Ubisoft CEO says Rayman Legends on Wii U wouldn't "sell enough"

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said the once-exclusive Wii U version of Rayman Legends wouldn't have been able to shift enough copies to be successful, which is why the French publisher delayed the title alongside developing Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Vita versions.

"What happened was that we saw the Wii U was not going to sell enough," said Guillemot in an interview with VentureBeat. "The game is going to be fantastic, and we didn’t want those creators to wind up in a position where even after making a fantastic game, they didn’t sell well enough."

"We decided that we had to come out on enough machines that players can try it out on any one that they have, and give more time to both improve the game on the Wii U and create versions for the other consoles."

Despite news of the delay angering hordes of Nintendo fans anxious for promising new software on the Wii U, Guillemot thinks Ubisoft made the right call. "I think it was the right decision for gamers and for the team. My role is to make sure that the team is happy with the quality of the work they do and the reach they can have. The quality is there now, because they had more time. They’ve expanded the possibilities of the game. It’s much bigger content-wise. We have new bosses in key levels and so on. The experience is much more complete."

As an apology to Wii U owners, Ubisoft released the game's Challenge mode for free as an attempt to soothe the wait for the game. Rayman Legends will be released on August 30 in Europe, and September 3 in North America.

"I think it will be one of the best games we’ve ever done," concluded Guillemot.