Ubisoft "Satisfied" With Wii U Launch, But Notes Low Software Tie-In Ratios

And Ubisoft was never heard from again.

@Everly Who???

@Tech101 I think they fell into the Sarlacc Pit on the new Boba Fett table from Zen. There they will learn a new definition of pain and suffering as they are slowly digested over 1,000 years. Oh wait, that is happening on their FB page.

@Everly How would you know anything about the Star Wars tables. You'll never get to play them! Coming soon!!

@Tech101 I read about it on the back of my balloon.

@Everly You have pictures? If not you've got nothing!

@Tech101 (Hangs head in shame)........I have nothing.

You know what would have boosted your Wii U sales performance, Ubisoft? If you'd have released Rayman Legends on schedule.

@edhe I heard they're not really into making money just pleasing Microsoft!

it's the thq curse...it made them dumber. If your own developer is crying for the game to come out...you fail at your job

Ubilol

Honestly, I wouldn't mind if they gave Xbox owners exclusive free DLC on release just so we can get it already.

If Ubisoft are content with the Wii U and its performance, how about announcing some more AAA games. Far Cry 3? Watch_Dogs?

we still hate you ubisoft

Is this the same guy who said Nintendo needed to make "necessary changes" to the Wii U machine?

Maybe everybody at Ubi should just shut up.

Just checked. Same guy. Unbelievable.

What is Ubisoft ??

One minute Yves Guillemot, is saying the WII U needs to change, in the next breath they're delaying Rayman Legends and now he's saying he is satisfied with the market share they have on WII U. He seems to contradicting himself at every opportunity. Are these latest comments his attempt at winning the back the support of Wii U owners? The only good Ubisoft can do now is release Rayman Legends on time and show their support for the Wii U by bringing their biggest IP's to this platform.

Not the answer I was looking for Ubi, all I wanted was for Rayman Legends to be released on schedule, is that so hard to do? I don't give two sh*t whether you like the Wii U or not, I just want my game and waiting for September I will not.

@rjejr

He said that after this particular sharholders meeting - not long after, mind you.

It does demonstrate how unsure and uncommitted Ubisoft are towards the Wii U.

What he sais is highly dependable with who might be listening. "Tais-toi" and bring that Rayman in time already!

He's not contradicting himself at all, but people twist what gets said.

Satisified with Wii U sales but not thrilled.
Nintendo need to make sure they ensure fast growth of user base.
Rayman won't make it's money back based on 3rd party Wii U sales so far, so it has to go multiplatform.

No contradictions in there at all. He's never said the Wii U sucks, or is doomed, or that they will not be making games for it. People are making a fuss over nothing. They had to take Rayman multplatform and they had to delay the Wii U version to do that because of Microsoft's policy. They're not trying to make MS happy, they're trying to put their game on a console that has 76 million users. Simples. Personal feelings don't come into it.

thank god we'll forget Ubisoft and Rayman the very first moment we'll put our hands on a copy of Monster Hunter 3U

Low tie-in ratio for games is partly Ubisoft's fault! Can't "tie-in" games to our Wii U purchases if you take away that software now can we? Ubitrayed us is right!

I said it once I'll say it again Mr. Guillemot is to blame for the delay crap. He needs to fix things before more Ubisoft customers decide to go elsewhere.

So that's why he had to be so harsh on Rayman... He had to ensure to his shareholders that he would do ANYTHING for them to get their money and back him up.
OK, now that this meeting is over, where is my Rayman??

I have a "tie-in" Guillemot.......release Rayman Legends and that will make a positive impact on wii u sales and software sales, considering some folks purchased a wii u at launch for your shelved/finished game....ya big dummy!!!!

The Release Rayman petition just hit 10,000. It is funny, I don't recall seeing the petition that PS3/360 owners started that caused Ubisoft to make the decision to "give the fans what they wanted"

@Peach64
I like you.
You are one of the very very few people here commenting on the Ubi articles who actually gets it.

Happy with Wii U release rayman then and i do understand it's not all your fault because MS make publishers sign contracts that state they either get the game and any DLC first or get it at the same time as other systems or it's not going on their system at all and if it was me i would tell MS to get lost and just release my games on PlayStation and Nintendo another reason i don't like MS

Ok, can I ask a question about this whole MS is the cause of this? Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor Edge was released 11/18/12 as a Wii U launch title. On 2/6/13 Tecmo Koei Europe announced the game would be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 4/2/13. But how is that possible with this MS policy?

@Peach64 Except when you lie to fans of a game about it's arrival date twice & delay a finished game to put on a system that nobody asked for they do take it personal and Ubisoft is experiencing that backlash now.

This whole Microsoft exclusive thing is for their friggin Live Arcade games, it doesn't apply to disc based games!!!

@Everly because MS already got Ninja Gaiden 3 all razors edge is NG3 with a bit of extra content and a reworked battle system on paper it's still the same game Ninja Gaiden 3

The funny thing is that despite the recent Rayman news, they are also teaming up with Nintendo to release a ZombiU bundle. If they had that on launch night I would have gladly gotten that bundle. Lots of mixed messages coming from Ubisoft relating to the Wii U.

@Majin-Naruto So that is different than Rayman Origins vs. Rayman Legends? I'm not trying to prove any point by saying that, I'm honestly asking for purposes of educating myself.

....Soooo, they're basically ignoring the whole Legends deal. Screw them. >_>

@Everly yeah its different. All the Wii U version was was an enhanced version of the game that already came out for both other platforms. It's updated the gameplay I believe as well as refined some other things. It got a better rating because of these things thus might sell better this go around! Origins and legends are two different games. It's as different as Super Mario Bros 1 is from 2.

@Tech101 Very well then. Count me as being educated today.

@Everly
The PS360 versions of Razor's Edge will have extra costumes and levels not included in the Wii U version.

One and a half hours and only 37 comments... Is the Ubisoft hate over now?

@cornishlee Something tells me that the masses just happen to be reloading at the same time. Once Ubisoft attempts to use their FB page for anything other than announcing they are releasing the game it will be back on...and probably worse. It is still pretty bad when Forbes pokes their head into the gaming world and says "Wow, that was a bad move"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/02/13/even-rayman-legends-creator-is-protesting-the-games-wii-u-delay/

Oh Ubisoft. I love how everything you say is either a complete lie, or in contrast with what you said before you sold out. Or more precisely, someone took the bait.

Looking back, all the hedging over Rayman's status strikes me as if you were fishing for someone to buy away the defacto exclusivity. You were only cleared to make it for WiiU, but you waved it around, going "look at the big sequel to a big hit that everybody played and loved; wouldn't be nice to have on your system?" But when asked directly, you couldn't admit it was developed as an exclusive (that'd scare the fish away) or be too obviously up for sale (they'd see what you doing).

Good thing someone bit. Yeah, you're catching hell for it, but you probably got way more than you would have budgeted if you started out multi-platform. That's how you win in this business children.

Ubisoft we're up to 10,133 signatures on change.org to release RaymanLegends as scheduled

@PEACH64 in all honesty unfortunately the media can twist anything. Ubisoft is in the business of developing & selling games...yes we all understand that....but aside from some fans upset about losing an "exclusive" the majority of fans are hurt &angry that a FINISHED game is being put on hold just so they can port it over to other consoles. And to add the cherry on top its announced about 3 weeks b4 its release...so though i understand the business perspective but as a fan and WiiU owner its a slap in the face and the Rayman creator and dev team agree

@andreoni79 You got that right ! and 300 hundred hours later I still won't be thinking about legends .

@Peach64
I mostly agree with you, but it has been a PR nightmare now and if it is because of this unwritten XBox rule, it should have been worked around in a more creative way or explained to players anticipating the purchase of the game in a couple weeks time. It was a poor move no matter the reasons shown by hard numbers.

We are players so we see the way it has damaged Ubisoft in our eyes, but don't forget potential developers who shop around for publishers as individuals or companies.

I sincerely hope that someone at Ubisoft is looking for a way to resolve this in a way that gets the Wii U version out in the near future. The problem is that the window of advantage they had in the next few weeks may begin to disappear in just a few weeks later as more titles start appearing.

@aaronsullivan
elegantly said my friend i concur

You should be unsatisfied that you hurt the relationship with your consumers Ubisoft!

@Peach64 Its funny to see you keep talking like you think your right when you havent completely thought it through.
And by funny I mean short sighted and sad
I see these peoples arguments about not being able to release the game until 7 months but the reality is a lot of people wanted the game, they all played demos. In September when alot of games are being released even if they are different genres sales will still be hurt, they are also screwing over the development teams and people probably wont buy the game because of that. The fact of the matter is the install base for the series is higher on the Wii and the PS3. Sure there are a poop ton of Xbox 360s but its not going to help sales. Its been a highly anticipated title on a system with an install base 3 million strong. People who would have bought a Wii U for Rayman legends are now playing the game on PS3s

There are also people like me who will probably buy a Wii U sometime between now and summer and would definitely get the game if he had a Wii U and there are also people like AlphaOmegaSin who would buy the game in February

The Microsoft policy isnt an iron clad rule, they can just refuse the game if they come to them after the Wii U version is released.

Releasing it on the Wii U earlier would also make Rayman more popular and all this does is hurt the series future viability in the eyes of the consumer.

@RikuzeYre

Congratulations on cutting-and-pasting the exact same response into two different news articles.

Also, congratulations on being completely out of touch with the real financial realities that led to Ubisoft's decision.

Have fun continuing to believe these things, along with the many others here who prefer to be ridiculously upset instead and angry at Ubi insead of actually taking 12 seconds to understand business realities.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

The news story that literally melted the gaming Internet and singlehandedly turned Ubisoft from hero in shining armour to vile villain... that news story spawned a poll that only managed to get 11,000 signatures.

hahahahaha. That there is why Ubisoft decided it would be better to focus on the PlayStation and Xbox releases. 11,000 signatures would no doubt include a bunch done by people who are signing on principle and would never have bought the game.

You can't turn a profit on a game with 11,000 signatures.

Good on Ubisoft for making sure it doesn't send a development team out of business over 11,000 people.

@the_shpydar
So you believe that Rayman Legends is going to shift lots of copies in September? I think you'll find that it'll bomb as badly as Origins did when put up against the big holiday hitters (GTA, Zelda, Mario etc), not to mention that the beloved 360/PS3 userbase is probably going to be more focused more on the new consoles rather than spending $60 on a niche title.

Going multiplatform to increase sales is a smart move. Delaying the finished Wii U version is not though because they've potentially removed 300k Wii U sales and alienated the userbase.

Ubisoft are going to find that their market share on Wii U is just going to decrease from now on.

@CaPPa That's a pretty brave expectation, that a full 10 per cent of Wii U users globally would buy a Rayman game.

Closer to 1 per cent, more like.

@Bankai i honestly think it would sell 300k. Origins was a very popular game and it would have sold a couple of hundred thousand consoles.@CaPPa rayman origins did make ubisoft money.True it made most of it's sale's at a reduced price,but it did'nt cost that much to make and it sold pretty well.

@Bankai
If you didn't know, the Wii U is starved of titles at the moment, so Rayman could have picked up a few more sales. I would say that it was one of the more high profile titles along with ZombiU which I think has sold 300k so far despite some really bad reviews. There's also been enough time that the 2 million who bought NSMBU might be looking for a new platformer. We are also talking about 7 months of sales (over which time the userbase will have continued to grow), so I think that 300k seems quite achievable.

@gazamataz
Yes it eventually made money over a long sale but the opening sales were horrible (50k on all platforms). As Origins was a slow burner the 7 months of Wii U sales could have been really useful to Legends.

I also agree with the 300k sales. Like was just said the system is starved for games right now and its the best time to give it to the public. Look at Sonic Racing Transformed. It sold at over a 20% clip on the wii U as a whole and the user base is less then 5% of the other systems combined. Sure its price was lower but it also got good reviews. If released in September Ubisoft stands to lose more money off the wii U version and sales could be under 100k. Do the math and see what makes sense!

I'm not entirely sure how Ubisoft are expecting to have decent sales on Wii U based on what they've released so far? Assassins Creed 3 had already been out for a month on 2 major rival formats (with the PS3 version boasting exclusive content) before Wii U launched, Sports Connection and Rabbids Land are crap (just look at all the reviews), people are just about bored of the Just Dance series, Marvel Avengers isn't exactly a stellar title and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is a niche title that hasn't really got an audience on Wii U yet,. So in most people's eyes they've only really released 1 game worth buying (Zombi U) for Wii U so far, and even that's got limited appeal as it's a survival horror that's split reviewer's opinions.

They had a chance to make a pretty good impact on the Wii U scene with Rayman Legends but they've gone and blown it. Of course, publishers would rather blame every other aspect but themselves.

@edhe

Far Cry 3 and Watch Dogs wouldn't sell near enough on a Nintendo console to make it worth bringing those games over.

Typical. People overreact to the situation and suddenly everything Ubisoft says is a "lie" and they are the bad guys.

And Bankai is right. Everyone keeps saying that 11,000 is a lot of people. In reality, that's not enough customers to get a profit for the game. While I am baffled by the delay too, I'm no business expert, but I do know it's not as simple as so many people think it is.

@Yves Guillemot "Wawawawa waa waaa wawawawa."

Sorry, Mr. CEO Guy, but I don't care about what you have to say ever since the Rayman Legends decision.

@RikuzeYre I realise this decision has upset a lot of people, but Ubisoft, like any other business, will be just looking at the amount the game costs them, and the amount the game makes, and doing whatever they can to ensure the latter number is higher.

They don't care about helping to sell Wii Us, that's not their concern, and they can't make choices that lose them money just to keep people happy. I'm sure they did plan to keep this exclusive, so they weren't lying about the original release date, and that's why they put the demo out. In the last few weeks we've started to see the first solid sales figures for Wii U, so they probably saw that and made this decision pretty late on.

Maybe most people would think they always planned to go multiplatform, but if that was the case, they would have just developed the other versions side by side. The fact it's going to take them 7 months to get them ported suggests it was a very late decision.

I agree that Wii U sales of Legends will be lower in September than they would now, but it's almost certain the the release of the other two versions will more than make up for it. Predicting Legends would sell 300k now in a very big assumption. That's a 10% attach rate and it's very rare for a 3rd party game to do that. Zombi U did it, but that's a game with no competition in it's genre, which was also included in a bundle in Europe. Rayman Legends is a 2D side scroller, and a lot of people already have a very god 2D side scroller for their Wii U. Sure, those of us on here that buy a lot of games would have got it for sure, but I don't think it would have been the huge success everyone is predicting. We're such a small minority of the game-buying public.

Ubisoft.. ubisoft?? who is ubisoft again? it slipped out of my memory because of their stupid choices lol

Wow people just amaze me. I am disappointed as everyone else but hating on them is silly. Ubisoft made Zombie U, the only publisher that bothered to make a ground up game for the Wii U. They also bought their biggest franchise in the form of Assassins Creed and will be bringing most of their portfolio to the system in the future. While what they did with Rayman Legends suck, they are still one of Nintendo's biggest supporters.

I think that Ubisoft did an outstanding job supporting the Wii U launch.

They put Assassins Creed 3 on the Wii U. Despite some (rare) issues, it runs very well.

Moreover, they finished Zombi U in time for launch - an amazing game that gave me nightmares and took weeks to finish.

Normally with console launches you usually get very short games that are clever, but get criticized for not having "enough content".

Both Assassins Creed 3 and Zombi U are very big and will last a long time.

@Peach64 Alright you make valid points but you still have to realize that this really does hurt them.
I mean they are bringing Watch Dogs to the Wii U apparently but this deal puts them at odds with their developers their consumers and in the end its going to bite them in the behind even if Legends does better than Origins did. Theres also no getting around the fact that the Wii and PS3 versions had a bigger community

Boots 'em with Rayman...duh.