Wii U needs to sell more, says Ubisoft CEO
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Yves Guillemot praises Nintendo's latest console, but says sales must increase; Watch Dog team ramped up after E3 unveil.
The Wii U must sell more units, according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Speaking to MCV, the executive praised Nintendo's latest console, but said sales must increase.
"We think Wii U is a great machine. But it just has to sell more," Guillemot said.
As of December 31, the Wii U has officially globally sold 3.06 million hardware units and 11.69 million software copies since launch. The system reportedly sold only 57,000 units in the United States during January.
Guillemot also commented on Watch Dogs, saying after the cross-dimensional game's unveiling at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the published increased resources for developer Ubisoft Montreal.
"E3 was a great revelation for Watch Dogs," Guillemot said. "It gave us a chance to increase the whole project, giving the studio the chance to have bigger teams to help them achieve this goal they have. You always have great ideas, but you need enough people to bring it to life. After E3, we really made sure they had all the teams they needed and all the capacity they wanted to fulfill their dream.
Watch Dogs is currently in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC. Set in Chicago, the game puts players in the shoes of Aiden Pearce, a hacker who uses his smartphone to break into the city's central operating system to control things like security cameras and also to obtain personal information.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
364 comments
Ubisoft should not bother with the Wii-U. It can't run next gen games. 2 Years from now once next gen is in full swing Wii-U will be finished.
1 Like Says you Ubisoft,who told you to talk?
You DO know people were gonna buy Wii U for Rayman Legends right? You know, the one that was supposed to come out LAST MONTH, and you teased people 3 freaking weeks before it? Then you destroyed everything by delaying it at the last minute to make a 360 and PS3 version? Ruining the fans, Nintendo fans and even your own developers who are protesting against you?
Mind you, this has nothing to do with 360 and PS3 getting it, but rather Forcing the Wii U version to be delayed THAT long instead of releasing it there when intended. And the best part? You put in the month GTA V is coming out, HORRIBLE move, this is EXACTLY why the original sold abysmal because you idiots releases it in the wrong time where it was ignored for Assassins Creed and the same things gonna happen now.
And your "Exclusive new Demo" shows you just don't get it. Screw you Ubisoft, I hope you realize your sending Rayman to death when you could've made tons of sales at the time Wii U needed a killer game, the worse burn is that the game WAS NEARLY FINISHED DAMMIT
@hotdiddykong I totally agree with you. If anyone is to blame for the lack of good exclusives on Wii U and the poor sales, it is Ubisoft.
When Company 'X' develops a new console platform it is imperative they distribute their 'Dev Kits' to as many developers as possible as quickly as possible in order to allow said developers the time needed thereby allowing the developers to get to grips with the platform so they can have games ready for Launch, so with this in mind what did Nintendo do wrong?
1 Like It crossed my mind the other day that Nintendo should have done things differently. The console should have been more powerful and skipped the screen controller altogether for the console.
Not ridding the idea, but it's possible Nintendo could have launched the screen controller at launch with a game like Pokemon.
l'm not mario or zelda fan but l wouldn't of minded using the wii u as like my next version of my nintendo ds :)
1 Like l wouldn't of minded buying a wii u if only there were good triple AAA games on the new system
3 Like people aren't buying the wiiu not because of the system, it's more powerfull than current gen consoles, but the games are very weak!, the selling will increase when they release wind waker, and the upcoming games of 2013 aren't that great.
@LAnoirFAN Nintendo shouldn't have released the Wii U last year IMO. I think a SUMMER 2013 release would have done the system better! You get the hype of E3, schools out, and you can tout the fitness games as well as a better launch line up.
The games are coming, but this is kinda a crazy drought of real quality games.
@decoy1978 @LAnoirFAN They should have released the Wii U back in 2006. Instead we got a Gamecube with motion controls.
1 Like I am already bored of my Wii U. Its collecting dust on the entertainment console. That dust would have been gone if Rayman Legends was released ON schedule. But apparently, the Wii U must sell more? No wonder they delayed it. Thanks for finally explaining the reasoning behind the delay. A hole.
I will have to buy a Wii U when Monolith releases the next Xeno game. That trailer was awesome, and Xenoblade Chronicles was worth buying a system for (tho I already had the Wii). I just hope the Wii U gets a good price drop before I have to sink my money into one.
am not a fan of the Wii and i dont get its appeal but the damn thing sold dozens of millions and very very fast so how does its follow up the Wii U fail so much, what went wrong so damn fast
1 Like @steelmouth That's because those non-gamers who bought the Wii don't feel need to upgrade or don't even know there's a new version. Or they are thinking it's just some expensive tablet for Wii.
4 Like Really Ubi??? REALLY???? So you push Rayman Legends back to October and have the nerve to complain that the Wii U isn't selling more?
if rayman legends was still day one launch title the wiiU might have done slightly better.
6 Like Dose anyone else see the humor in this. Months ago Ubisoft released an exclusive Assassins Creed game on the PSV that is possibly the only reason the PSV passed the Wii U in sales and Ubisoft is making exclusive content on the PS4 version of Assassins Creed Black Flag will have exclusive content even though the PS4 hasnt been released yet and couldnt have sold a single console. However Ubisofts CEO is complaining about the lack of sales of the Wii U.
If that was true Assassins Creed 3 Liberation would have been on the 3DS instead.
This comment has been deleted
@CivilizedPsycho I own a Wii U and yes, for the first hour playing Zombie U between the gamepad and tv was a pig. But once I rapped my head around it, playing with the two screens felt great and made the game more immersive and tense.
Also, it's a Tablet AND controller, not a tablet controller.
@CivilizedPsycho How does it hinder the experience? You get a controller with most all of the functions of more traditional ones and a touch screen with some motion controls. If you're referring to needing to look at the gamepad to see the map instead of pausing, I'll point out that in real life, you don't get to freeze the whole world around you while you look at a map of your destination. So I think your analogy to texting while driving is doesn't make sense; some gamers WANT to text while they drive, and the Wii U won't let them cause it's trying to push something more life-like.
I mean, I'm not a fanboy. I'm honestly just curious how you think it hinders the gaming experience...
4 Like Low sales is no surprise since there is literally no good games out for it right now. Same thing happened with the 3DS, then once the good games started to release, the sales drastically increased aswell. The same should happen with the Wii U.
Normally, an increase of good games and holiday seasons lead to sales spikes. The overall trend is always downward,
This game has more in common with Far Cry 3 then with Uncharted. The stories and settings are very similar. There is a bow and arrow, hunting animals mysterious island, artifacts, ancient civilization world war 2 bases etc.
1 Like "...it just has to sell more..."? Really?
As long as we're commenting on things that aren't news, a yearly release schedule with Assassin's Creed will likely lead to franchise fatigue.
9 Like The only reason I haven't picked up a Wii U is because the price point is a bit high for me at the moment. Plus I never buy hardware right out of the gate. I let them work out the bugs first. I agree that Nintendo needs more software to push sales. So until they release some games it's gonna sell slowly. I'm not worried for Nintendo they made a fortune off of the Wii. The problem is people want them to fail so they turn into another Sega, and honestly since Sega went software only their games suck. Nintendo is an innovator and they'll be around for a while.
1 Like Ubisoft seems to be the only third-party publisher that is sticking around to have the Wii U's back. But I wonder how much longer that will last.
2 Like Hi yea, so where's Rayman Legends again? a game that could potentially sell the system.
1 Like I knew from the get go that i shouldnt buy this console, how would someone think that a new hardware wich has the same power of the 7 years old consoles could be successful?, it was a no brainer for me.
2 Like Motion gaming is dead. Deliver hardcore titles with rewarding content that are 20+ hours of play and the sales will come.
2 Like @Jag-T1000 no he doesn't, worse case scenario Nintendo goes software only like Sega. And it's not that great of a system, PS4 and nextxbox will dwarf it in tech power.
@Daian I have no doubt the PS4 and Nextbox will dwarf the Wii U in tech power. I also have no doubt that I don't give a crap. Have you seen the commercials for the PS4? The friggin' graphics look EXACTLY the same as the PS3. Maybe a LITTLE better, but not enough to justify a new console. Meanwhile Microsoft has decided we are not allowed to take our games over to friends' houses without carrying our bulky system with us. I personally tend to lug my system with me anyways, so it's not the most awful thing for ME, but it IS a big deal for many other gamers and it has the potential to destroy an entire sector of the market: used games. I get that they're frustrated about those sales compromising their profits in an economy like THIS one, but that's just going too far.
If gamers decide to be smart instead of just following the "tech," they could send a clear message by putting their money behind Wii U. (Or PS4, since it made clear it won't block used games.) Then the games will come and the console will sell.
The unit just doesn't have enough power for the more hardcore gamers who will be on PC or will wait for the next XBox/Playstation. The more casual gamers can already get their gaming fix on the phones/pads that they already own. So who's left to buy?
@Zloth2 This. Nintendo is stuck in the middle. All they have going is the first-party software, which there are many loyalists out there that will buy. We'll see an uptick in sales later this year when Mario hits.
1 Like Hey Eddie Muhcooch! Why am I not surprised you wrote this article? I have your number, you Nintendo-hating asshole.
i hope watch dogs does come out for the wii u cause i know i'd buy it to add to my wii u collection i'm started :)
4 Like I regret buying my wiiU :( I should have wait. I never suspected it would do so poorly in sales but then again I should have. I just regret it a lot now and wish i could just ge tmy money back. its basically the same error i made with ps move
@Kezzy123 You can use PS move on PS4. It is not so bad of a controller, but definitely worse than Wii remote in my opinion (require more charge, the sphere on it is fragile, no speaker, less accuracy and sensitivity).
3 Like @Kezzy123 Just wait! In another 8 months the you can make the same mistake all over again with the 720 and PS4!
1 Like @Kezzy123 Don't worry, I'm sure you're gonna be glad at some point. Just be patient and enjoy what you have for now. You would lose more by selling it at a much lower price than keeping it imo.
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