Wii U Turned Ubisoft On To Second-Screen Gaming, But Isn't The Focus Moving Forward

Ouch. This could be spectacularly bad news for Nintendo... This sounds like corporate talk for "we're thinking about dropping Nintendo completely."

Understandable: Its a new tech. They started rather strong on WiiU, sure they want a steady foothold on the new systems.
But they shouldnt neglect nintendos new system completely. Its obvious that they continue their main IPs on the "newer" systems and again, its understandable. But id like to see new IPs, maybe something more experimental like ZombieU for instance.
But this can and probably will all change when Nintendos big hitters finally land on shelfes

I love the second screen experience. I was apprehensive when I first got it, but I picked it up quickly. I LOVE playing games in bed.

Strangely enough, I think most people (myself included) would agree that ZombiU was the best use of the Gamepad to date, and that game sold well and is probably getting a sequel if Ubi doesn't completely abandon Nintendo. Ubi should see the benefits of the second screen and of supporting Nintendo and stay on board.

As far as I understand, there seem to be some kind of virus spreading throughout the third party developers: They do not want to work with Nintendo regardless what kind of platform they deliver or what kind of genial idea they generate. If I were Nintendo, provided such landscape, I would start buying some excellent developers actually in financial problems like Square-Enix or Capcom in order to get more IP for the consoles I produce.

The Wii U is all but dead as far as 3rd party games go. There is no recovering from this.

The 1st party games will still be there and games like the next monolith RPG, and a few others, but overall this machine is already buried in its grave to most publisher/developers.

Anyone that only owns a Wii U and no PC or other console will miss out on 90% of the great games over the next 5 years. Only about 10% will be on Wii U if that.

@cogb1983 Sony and Microsoft would buy those companies before Nintendo lol.

FFXIV is going to PS4 and is a major consoel seller, so is FFXV and Kingdom Hearts, none will be on Wii U.

The second screen isn't all that amazing. shrug

Having said that, I'm really disappointed in Ubisoft. You would have thought, before the Wii U launch, that Ubisoft was really in it for the long haul. They certainly made it seem that was at E3 that year. Now, however, they're basically pulling out in favor of the newer systems. They've abandoned Wii U. So all this E3 hype, the speeches, the interviews... it all amounts to nothing, because nobody sticks to what they say, and reality has turned out very differently than what we were promised.

The stigma of third party publishers working with Nintendo obviously still exists. I agree Nintendo should make a big move to purchase another studio to increase their IPs. That makes sense to me. But then, look at what Nintendo allows on their systems. Does anyone really want The Croods on Wii U? That kind of stuff just makes Nintendo systems seem silly. What's next? Another Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen game? shakes head This stuff leaks into Nintendo game libraries constantly, while we wait and wait and wait for solid 1st party and superior 3rd party games to arrive. Honestly, I walk through the game aisle with envy, seeing all the games that are available for other systems. I should've bought a PS3 instead of a Wii U.

@Royalblues Honestly, I think we only need 4 buttons and better game design. Too many actions given strange button combinations, rather than intuitive actions on an understandable button command at the correct situation and time.

As for the news: Sad to hear, but there's nothing one can really do.
People can complain about EA because... well... EA listens to business first and foremost. Whether they're being immature or not, the jingle of coins will make them change their minds eventually (though I don't respect those standards).
As for Ubisoft... Dunno... They had the chance to make their name and brand known on the Wii U. They could have claimed so many territories that were left open and wanting. Meaning whatever audiences bought into the Wii U could have been loyal fans of theirs. If they marketed and planned well, they could have absorbed a larger audience than they currently have.
This current shift of focus wouldn't really help that. Ubisoft isn't getting any bigger in the other consoles, it's staying relatively the same size in popularity. It definitely boomed in popularity in recent years, but it has ceased to grow since then. I doubt it can get any bigger unless they make a breakthrough in game design... which they might, or they won't, or they might think they are but the audiences don't really 'get' what's so amazing about it outside of advertisement gibberish.

Strange as it sounds, Ubisoft lost on its biggest chance of success by looking away from the Wii U.
And... Well... There's nothing anyone can really do about it.
Speaking with your money won't really do anything at this point. It might have worked for EA if enough money was thrown at their games or decisions. But for Ubisoft, I don't think that's directly what they're after (they're obviously after it in the long run, but not in the short run) - otherwise they would have stuck with Wii U focus.

At this point, all you can really do is wait and see.

My hope for Ubisoft becoming a grand 3rd party developer/publisher for the Wii U is basically in a coma now. Now I'm just watching the other 3rd parties and indies to see what they can offer the console.
In the meantime, I've got a 3DS. And it's doing lovely.

[Also: I love it when the 2nd screen is used properly or intuitively. You can say it's not anything big, but it certainly doesn't detract from the experience.]

I think it's annoying that NL is continually covering for Ubisoft - I'll never forget Rayman Legends.
That being said, I don't think we have too much to worry about - the least-cool part of the GamePad is the touchscreen I think, which is the only thing that tablets can replicate - most likely with more lag built in, so true asymmetric gaming it won't be.

Well Nintendo is looking to expand. I assume it's because lots of 3rd parties are abandoning Wii U and so Nintendo really needs to grow it's line of 1st party developers to provide tons of exclusives. Y'know, like what Sony does. Also Nintendo will almost always have indies to support, not many indie games out there require such high power that you can only find on XB1 & PS4. Plus, in the end I always find 1st party Nintendo games the funnest so I'll still be sticking with Wii U. Not much games on PS4 & XB1 interest me. while Nintendo has my fullest attention with their unique line-up.

@GamerJunkie Call me whatever, but those "90% of the great games over the next 5 years", for me, are on the Wii U and 3DS, since third party games really need to wow me to justify a purchase. I know I'm not helping the industry, but my job is to enjoy the games that I prefer, and not buy products for the sake of keeping a company alive or something. I'm sorry that I can't help but like the 1st and 2nd party games Nintendo has to offer ) ..so I guess your comment doesn't validate the fact that this is just a matter of preference and opinion, different strokes for different folks.

I'm just going to sit back and watch as their games become overlooked on PS4. And XBox One? I don't even have to explain that one.

Companies should keep this "honest opinion talk" to themselves. They do not need to be releasing stuff like this to the general public. It seems like EA are the kings of saying stupid things, and now Ubisoft wants that throne. This makes me not want to get Watch_Dogs at all, which I was going to get for the Wii U. A job well done Ubisoft!

If and when the Wii U gets more popular they will change their tune, which is why they should have never started playing that sour tune in the first place. I'm not mad at all, I just think these companies lose their heads when they do/say stuff like this. Keep your opinions to yourselves Ubisoft.

They cant call Wii U (Next Gen) IF:

1. Wii U is not gonna have large amount of exclusives
2. Wii U is gonna miss 90% of PS3/XBOX games
3. Wii U can't be your ONLY gaming console!!

Let me tell you everyone this: WIi U will never sell 3rd party games that are inferior to PS/XBOX version of the game.

Only way for Wii U to continue getting these games is for it to get more sales and for there to be a big enough audience for these games on the console.

Ubisoft isn't worth this much discussion, imo.

The most impressive thing I have seen out of a second screen so far is the ability to move my game to it so that someone else can use Netflix on the TV. As long as that is an option for a game, then they don't have to do anything else with that second screen as far as I am concerned.

Smartglass never impressed me when I tried it on Xbox, it was a pain to connect to the Xbox and when you did the Smartglass provided very little to the experience. That said, most developers ignored it outside of Microsoft Studios because it wasn't a guaranteed thing.

I'm a Zelda fan and also love the rest of the Nintendo IP catalogue, in spite of it, I really want to continue enjoying great third parties games like Watch_Dogs, Assassin's Creed, Crap of Duty (funny though crappy and uninnovative), FIFA, Need for Speed and adding games like Final Fantasy, Remember Me without leaving my Wii U.

I wjust wonder in what context this shift in focus to ms/sony is?
It could be with ps4/Xbone release just around the corner they are aiming to get thier launch titles done and out there and once the dust settles Ubi will be bringing which ever games to which ever platform. Maybe they are seperating from WiiU, but either way things have not been shown in any context in regards of Ubi's long term plans.

So you have to ask yourself, if the Wii U does pick-up on sales will it drop off just as fast like the Wii? considering there no 3rd party support again a bit like the Wii.

I hope they do some Red Steel-ish game, or a ZombiU 2 (let's, for obvious reasons, hope they'll find a better name). The somewhat lower budget serious Nintendo exclusives. That's what I want from them and any other company. That's why I stick with Nintendo. That and of course first/second party quality guaranteed.

While the Wii U could definitely use the multiplats all too well, I personally don't NEED them. I'll get Splinter Cell and Watch Dogs amongst other probably, but just because I can.

This whole approach is based on the assumption that both the Xbox One and PS4 will take off in sales and leave the Wii U behind. I will laugh when that assumption blows up in many third party developers' faces

I'm probably going to pick up Rayman Legends, and unless Ubisoft makes another Prince of Persia game or some cool looking IP that isn't just another shooter or racer then I really don't care what they do.

What Nintendo has to do is increase their own production. If they can't get third party support, then Nintendo's focus should be making more first party games, investing and supporting their OWN system to increase system sales and to make Wii U more appealing to third party developers. I know Nintendo can't do it all themselves, but if Wii U is going to turn into another Wii where we get one really good Nintendo game once a year and the rest are shallow mini-game compilations and Mario spin-offs (Mario Sports Mix, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Strikers, Mario Sluggers, Mario Party, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games) then I'm out.

Wii had some gems (third party ones too!), but its droughts were so uncalled for! They were ranking in millions of dollars with Wii and instead of increasing their production they made Wii Fit and called it a year. They have the money to do so, they should invest in themselves!

@Yorumi
I'm merely stating what has to be done for those types of games to continue coming to Wii U, nothing else.
Besides, Wii's performance with those games is in the past. While companies will look into the past to estimate performance for their games on Wii U, they'll also look at the present and the near future to gauge interest in the games that they have out now and the games they still have planned coming.
Besides, while you may have no interest in these games or developers, there are still plenty of Wii U owners and/or Nintendo fans who'd like to see the Wii U get all the support it can.

Ubisoft was the only one who gambled on the chance that it might take off like the Wii did unexpectedly and it didn't happen. Now most 3rd parties are bailing and that doesn't bode well. Nothing will save it unless there is a killer game in the works (Zelda/metroid) that will sell consoles all by itself. Since that still hasn't happened it makes it look like WiiU can't handle much.
Now it's time to get the other consoles attention for their launch and see who fares best, I can't blame them for that. Games cost so much to make why would they keep throwing everything at WiiU if the sales aren't there? Even if there are a few good 3rd parties with games coming they all have more coming for PS/xbox so any gamer who wants their moneys worth will get one of those first now.
Not everyone will get more than one console, for sure. Last gen everyone got a Wii because it was the cheap, 'fun for everyone' thing, now it just isn't that, because it's... well, weird. Better marketing could have fixed that.
I know all about it and I was still like "a tablet controller? really? no storage? VC weekly trickle all over again? No real launch mario or zelda? no."

@Yorumi Exactly. I don't get anybody saying that companies don't want to develop for the Wii U cause nobody buys the games, and we need to show more support ..so that they can continue to be lazy and give Nintendo a half-assed version of a multiplat game, all the while stating that the Wii U is not powerful enough and what not? I mean, I'm not technically inclined or anything, but that is starting to sound like a bitter excuse to me, saying that the Wii U is not powerful enough. Well how much is "enough"? Last time I checked, games look pretty damn spectacular when they want to. And as for saying nobody buys the games, well whose fault is that? Surely not the consumer's, for not appealing to the (most of the time) half-assed games.

Third Party companys are all just sitting back and waiting to see how Wii U does, If you want more of their games on Wii U buy the games they put out. They are a company that needs to make a profit, and if theres no profit in Wii U its not in there best interest at the moment. With that said I do think Wii U will rebound around this holiday season because there will be a flood of first party games. People love Mario Kart, 3D mario, and the whole bunch, but the Wii U currently only has A 2D mario platformer, Lego City Undercover, and Game and Wario for their main series really. Ya they have Assassins Creed 3, and Need For Speed Most Wanted, But why would you go out and buy a whole different console for games you can play on the one you have. First party games will be the system seller untill it comes time for people to upgrade to the next gen, then they will be more interested in third party games. For now though Nintendo really needs some more first party which Im glad is kicking off strongly this August

At the end of the day people going on about the 3DS 'rags to riches' story is not going to parallel the Wii U's fortunes I'm afraid. The home console market is crushingly competitive in relation to the handheld CONSOLE market. The cost of producing games on home consoles nowadays is a gamble some developers/publishers cannot take, its quite depressing really that creativity may suffer because of this but its no different to any other entertainment medium. Sorry to keep banging on about this but Nintendo really needs to try and balance its innovation with hardware parity if it wants to stay relevant in the games market. Times have changed, its not 1993 anymore, third party developers give gamers a lot of choice and its about time Nintendo understood this. Sony has been taking advantage of this for a looong time and it is the path to emulate, as well as having fantastic exclusive franchises (which Nintendo has).

Red Steel 3 pretty please

Just WOW! Nintendo should just start forming its own 3rd parties since everyone is jumping ship..I still don't understand the logic behind it.. Everyone is SCARED to do something different and Nintendo is proof that being different isn't okay..

A couple of people mentioning Red Steel here... You know, one thing I already miss on the Wii U is motion controls. When you're using the Gamepad, it's just traditional controller action with a little bit of screen-tapping. I was a big fan of the motion controls on Skyward Sword, and Red Steel 2 wasn't bad. Then you had Wii Sports, of course, and a slew of other titles with fun motion control. It just seems like the Gamepad gimmick isn't delivering the same fun and innovation as the Wii Remote did.

That being said... one game that would be amazing on the Wii U would be Elebits. The Gamepad would really work well with that game.

As Nintendo fans, this shouldn't surprise us. The post-Mario64 era has yet to see a Nintendo console with full 3rd party support, and we've been doing ok without it. Let's face it, most major 3rd party multiplats just don't sell as well on Nintendo consoles. Look at the N64, and the amount of 3rd party support it received, or the Gamecube, or better yet, the Wii. Even with 100 million consoles sold, games like MW3 just didn't sell as well as other platforms. Granted, the install base was high enough they still sold a couple million, but we all know Wii U isn't going to match the Wii's numbers. Realistically, I'd be happy to see it hit half the sales of the original Wii, and right now that's looking generous. Nintendo's consoles were selling less every gen, N64 sold less than SNES, GC sold less than N64, but then the Wii happened. That was an anomaly, unfortunately. The truth is, since the N64 Nintendo's ALWAYS had to go it alone. The games just don't sell well. There aren't enough of us who like both Ninty's franchises AND 3rd party multiplats, there just aren't. Tbh, I'm quite happy with the 3rd party support Wii U has. The system's managed to snatch up more quality 3rd party games in its first year than the Wii did its entire lifespan, albeit many of them are PS3 ports. That's ok with me! A good game is a good game.

Thanks for the idea, Nintendo. See ya later.

Wii U may ship with it "out of box", but Microsoft has proven that counts for absolutely nothing. 17 million downloads of their second screen app for XBOX360. Meaning there's more XBOX users getting it than Wii U owners. And there's more support for it on 360 too. And Sony already supports it via RemotePlay.

I'm buyin a ps4 so I can play 3rd party games

It's a shame but I'm only ever going to play 1st party games (probably 10 in five years)

@Boxmonkey Or you can buy a PC, which by definition can be way more powerful than both the PS4 and the XBox One. It's what I do, and I don't even play all that many multiplatform games on it anyway (I tend to stick to the amazing strategy PC exclusives, such as Civilization).

Quite frankly, I don't buy Nintendo consoles to get to experience the games on PS/XBox/PC. I buy them for the exclusives, as it should be with any console, really. I'm really happy with Nintendo's focus for the near future, and there are already tons of must-buys for me this year in both the Wii U and the 3DS.

I don't care...just give me Red Steel 3 and Zombi2

If Wii U sells or the PS4 and Xbox 1 don't sell well they will be crawling back. It's business at the end of the day. I still honestly don't see a reason to upgrade from a PS3 yet since most of the more important games will still be available on that for what seems like at least 6 months into the PS4 lifespan.

@WoodenSaucer That's exactly what they did... spot on...

Well I play more on Sony consoles these days and will be picking up PS4 at launch. So This does not affect me as much anymore. I feel bad for you guys with only Wii U's but you honestly should have seen it coming The Wii U was never going to have the 3rd party support we would like (history has proven this) I love my Wii U but its just a secondary console for me at this point for the Nintendo exclusives I want. So in conslusion this sucks but was predictable.

I think that 90% of the 'great games on other consoles' are trash. I mean Wii U has recently missed out on such 'great games' as Remember Me and Deadpool; which are infact very mediocre titles. The only game that I've played this year on another system that was really good was The Last Of Us but that is PS3 exclusive anyway and the only worthwhile multiplat I can think of is Bioshock Infinite.

I'm bored of the continual generic FPS games and QTE action games that populate the 360/PS3; so hopefully the Wii U will provide some different kinds of games (just like the Wii did). I expect to see more creativity from Nintendo and the indie devs than I do the big name publishers too.

"Do you think there's a danger of the console being left behind by developers?"

Umm, this isn't a danger. It's already happening and will continue to do so. Nintendo home consoles are where you play anything with Zelda and Mario in the title. If you want any other great game odds are you'll need another console to play it on.

This article is an over reaction. They always say that when new systems launch

wii u will still get plenty of support

Ouch.

I'm not missing out on games like, the last of us again the gen so I'm going to pick up a ps4

@Einherjar
so basically us the Nintendo wii u gamers were the guinea pigs, and now they have gotten better at it, they are abandoning us, and moving on instead, seriously today's third parties ARE SO DAMN LAZY AND GREEDY!! i understand they cant support a platform which isnt selling well, and in all fairness ubi has supported wii u more then most, and Nintendo themselves have not done a great job so far, its their job to push the install base, and then the third parties will follow and help grow the install base, but that initial push is Nintendo's job, and theirs alone! but regardless i feel frustrated at how lazy today's developers are! its in some ways the fault of all these new dude bro gamers, who only want more shiny graphics,meanwhile the a.i and everything else is being more and more dumb down! the urge for shiny graphics is pushing development costs sky high, and so making the third party devs more and more lazy, and less innovative! shame what gaming has become!

LMFAO to all the people who say the Wii U will be dead without 3rd party support PMSFL!!
The top 20 selling Wii games 17 were from NINTENDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All 3rd party games on the Wii were a complete joke and so inferior to the zelda,mario kart and galaxy games!!!
The fact is that Nintendo NEVER should have give 3rd party launch rights after they messed up the 3ds launch, they should have delayed the Wii U till after This years E3 and released with Pikmin 3.
Nintendo does not need Ubisoft or EA as their games have always been utter crap!!
Nintendo only needs first party and Capcom games to survive as Monster Hunter and first party are what saved the 3ds!!!
People do not buy Nintendo consoles to play games that will be released on other platforms they buy them to play first party games that will only appear on them!!!

Nintendo screwed up the WiiU in every respect. Amongst all the other points, they should have taken the top selling tablet games and done what it takes to have those developers port to WiiU.

They wouldn't need 3rd party support if their own stuff wouldn't be mostly dusty old 1980s IP re-cast for the umteenth time, this time in HD. The pricing on their Virtual Console titles shows how totally out of touch they are. It's not even ported well.

I won't lose any sleep if the Wii U becomes strictly a Nintendo exclusive box... It would be nice to play some third party games, but I don't think its crucial.

It also shows that the WiiU has been left in the dust by recent developments. They think it's a cool idea but unlike Nintendo have realized that it's not unique to the WiiU at all.

Today, all you need is a nice iOS or Android app to link with your next-gen and a majority of your player base can have two screen gaming. That second screen on the WiiU is not as big a deal as it would have been five years ago.

i think the main problem with the WiiU and it's third party support is that they released the console at the wrong time, it was too close to the PS4 and XB1 anoncments and i can't help but think if they had only released it just a year earlier then they did they would be in a much more stable situation

still we all know that a Nintendo console can live on it;s first party games but i can't help but think that maybe Nintendo will abandon the WiiU sooner than they would like in order to make a true competitor to the PS4 and XB1

i can easily see the WiiU only having about a 4-5 year life span which is a shame but i think that's how it's going to go down

also calling it the WiiU didn't help i remember the day i got mine and my dad said "don't you already have a Wii?" and that's one of the problems a lot see it as just a HD Wii (not that that is a bad thing) and the only people who really know the difference is gamers who follow this sort of thing everyday

i really do hope the WiiU is a success

@Sceptic
AGREED, they are so out of touch its not even funny, seriously what the hell happen to those guys? they were always so far ahead of everyone else in ALL ASPECTS, not just hardware, they pioneered so many features we all take for granted today, but some where along the line they just lost their way, i blame iwata for allot of their stubbornness! he has got to go!!! GET IWATA OUT! GET IWATA OUT!

Third party publishers have no interest in selling systems, nor the loyalty to stay with any one game console. All they want to do is make the most money from the games they publish.
Nintendo just needs to make the Wii U special enough, or generate a critical mass of sales to make third parties climb on board. Then third parties will have no problem making games for Wii U.

i hate to say it, but Nintendo has made a huge mistake in underestimating the importance of power under the hood this coming generation.
We messed with motion and casual games this current gen, but gamers have typically been calling for traditional controls, bigger games, better graphics, and more narrative and gameplay innovation.
While I think personally that the Wii U gamepad is the PERFECT controller for all of the above, the Wii U system is not suited for moving forward with games.
Developers are dropping support more than they ever did on Wii, and the Wii U is still not doing well.
After countless explanations, my girlfriend still fails to understand the basic premise of what separates Wii U from Wii, and what the point is of the tablet.
Nintendo would have faired much better to have even pulled what microsoft did - packaging an x86 architecture machine powerful enough to rival PS4/Xbone, WITH the gamepad controller and 2 gamepad support right out of the box - even if it meant releasing at $500.
Why?
Because EA, Ubisoft, and every other company would be drooling over Nintendo as much as they are over PS4/Xbone, AND Nintendo would be the only system with that tablet out of the box.
The second screen out of the box doesn't mean much when the system is so drastically underpowered.
I've been resisting for over a year saying that Wii U is not next gen but current gen, but i cant resist much longer. It just isn't really a next gen system.
Honestly, even the new Super Smash just looks like brawl with upgraded resolution. I personally liked how Samus and Mario looked in brawl better. The only standout for me is Link's shield - it looks noticeably better than in brawl but thats about it!
Nintendo is rushing out titles faster than they should be, and yet they are delaying them left and right.
Nintendo WILL survive the Wii U, but I don't think it will last this full generation against PS4 or XBone, we might see an all new Nintendo console in just a couple of years.
Or if not, i just really hope 7 or 8 years from now Nintendo learns and becomes the hardware behemoth they were back in the good ol' days.

i hate how when articles like this come out and in the first comments its always ppl saying "well i didint care about so and so anyway so forget them/that" yet they never stop to think about everyone else together -___-

but yeah this sucks then if they dont want to try to stay with wii u and bring more ideas to it when it basically set everything for them =[