wii U owners got the Season pass I can see they can't pay their monkey to hop on a keyboard to press buttons and release it for us.

They would have needed a certain threshold amount to make it worth their while, I guess my other complaint would be pubs/devs thinking they want a bajillion more as opposed to some profits. But we'll never know. Bummer my son really likes the game and has been playing just to 100% it, I would have decently bought him some extra campaign if it reached the Wii U.

As i was knee deep in Arkham City and its hugeness I hadn't the time or money to buy Origins yet but now I will not even waste either when I finish Arkham City. Really thinking about dropping Arkham City on its head now that Origins will be just barsteward bersion

@Kamalisk yes. That is how game programming works across multiple platforms using different hardware. One button exists that converts every piece of code from xbox360, ps3, ps and Wii U. That is also how cross platform games are made. Just click a button and Presto! New code for a new console! The gamepad, on the otherhand, requires the programmers to flick an actual switch to add full gamepad support. The Kinect for the Xbox is a dial that is turned. See how easy game programming is!

@KFlow325 It's been submitted to Nintendo a while ago and is out of Zen's hands. Blame Nintendo for there slow approval process.

But the reality is that Arkham Origins is nowhere near as good as Arkham City... Quick cash grab crappy games and DLC thievery will be the norm now and in the future of the gaming industry no matter what platform you buy

-- sigh I'm done. --

@Spoony_Tech it looks great on the Wii ...Nintendo where is the DLC?

The gamepad was Made for pinball...how is Nintendo turning down George Lucas/Disney money? Y'all must not be turnt up...

I wonder if WB asked Nintendo to do this or if Nintendo did this as a pre-emptive strike.

Tell me again how the U is going to explode in popularity and take the market by storm...

@vamkar

An "indie" game has like 1/100th of the budget as a major AAA third-party title. They are frothing at the mouth to be on a Nintendo console, and there is less financial risk. The major developers don't need to put their products on Nintendo consoles to make money, and they certainly aren't going to waste their own cash by putting stuff on the system that doesn't sell.

I think it's Nintendo's fault. Different developer, same problem. I guess I'm getting $20 back. I love this game, but it's not a big deal for me if dlc doesn't get released. $2 for 5 pikmin levels is better than a skin pack. Btw, I've beat the game once and I still don't know how to use them, talk about an oversight.

This is just sad.

But I can't help but think to all of you who said "don't worry, Nintendo is doing fine", well, where are you now? Of course, indie makers are going to say it because they have nothing to lose over the Wii U. But this is bigger than them.

To those of you who say "big deal, we don't need third-parties", perhaps personally you don't, but for Nintendo it's a big deal. This denial of Nintendo being in the console race, IMO, is what costing the company as a console maker.

The adage of (paraphrasing here) "the first step of taking care of a problem is to admit you have one" cannot ring more true.

@Kodeen The numbers are on VGChartz and for NA, Batman: Arkham Origins is sitting at:
PC - 70k
WiiU - 110k
In all, I think WB is far more disappointed in the overall sales failure of Origins (which is under 4 million total sales across 4 platforms) when compared to Asylum (over 7 million across 3 platforms) and Arkham City (over 9 million across 4 platforms).

One thing that has me curious is why the venomous hatred for the Wii U? I can understand Wii U owners complaining about bad third party support and even potential buyers having issues but there is an overwhelming air of hatred towards it from Sony/Microsoft fans, the gaming media, third party's and analysts. It's almost as if it has become hip and stylish to hate on it despite the machine having little impact on the party's mentioned above.

• Sony/Microsoft fans: does the Wii U's existence have some impact or bearing on the PS4/XBOne market? No, so why can't they stop talking about it?
• Gaming Media: Aside from Nintendo based sites like this, is there a reason to report on negative Wii U press outside of click bait articles? No but sensationalized "Nintendo is doomed" articles get people to their sites and start flame wars among fans.
• Third Party's: They've already made the decision to bail on the console so why keep talking about it in a negative light? Just ignore the thing like they ignore the OUYA or tablets since the machine isn't a part of their bottom line.
• Analysts: This is the one group that you could argue should talk about the Wii U negatively but why are they so publicly vocal about Nintendo when their recommendations are for investors? What is the rational behind someone like Michael Pachter stating his opinions about Nintendo so publicly while not doing the same level of talking about Microsoft and Sony? Once again this is a situation of negative click bait and the fact that Viacom and Microsoft are financially in bed with each other is problematic (Viacom owns GameTrailers which is where most of Pachter's Nintendo "opinions" come from).

I've had the Wii U since February 2012 and have been quite happy with it. I bought it for the exclusives and the indie library and I am happy with what it is offering. I am disappointed by the lack of a select few third party games but those games were not part of my decision to buy it. While I have owned (and still own) every Nintendo home console, my expectations for third party's are as low as possible because I have watched the trends over the years and third party's have little impact on Nintendo consoles. Nintendo games alone are the reason anyone buys a Nintendo console and in the case of the Wii U, the indie library is their new third party support which is smarter from a financial standpoint. While the Wii U has some problems, it is far from the disaster people make it out to be. Nintendo will continue to support it just like they did the GameCube so the Dreamcast analogy is plain ridiculous. In the end, we will get our Nintendo games and they will sell in the millions and Nintendo will survive.

Second class citizens again. Why buy the Wii U version when the other versions of the game on other Consoles aren't gimped? Nope. Not gonna support companies who don't go all in. What a joke Nintendo are becoming. They can't do a thing right. I hate it. I hate that my favourite company is just screwing things up constantly. I hate it!!! But I'm not going to start supporting gimped versions of games just to do my part when I can just as easily get the same game on my PS3 and get all the features and DLC. Fix the problem Nintendo. It's not hard. Slash the price of the Wii U, halve it even. Just do something instead of talking about it. And release pokemon bank for gods sake.

@TreonsRealm
As @Kodeen pointed out, Steam doesn't release sales numbers. PC retail copies are pretty much irrelevant. There's no chance whatsoever that the WiiU version outsold the PC version.

@TreonsRealm I wish like-minded people and I can enjoy the games like you do, and more power to you, but when we hear stories like this, it makes us wonder if the product was worth the investment. We didn't drop $300 so that we can keep hearing bad news about it. It's much more complicated than saying "Just sit down and relax."

I'll address your four points:

1) I agree that most of the fanboys have nothing to lose, but I also suspect that some of them also grew up with Nintendo, yet they felt burned because of the company's "kiddie" image and lack of technological prowess (the evidence on that is pretty substantial). If that's the case, can you really blame them?

2) These are the types of stories you just can't ignore. When the WB decides to drop content from a AAA game on the Wii U, it's news. But it's not just the WB doing this, but EA, Activision, Square Enix, Namco, Bethesda, etc. So, perhaps there is some validity to those "Nintendoom clickbait" articles that Nintendo fans are complaining about. Why keep shooting the messenger?

3) See point 2. To expand, Nintendo is a big part of gaming history. This not something you can just ignore. Third parties really wanted to work with Nintendo, but IMO, the hardware (amongst other issues) just made it way too difficult for them. Sorry, but we are at the mercy of the developers here. The days of developers making the games for the consoles are long gone. It's the other way around now.

4) I think that problem has been around for a while, and it is growing, which is why you're now hearing negative stories about the Wii U. Sony is having big problems with the other products right now, but I believe the story has been a bit more recent. Nintendo's problems have been swelling since Day One, almost, of the Wii U. In fact, this is going to be the 3rd out of the last 4 consoles in which Nintendo hasn't been selling well, so this was not a problem that appeared overnight.

Like I said, I actually do enjoy my Wii U, but again, with stories like this, I wonder if it was worth the investment. My bottom line is hurting too.

@Kodeen I agree and am fully aware of that but their physical numbers tend to give a descent and somewhat conservative estimate of a certain game. I agree that the digital PC sales are likely higher but WB's excuse is still a bit flimsy when the whole picture is taken into account. Also, it doesn't change the fact that as a whole, the game really bombed compared to the 2 previous games. Many companies (including WB) still fully support DLC for a game despite poor sales due to relatively low investment and no physical product to worry about so sales of over 100,000 should be enough to complete DLC they had already started.

@TreonsRealm have you heard of Rare???
And before you call them 2nd party....they were fully independent, hence the Microsoft buy-out, just very close to Nintendo. Also, just dance, not my thing but the Wii breakthrough game sold shed loads and started a franchise worth millions. Also you could look to a number of other games as system selling like the Turok franchise, rouge squadron was VERY popular, resident evil 4 pushed the Wii enough to see other consoles get jealous and port......I admit you have a point, 1st party games are the main motivation, but your being a bit ott man.
You are very right about the memory of poor treatment though , nin-thusiasts do hold a grudge more than anyone in the tech world, rivaled only by peoples blind enthusiasm for the next new Apple device .

Wow this turned into a beat-up-on-Nintnedo thread really fast. Shocking!

I've got 19.99 extra in my eshop account, and when I look back on the DLC I have for Origins, and what was coming, I don't feel bad in the least.

The larger picture is how does one break out of this chicken and egg scenario with 3rd party devs? Frankly I think it will take the death of the Xbox or PS to do so, as you can bet the same thing will happen again with Nintendos next console. Nintendo's business mode should be to plan to go it alone, and any additional help is just icing on the cake. Ps3 and 360 support will linger until ps4 and xbone get a strong install base and the tune will change from install base to console power from the devs, and when the new console comes out, it goes back to install base.

Remember the whole issue before release where Wii U owners questioned whether or not they were going to get the Death Stroke pack? We should have seen the writing on the wall then. It sucks, but I feel like we shouldn't be so surprised. This totally explains that mystery eShop credit I got! I used it to get MH3U on the 3DS and the money I was going to use for that, I'm applying towards Tropical Freeze...

@ULTRA-64 Rare was 100% 2nd party seeing as Nintendo owned 49% of the company in the N64 era and they exclusively made Nintendo games. Nintendo was offered to purchase the company but sold their stake to Microsoft because Rare was not producing enough high selling games by the time the GameCube came out to be worth the investment.

Just Dance sold well because of the Wii was already a smash success, it was not responsible for selling consoles. The best selling Just Dance games are Just Dance 3 (2011) and Just Dance 2 (2010); both of which came out in the waning years of the Wii so they were selling to existing owners, not selling new consoles. Turok's sales were a drop in the bucket compared to games like Zelda, Goldeneye and Mario 64 (all system sellers) and people were hardly buying the console just for Turok games. Resident Evil 4 almost sold more on PS2 than Wii and GameCube versions combined (quite sad when you consider its technical inferiority to both Nintendo versions).

Look at the top 10 selling games for N64, GameCube and Wii and you'll see that Nintendo is the one selling their own machines by a wide margin. Do the same for Sony or Microsoft and you will see a mosaic of 3rd party games in their top 10's. The numbers don't lie and despite what the industry would have you believe, Nintendo does not need 3rd party titles to survive. I'm sure that things like Just Dance, Sonic, Lego and Skylanders will continue due to solid sales but the days of AAA 3rd party titles having an impact on Nintendo are way back in the days of the SNES. The industry as a whole needs to realize this, get over it and move on. They need to let the Wii U (and all Nintendo machines) be what it is and stop trying to think that Nintendo is even trying to be on the same level as Sony or Microsoft.

Ha I'm glad Nintendo refund the $20 back to the people who bought the pass (me included), hey at least that $20 is better used for a full complete game rather than a waterdown DLC. With the Super Indie Connection Sale in effect for NA, it's definitely worth it, Warner Bros. can go f*** themselves as that $20 is going towards Mighty Switch Force: Hyper Drive Edition, BIT.TRIP Presents: Runner 2 Future Legend of Rhythm Alien, and Toki Tori 2+. Three complete games for $20 >>>>>>>>>> better than a lousy dlc.

@1wiierdguy Except in this case those gamers prepaid for a pass for content that was promised to them, only to be brushed aside. This pretty much shows that season passes are a load of crap. Warner Bros is not right for doing this

@PokeTune The message I'm getting is "Don't buy our games on the Wii U because we're too dang lazy to give you everything the other systems have". Nice message!

@MAB So true!

Not to mention this "DLC cancel" isn't anything new from WB Games. Anyone here remember Injustice?

Although the Wii U version never sold to well here are a couple of things to consider.

I had the game on PS3, and although the multiplayer was quite fun, it was a broken, glitchy mess, that crashed my PS3 more time than I can count. Also the attach rate of the Wii U version was actually Ok, when you consider the fact that millions own a PS3, but according to VGCharts it only sold a million and a quarter.

@I-AM-REGGIE

The whole game is a glitchy mess. Arkham Origins is the perfect example of a lazy, uninspired, borderline broken cash-in.

I honestly don't see why we should be embracing some third parties after all this mess.

I hated this game. I immediately sold it to GameStop. Arkham City was one of my favorite Wii U games. It was so amazing how they use the gamepad features (map, voice over from the pad, touch interface for weapon switch, bat computer on the pad exclusively, motion control batterang, etc). I was so excited to play Arkham Origins expecting all this and got NOTHING! All they did with the pad is smack a laggy map on it. I was offended and sold it immediately. How do you go from one of the best uses of the Wii U game pad to not using it at all???

I wish I never bought the game in the first place. The sales should be even lower than they were in my opinion. You do half-donkey work, you get half-donkey sales.
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

so like 10 actual people are getting their money back (oh snaps)?

@hosokawasamurai

Dude, you don't understand !

I'm not talking a bit of screen tearing here and there, I'm talking bullets that don't cause any damage even though your shooting him in the face, I'm talking 6-8 failed attempts trying to get into a match, I'm talking PS3 freezing and making that messed up sound that goes NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !
until you unplug or hold down the power button.

They have patched the main game quite well, so I surprised with all these problems they won't patch the multiplayer.

The way I see it PS3 never got the multiplayer mode either, that's how bad my experience was.

I have not tried the 360 version, so this may not be the case on that platform.

EDIT: I just watched that video you put up, and I can say (no BS) the Wii U version was NEVER that bad, even before they patched it, but it was a bit laggy.

In the case of multiplatform games, the Wii U version is going to suffer out of the gate because most people have Wii U and either a Xbox 360 or PS3. This means:

A) They buy on Xbox/PS3 where the masses are for multiplayer games
B) They buy on Xbox/PS3 because that is where the full game is available.
C) They buy on Xbox/PS3 because you can install on HDD for better performance
D) They buy on Xbox/PS3 because they offer deals and sales that save money on said DLC/Add-ons

E) They buy on Xbox/PS3 because those platforms are not treated like red-headed stepchildren.

@I-AM-REGGIE Oh God... I had no idea it is THAT bad. Things like this make me think why the devs even bothered to make a multiplayer mode in the first place.

Not printing a game because of low demands = slightly reasonable
Not releasing digital content because of low demand = absolutely unexplainable.

And why is it nintendo who is refunding the season passes ? Shouldnt it be WB Games ?

@Darknyht
A) Larger Installbase because these platform are several years old. YOu have a point there
B) This is NOT a feature of said consoles, its stupidity and bias on part of the developers.
C) Very few people are doing this. And since were talking about DLC in the first place, that stuff always gets loaded from the HDD
D) Nintendo does this too, even more so than MS does actually. But its hard to beat Sonys PSN sales. When they have sales, they really go all out on them.

$20 for DLC? Maybe these people were done a favor.

I don't recall ever buying a DLC. I'm sorry if I'm not the idiotic consumer you'd like me to be, WB, but I just can't see the value on these things. I like to pay just once for my games.

Haha damn, I bought Arkham Origins just recently and have enjoyed it thoroughly (even heard it's one of the best versions of the game surprisingly). I was going to purchase some DLC (like the Initiation which they somehow got THAT on the Wii U) available for the game but after seeing this, I'm slightly weary.

I'm curious if I would get refunded if I purchase the Season Pass now? lol.

@TreonsRealm So if I'm reading your post right, the Wii U version sold more than the PC version?

If what you say is true, then they would cancel it for PC based off that logic. But I know that won't happen...

@hosokawasamurai Wow!! Some of those glitches were bad! I never had anything like that happen on the Wii U except for the part at 1:48.

Y'know, this withdrawing support from Wii U isn't making me want to rush out and buy a PS4 or something else. In fact, it's making me resent the companies who are holding out on Nintendo's platforms.

@citizenerased

Because people say the same thing you just said "Man, I'm not buying any more 3rd party games". That's why. If the games won't sell, we won't get them. It's a vicious cycle, not of a dying console but of a lack of demand for 3rd party games. 3rd party games aren't being omitted due to a dead console, they're being omitted for the same reason they've been omitted for the last 20 years- not enough demand.

Nintendo tried to change that. They did their best to break the cycle and get the ball rolling in favor of harboring 3rd party AAA support. They coaxed quite a few games onto the system it's first year. Unfortunately, that cause was lost before it even started, because Wii U owners just aren't that interested in them. There are many of us that love 3rd party AAA games (well, some of them anyways). There's just not enough of us. We're a very niche segment of gamers.

The only way for Nintendo platforms to ever add AAA 3rd party games to their reservoir is for enough of us to buy them when they release. We had our shot, and we blew it. Some games showed a promise, like ZombiU selling 2/3 of a million and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate reaching half a mil. But Batman Arkham Origins? 140 thou. Assassin's Creed 4 and Call of Duty Ghosts? About 120 thou each. Splinter Cell Blacklist? Try 50 thou. It's not enough. It's just not. The fact ZombiU and MH3U sold so well (relatively) tells me there ARE plenty of gamers interested in these types of games. It's just that, no one's buying them.

I always buy my AAA games on Wii U over other consoles like PS4. Graphics and DLC isn't enough for me to want to give up the Gamepad, and in some cases, the Wiimote. Some people I notice don't buy a game unless it has full DLC, and I just don't get it. It's an extra option to spend even MORE money. I'm all for DLC, if it's GOOD like Pikmin 3. But not buying Arkham Origins over some add-on mission that you have to pay extra for anyways? Trivial. I'd rather that money go toward any number of OTHER games, but that's just me.

The game is not that glitchy in my experience, I had one major glitch in the whole game on PS3, where a lift went up and batman fell through the floor (cant speak for multiplayer, I never really bother with it)... I really enjoyed the game, even though I didnt complete Arkham City.
I can see why they have done this, but I think it does negatively impact upon gamers perception of the Wii U in relation to third party software. It generates negative publicity for the console, therefore less sales, so more support is withdrawn.

i was literally about to buy the game :/ i feel like 3rd party game developers don't believe in the tipping point. i wonder is current or recent profit is more important then life time, never went to business school i wouldn't know but it seems like there's more of a passion for developing a regular video game and making as much money on it as soon as possible rather then creating something that will stand out from the rest and use the advantage of the wii u to make and experience that hasn't been seen or felt or thought up of by anybody. were are the exited innovators willing to throw a couple of bucks into making something that will change the way we think about how a video game can be enjoyably played! in the long run there name will stand out if they are successful at being attractively innovative. am i the only one that thinks real time strategy can be great for the game pad and the wii remote makes up for a hell of a gun and sword fighting game or an at home arcade experience, even a first person shooter would be great with the game pad if i could tell my comrades were to go on the game pad. bigger maps and quick weapon change out aint creative enough.i think were all waiting for 3rd party developers to get exited about what can be done on the wii u instead what we see is them thinking about how much can be made on the wii u and because we don't share the same excitement there will always be a lack of faith and interest in what they developed and when they put there best work on other consoles the respect thins out. its all about the tipping point i wish more had faith in it because there is a huge fan base waiting to enjoy the great creations that missed the nintendo consoles.

Its all a frickin' conspiracy to make Nintendo look bad! SCREW 'em.

@JaxonH

My first paragraph was being facetious and indeed indicative of what I think the problem is.

No refunds= lawsuit. They had to do it.

i loving hate warnerbros i gave them a chance but they loved that up!!!!!!!!!!!
_{Please watch the profanity — TBD}

i hate wb games for doing thiss!!!!!!!!!!! i gave them a chance i couldent wait for the mr freese dlc but now that they did thiss scriew them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This sucks. I bought the season pass for the story dlc.

Now I know that the Wii U version sold less than the 360/PS3, but the percentage of purchasers would actually be higher on the Wii U (using rough number of systems and sales), so there was some demand.

Xbox 360 - approx 80 million systems - 1.29 million sales = 1.6%
PS3 - approx 80 million systems - 1.5 million sales = 1.87%
Wii U - approx 5 million systems - 140k sales = 2.8%

Of course dlc sales may have been too low on the Wii U as well, although it took longer to appear and wasn't highly advertised like on 360/PS3 (which had season passes in stores before the game was even out).

I'm not going to buy the game again on PS3 until it's under $10 and I'll get the dlc when it's on sale; so it could be a long time before I play the rest of the story.

I was very disappointed when I read that email.

I'd rather we got this new story campaign (which focuses on Mr. Freeze's origins) than the Initiation DLC. At least we wouldn't be missing out on any real substance.

Why does WB think this is a wise choice? Do they not remember Wii U hasn't been around for over a decade like the PS3 and 360?

@TDS_Computer

If the engine is working on the WiiU already, then there is still very little effort involved in making more content work, unless the DLC requires changes to the engine.

If I create a new unity game, then that game will work on platforms that support Unity. (there is of course the chance of platform bugs and such in the engine). If I then add a new level to that game, it certainly should work on the platforms it worked before with almost no effort.

Of the versions released the Wii U version recieved the worst reviews because of bugs. Warner didn't release multi and dropped the price because it was late in development. I bought it but have only put in a few hours. Still disappointing that because of developers choices, lack of attention, the Wii U gets weak Ports, which in turn hurt the devs and in turn they complain about lack of sales. I feel for the devs but they bring it on themselves.

If I the consumer have muliple consoles I am going to buy the strongest release. I buy my Lego games on Wii U even though I have a PS4 for the multiplayer. For Arkham Origins the Wii U should have been the strongest version.

well thats it third party support is gone after watch dogs thats all were going to get except the amazing spider man 2 for the wiiu and 3ds after that game now is over.

Despicable move on WB's part. I don't know the sales numbers, if they're much lower on Wii U than PS3 and 360 than I could understand this decision but only if the content hadn't already been promised. However, it was promised and people put $20 towards. Yes, they get it back in Nintendo credit, that doesn't make up for the fact that some bought the full $50 game for Wii U expecting this expanded story campaign and other DLC. It's a d*ck move no matter how you look at it.

i really really enjoyed the 1st two arkham games, but did not buy this one because the took away multiplayer. but just when i was thinking i will buy it, they do this...
the stunt they are pulling plus what we went through with injustice, its unprofessional. will never buy arkham origins or any WB game again

@sinalefa I was just about to ask the same thing when reading the article. So, WB themselves didn't refund the money ... Nintendo did?

I didn't get the season pass because all I cared about was the story mode DLC. I got the "Initiations" DLC thinking that was the story mode DLC. Didn't know it actually had to do with Mr Freeze's origin which I would have loved to have played. Another low blow for WiiU owners. Making money is the goal of course, but sometimes businesses take a loss to show customer loyalty and support. You don't just take back what was planned and what possibly could have been a main factor in why some of us actually purchased the game.

@TreonsRealm I'm in full agreement on the needs of the console, 3rd party wise. It has and will always be 1st party games that drive console sales, there really isn't much dispute there . I just enjoy challenges
The rare issue, your more or less right, lots of rumors and gray areas cloud that issue bit not as much as jealousy from me making it hard to take that my favorite game designers don't make games for my console anymore.
Mostly the other games. ( Turok etc) was clutching straws, rouge squadron pulled allot of my friends in but I'd be lying if I said I thought it was some kind of global phenomenon tbh!
BUT....I might have a point on just dance .....you could argue the system was established first, or you could label it the fastest selling third party game on the Wii, it did sell 2 million copies in its first 4 months! like I said before I don't like the games but I think you might have to admit, although the franchise caught on more later, the Wii motion controls made this initially a unique game for two outings, whist building an entirely new genre into a sales phenomenon. Undoubtedly making it a system seller.

Meh!! I hope they refund us in Europe too..

That's the last time I ever buy a season's pass.

The video game industry is going to hell.

When Satoru Iwata publicly Admits The "Wii U Isn't In Good Shape" its no wonder every 3rd party game in development and every consideration of providing 3rd party DLC for current games hasn't been cancelled.

I'll be watching these coming few months with bated breath for announcements from Ubi & Slightly Mad Studios.

I notice a lot of 'I was going to buy this game' and 'I was going to buy the dlc' comments. Companies have no way to track 'was going to' sales though, all they can go by is actual sales.

So if you don't pony up the cash then you shouldn't complain when these things happen. Of course it sucks for people like me who did buy the game and the season pass, but we can't support the Wii U alone; the rest of you 'was going to' people need to step up and actually buy the games too.

@CaPPa Dude ... not everyone is going to buy season passes, as most of us are nintendo only gamers and not aware how season passes work and if they're delivered upon. This case makes a perfect example. Do we want to drop our money ahead of time and hope for the best? Look what happened to you, you paid up and got shafted, as is the case with most projects from 3rd party devs for WiiU.
Most that are interested in DLC, or the game itself, don't "preorder" because they are waiting for reviews ... why should we throw out money ahead of time for something that looks promising, but in most likely will fail upon delivery. In case you didn't notice the reviews on this game were horrible and the game itself plagued with bugs & glitches.
This whole, "we have to show our support for 3rd party devs and buy their games" is utter BULL SHHHHHHH! We're not gonan pay $60 for games that were released 2 years ago just because it's new on a nintendo system. I own 19 retail games, 4 of which are only 1st party, so I did my part and it's just not cutting it. My 3rd party support money has now been shifted to those who do fully support WiiU and nintendo, the Indy scene.

@hcfwesker Now that s correct.

This "Wii U owners need to support 3rd party and buy their games" is really utter BS. People aren't supposed to buy bad games so that MAYBE, and the key word here is MAYBE, the 3rd party in question releases a good game.

As for the case of Arkham Origins, the simple fact that the Wii U version was missing the online multiplayer already shows how much effort WB Games put into it.

Not to mention the game deserved to sell low, not only on the Nintendo system, but on all consoles. Most reviewers stated the game is broken and even the fans of the series acknowledge it is a cash-in. Unfortunately, it was able to sell on other systems relying on brand name alone.

Should be refunding the whole game, since those that wanted to play the dlc will now have to purchase the game & season pass again on another system.

@hosokawasamurai

Arkham Origins isn't a bad game, this is a d*ck move by WB, but the game itself isn't bad. And many, if not all, of the very same places that claimed Batman Arkham Origins is 'broken' gave Battlefield 4, a game that actually IS broken, ratings of 8.5-10, so please, forgive me if I don't trust reviews either. I play the game and make up my own mind. Outside of the trio of Nintendo Life, PushSquare and PureXbox, I pay very, very little attention to reviews. Especially from places like IGN and Gamespot, which can and have been bought. About the only other legitimate source for reviews I can think of is Giantbomb.