In the nadir of the Wii U's mid-life, when third-party support rapidly dried up, it was easy to complain about major companies that had walked away. Yet in some cases it was an inevitable business decision - for example by Spring 2014 Ubisoft was reporting that the Wii U was accounting for just 3% of its game sales. The company drew back the scale of its support as Wii U sales toiled, which led to lousy sales of the games it did release; the cycle was set.
So far it's been rather different with the Nintendo Switch. Not only is the system selling well and maintaining momentum, but Ubisoft also teamed up with Nintendo for the rather excellent Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. That title was cited by Ubisoft as an important release in its most recent financial briefing and, tellingly, seems to have contributed a great deal to the company's sales on Nintendo's console.
As you can see below the Switch is battling it out with the Xbox One in terms of sales contributions for the last three months - a decent showing. This will likely be mostly down to Mario + Rabbids, though Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition also had a couple of weeks on the market before the 30th September cut-off. It's worth pointing out that a lot of multi-platform games were pushing for post-launch momentum as opposed to being fresh releases in this period, so we shouldn't get too carried away with the positive Switch percentage.
Even with the provisos of Ubisoft's limited new releases in that three month window, those sorts of numbers will hopefully encourage the company to push on with further support for the Switch. Though no major announced exclusives are in the works at present, Nintendo's system was highlighted as a key platform for next year's Starlink: Battle for Atlas during E3. Mario + Rabbids isn't done, either, with new story content due as DLC in the New Year, which may encourage Ubisoft to step up its marketing of the expansion pass.
Here's hoping for more third-party support in 2018 and beyond.
[source resetera.com, via ubistatic19-a.akamaihd.net]
Comments 65
I’m afraid the sales stats might be alittle skewed, since they were able to include Mario elements. Good news, nonetheless, though.
@thesilverbrick Let's give credit where credit is due. Slapping Mario's face on a game does not garuntee sales. The latest Mario party games for instance...
It's a great game for sure. See this is a good way to test out a new console, EA. Not saying you have to use Mario, but to think along those lines. FIFA was not a good test for the platform. I think EA will see better results with Fe.
That's good to see, massively buoyed no doubt by Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle though their 6 next month forecast isn't as positive for Switch. But then they're not doing a whole lot in that period.
@MoonKnight7 Madden NFL Mario edition, where you can use the Mario characters in a football party mode?
Need For Speed: Mario Kart, where Mario is an undercover cop trying to break into a kart-theft crime ring?
Medal of Honor Kingdom Battle, where World War II Veterans are magically transported into the Mushroom Kingdom and team up with Mario in a FPS to defeat a Nazi army that was also transported and overthrew Bowser?
My, my... And all that with an actually innovative and complete game all on one cartridge. Did you get that, 2K? Did you... ?
Amazing...almost equal to the Xbox's total sales, yet the Switch's percentage are down to 1 game. Yeah, its got Mario on it, but this was a risky game as its Xcom meets Mario, and a new platform by Nintendo, following the utter failure of the Wii U.
I hope they release the AC collection on the Switch.
Awesome news. I'm happy it paid off for Ubisoft. Now...anyone else hoping for a Prince of Persia Sands of time collection?
Will likely be my next Switch purchase.
@Kalmaro Throw Mario Tennis in there too..
Excellent. Hope they bring South Park Fractured But Whole and Stik of Truth to the Switch!
@Kalmaro Or including Super Mario costumes in Tekken. That did nothing to drive up sales.
If the rabbids game wasn't actually good, it wouldn't matter which characters had been used as a cosmetic element.
I think Ubi should consider that Mario was attached to that title when judging sales for this game. Rayman or just dance sales would be interesting to see.
I think it was really helped by the big E3 showcase on it and all the media was talking about it and because it's so strange having a strategy game with the Rabbids and Mario characters
Who wants to bet those Gen 7 sales are Just Dance on Wii?
@joey302 True, but Rayman is an old game most people already own and Just Dance is a expensive game not many people really want to own.
@joey302 Yeah that's why THIS game sold better than the regular versions (hint: it didn't)
It's still the best exclusive game on the Switch
@BezBot good point- Rayman was a quickie port just for them to get on Switch - but whatever Ubi has lined up next should probably be the game to measure successful sales on the Switch. I give credit to them for hanging around on Wii U longer than the others. This time I think they will stick around longer. To me EA and Capcom need to get off their butts.
I hope this means they bring The Crew 2 over to Switch when it launches next year...
Pretty much a first party game. It even has Mario front end central on the adverts. Not really a good example of 3rd party
Also, the actual quote was
"Growth driven by Mario + Rabbids®: Kingdom Battle, Rainbow Six® Siege, Ghost Recon® Wildlands and For Honor"
Those a bunCh of old games. If you look at the report 379M of the 466M came from "Back Catalogue"
@GC-161 lol I myself have no interest in just dance Mario attached or not. I Haven’t bought one since the Wii. But hey that’s just me. Actually amazing to me that Ubi released Just Dance 18 for the original Wii. 😮
Good game, I own it. Also helps that it came out while there was nothing really to play on the switch
@joey302 That's not a "Just Dance" Mario game, dewd.
It's a DDR game with Mario attached to help it sell better (it didn't).
The game you're thinking about is Just Dance 3 for the Wii.
Well deserved. Very good game. Mario is no guarantee of good sales so it would be foolish to underestimate this.
@yeayeanaynay They had almost nothing but negative attention up until the game released. It seemed like almost everyone wanted them to fail. I got swept up in it too, I must confess.
Now if they used the Ubi Art engine for something new for Switch. Maybe a Child of Light inspired Rayman x Mario RPG.
It's a great game.
Looking forward to Starlink! Pew pew!
So can we get Steep now?
So AC (Anything past 3), Steep and For Honor now yes?
@bluedogrulez
Save your money, steep wasn't all that great.
Kingdom Battle was excellent. The only real downfall I think is kind of a lack of replayability. I highly recomend the game overall regardless because everything else about the game is so solid. With all the challenges there is an easy 35-55 hours of game play depending on skill.
@justin233
Its a great game
The Mario + Rabbids game has to win some kind of award for biggest turnaround as far as opinions go, from leak to street date. So many people, including myself, shrugged this game off early on. But the E3 presentation - helped by the emotion of the game developers - sold me, and it has been a great game. Not for everyone, obviously, but it turned out so much better than I initially gave it credit for. I'm happy for it's success.
@GC-161 ohhh That’s DDR from Konami! Right! Lol I have over 900 Wii games and THAT is not one of them! 😃
Heavens. A game aimed at Nintendo fans with Nintendo characters sold on a Nintendo platform. And Rayman and Just Dance did well.
I question if Assassins Creed or Far Cry would be as successful with our finicky audience however.
@thesilverbrick BUT - with the exception of their European popularity - the Rabbids were a potentially big sales detractor in the US (prob even the UK), even as much as Mario is itself a buying boost. Plus the XCOM gamestyle...not sure how much of a buzz maker that was. I think they just made a really good game and the Mario branding helping spread the good game word around. Cannot wait for the new story mode. Funny how EA is the only kind of quietly moaning rn. Even Capcom has stoically stated how well SF2U did and followed it up with RE.
@justin233 Buy it - it's an absolute joy.
@Biff_ARMStrong Second best!
Own it, love it, recommend it.
Fun game.
@yeayeanaynay What was lacking in the polish for you?
I haven't gotten my hands in a copy of this yet..... might just have to change that.
@ThanosReXXX "and complete game all on one cartridge"
You mean the "base game", the "complete game" isn't out yet.
"Mario + Rabbids isn't done, either, with new story content due as DLC in the New Year, which may encourage Ubisoft to step up its marketing of the expansion pass."
Hey @JaxonH what do you think for this next summer/fall for the first Switch "Complete Ed" game? It's Ubi, you know they want to.
If you want to argue - well it's not Ntinedo it's 3rd party - well yes it is, but you have to admit having Mario in the game helps. Most people probably care about the game and the system it's on, not the dev, so if they see a "Complete Ed" Mario on Switch, well they might think Nintendo does "Complete Ed" after that.
@Dang69 I think you are right about this game and how it could have potential he so poorly. But I think including Mario is the only reason this game did as well as it did. They were so many things working against it, as you said. The Rabbids themselves, the gameplay style, etc. The inclusion of Mario and company probably piqued people’s interests, especially while they were waiting for Odyssey.
@Kalmaro True, but don’t be surprised when the new Mario Party sells well, anyway. The 3DS versions of that series have done remarkably well, despite being pretty awful.
@rjejr
I wouldn't be surprised if Mario Rabbids came with a complete version a few years down the line. Then again I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. These are $20 season passes we're talking about after all, not $50 expansion passes.
They might or they might not. Hard to say really. I think the only people who pay attention to stuff like that are people who visit fansites, and people who visit fan sites aren't naïve enough to think an Ubisoft crossover is the same as a 1st party title. More casual gamers my think so but more casual gamers don't really care, so...
@thesilverbrick I won't be surprised. Supposedly, this game will have all the best stuff. I'm sure it will be a hit with the fans of the series. Me though, I've given up on Mario Party ever being good again.
Pretty good for a game that was knocked for something "no one asked for" and some folks even predicting it would bomb.
Good for Ubisoft, and I hope Starlink turns out good.
I know Far Cry 5 is a thing, but I would LOVE a Far Cry Primal port.
@Beedrill4Smash - I am far more for Primal port than I would be for FC5.
I still need to get this game.
@rjejr Yeah, well... in the waterproof plan that I proposed earlier, DLC, save games and patches/updates don't count/don't need to be on the cartridge: they can go to internal storage, and/or the optional extra SD card storage that we gamers might CHOOSE to add, NOT because we have to.
I could easily live with that, but making more than 50% of your game a mandatory download or your game's not going to work, flies straight in the face of customer service and fair treatment of your target audience, so that's not gonna fly with me.
All that may be "normal"/every day fare for disc based media, but with cartridges that simply shouldn't be the case, and nobody should stand for it either.
As I have said so often already these past few days, it completely defeats the entire purpose and benefits of having cartridges in the first place.
@ThanosReXXX
At the same time, Mario Rabbids was only 2.3gb vs NBA 2K which was 26gb, and WWE 2K which is 32gb...
So ya, I'm right there with you wanting full games on carts, but I'm pretty sure if Take Two had a 2.3gb game it would all be on cart too
Well deserved success.
@Heavyarms55 it's sooo... good. It does to turn based strategy what MK did to racing.
This is fantastic. Switch is selling better than PC and comparable to XBONE. You know Ubisoft will never stop putting out games on either of those two platforms so Switch is safe!
@Muddy_4_Ever I don't know if I would go quite that far, but yeah, it is great.
I really hope for a sequel, it's a brilliant game.
@ThanosReXXX "waterproof"
Well the carts have to be waterproof otherwise the bad taste they added would wash off.
@JaxonH Off course there's a pretty hefty difference in data size there, but that is also why I think that both Nintendo and third parties should put much more effort into the possibility of delivering those larger size cartridges. Nintendo should stop being so uptight about those supposed considerable extra costs for larger capacity cartridges, and they should come to an agreement with third parties where the use/benefit of cartridges is concerned, which SHOULD be aiming to be a self-contained system, a mini-hard disk if you will, with all the necessary data already on there, negating the need to download additional data to even make it work in the first place (an absolute disgrace if you ask me) and truly making it plug and play.
Also handy for all those people both in the Americas and Europe that still happen to suffer from a lousy internet connection (speed)...
@rjejr Har, har, har...
It's a good game and very polished, but really childish.
Great game! Kudos to Ubisoft for doing it right the first time on Switch!
@yeayeanaynay I didn't like that either (not being able to rotate the camera, while walking SOME sections of the world, between battles) - but devs do that to save on overall game size and optimization. Sometimes that's so you, as you travel, have a cleaner, quicker experience, while traversing a map inbetween micro-sandbox-ish areas. Didn't hate it, but didn't like it either. What I did really hate (the only thing in the game that drove me mad) was that I couldn't zoom out far enough on the "battle board" or whatever you call it, during a fight, to see everything on it. I hated having to slide around my cursor to get a screen scroll, to see where everyone was.
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