Yves Guillemot, the CEO and co-founder of Ubisoft, has reiterated that it will be difficult to support current generation technology once the next Xbox and PlayStation 4 have found their footing. Guillemot says that once you push the next generation towards its limits, the more you will have difficulty in adapting to the older generation consoles. Guillemot also says he isn’t entirely satisfied with current Wii U sales and says that they’re monitoring the situation closely.
You will then continue to feed two generations of consoles at the same time with the same games?
“We won’t be able to do it on the long term. More you push the next generation towards its limits, the more you will have difficulty in adapting to the “old gen”. So we are going, little by little, to migrate to the new generation of consoles. I think that by 2015 we will have completed this transition.”
To rephrase: you have nothing to say about the current sales of the Wii U?
“We can not say we’re satisfied with the sales of the Wii U. They were good in the United States in November / December, but did not go well in January 2013. We’re waiting to see the evolution of things, we look at this closely.”
Rayman Legends would’ve shifted some units…
This did make me chuckle!
Yeah. Obviously they’re gonna delay the PS4 version of Watch_Dogs because the day 1 userbase of zero won’t be enough to justify support.
^This.
So much this…
Exactly. Kinda their fault for bad sales when they have pushed a game to March then September.
Some… but not nearly enough to justify a sole console launch. From Ubisoft’s perspective, it’s far better to launch the game a few months later when the WiiU userbase could finally pick up.
Just saying.
Of course the WiiU sales are going to be bad, there have been no retail games to buy for it since launch, and then the only game people were looking forward to getting this month got pushed back.
I think it’s hysterical, their thinking. “If the WiiU doesn’t give us the numbers, we won’t develop for it.” If you don’t give them something to play, they won’t buy. The system is a knick knack on the coffee table, if nobody makes any games for it. If you believe in your games, then make some for the U and they will buy them to play your games.
^This and that.
Lol the never-ending cycle that hits both sides
Screw last gen (current gen, 360,PS3), there are plenty of games for them that will keep people occupied. Just go right ahead and fully support the WiiU, PS4 and next xbox from now on.
Well, since the majority of the next gen consoles will launch by the end of 2013, I don’t think it would be difficult. But Watch Dogs is coming to 6 different platforms, so they have a point.
I don’t understand this mindset at all. If you develop games for three consoles (not counting handhelds, mobile, PC, etc.) already and two of them make new consoles, you’re still developing for three consoles. How is that different? This isn’t even going into how The WiiU is Nintendo’s new console. So, if the WiiU, PS4 and the new XBOX came out at the same time, they would only develop for two of them? The psychobabble is mind numbing!
i dont think you understand it at all. he’s saying it’ll be difficult to support the 360 and ps3 once they start pushing the 720 ps4 and wiiu
Of course the posters of these types of articles won’t post that , because they like to stir sensation headlines that stir commotion.
Well, it is hard to state anything without reading the whole interview – which is in French, actually. Although I’m able to understand only a little, I’m going to try to do that, anyway.
Two important clarifications:
1) He said that Ubi is doing Rayman Lengeds the “Wii U best game ever launched”. I infer they are polishing the game.
2) He did not mention anything about Wii U belonging to this or to the next gen.
unfortunately, i don’t think wii u will be classified as “next gen” by developers. apparently the only thing that makes a console next gen is the graphic power, and wii u’s graphics plus 2 gigabyte of ram is almost too low compared to ps4’s 8 gigabyte of ram and “highly juiced up cpu/gpu”.
Makes sense. But I was wondering how the PS4 sells will behave during its first 6 months in the market. Lots of businessmen complained about Wii U price tag (299.00 – 349.00 US), but it is virtually impossible to a machine harboring 8 Gb of RAM be priced under 449.00, or even 499.00. Time will tell if PS4 will indeed sell like hot cakes how industry believes right now.
I’m loving Ubisoft right now. Unlike other third-party developers, they still put their games on the system even though they’re worried about the sales. So, should we assume that future Ubisoft titles will appear on the Wii U? Guess it would depend on the sales of Watch Dogs.
I’ve forgiven them for the Rayman delay, they are really great. They’re just not perfect.
Hum, Mike S… I do not share your opinion and Sky Grounder’s at all… I feel they are about to cheat Nintendo. Soon, very soon. But I hope you guys are right, and I’m wrong.
That’s a fairly grim outlook but one can’t say that isn’t a possibility
WOW! the reason for the low sales is blaming a system for the low sales he caused. A-hole.
Considering he is talking about low January sales figures and Raymans legends was suppose to come out the month after, yeah >-> He sooo must have caused it.
Rayman Legends was actually supposed to come out at launch.
Once again, how would that affect January sales?
Because January comes after December…perhaps????? o_O
If Rayman Legends was on store shelves then people walking buy Wii U kiosks and playing the demo could go right over to the nearest game retail and pick one up. It’s called word of mouth. It’s why the Wii was so popular with Wii Sports. However, Wii Sports was available. If someone is impressed by Rayman Legends and wants to buy a Wii u for that game and it on the fence financially, what are do you think they are gonna do when they are told the game has been delayed 7 months?
The point is that he is blaming the console itself rather that taking responsibility for Ubisoft’s part in it. Ubisoft sold people fool’s gold with Rayman Legends. It is not THE reason Wii U sales went down in January (along with sales in every video game division by the way) but it was a major contributor.
What he said make little sense. How do you have trouble adapting to systems you have been developing on for almost 10 years. Wouldn’t you think that type of familiarity is sort of seared into your mind?
Wow. Possibly the dumbest comment of the day. You completely missed his point.
Forgive me GAMER fans and commenters I insulted the Ubisoft president. We should thank God the 3DS is sellling and moving software like it is. It shall hold the Wii U up until March. Where Ubisoft paid by either Microsoft and Sony to delay Rayman legends. Cause February would have had the Wii U doing a million. Anyway, am getting watch dogs and Rayman used. Since the PS4 and xbox720 are not backward Disk compatible but steam lol. Wii U it is.
I’m getting Legends used, but Watchcats new.
Lol
To clarify what he means. Its hard when there is sch a gap in tec, not just because of graphics. Games developed on the better consoles will have bits of gameplay with tons of ai, large environments, and other things that just can’t be done on the last gen consoles. So it will work for a while, but eventually those games will only come to next gen consoles.
It’s even problematic for Wii U as well. Look at the specs for PS4 already:
CPU is much faster and more capable than Wii U’s, especially when you consider PS4 doesn’t have a second screen to account for as well.
GPU in PS4 outclasses Wii U’s as well, again taking into account PS4 doesn’t have the second screen to account for.
PS4 has 8GB of DDR5 RAM compared to Wii U’s 2GB of DDR3 RAM.
When you account for the second screen, the Wii U is basically a SLIGHTLY more powerful XBOX 360; just barely.
Considering the next XBOX is supposedly almost identically powerful to PS4, with exception to having slightly slower RAM bandwidth (marginally), that means both consoles are worlds more powerful than Wii U, which is again just a very minimally more powerful XBOX 360. So ports for Wii U will be severely gimped, if they even port games to it at all.
Doesn’t mean games will not look good on Wii U, but it DOES mean they won’t be nearly as “next gen” in terms of graphics, physics, environments, AI, etc. which could mean inferior ports and will likely mean far, FAR fewer exclusives compared to other consoles. And it also means many development studios might not even port games to it at all, for fear of said ports being gimped too much and being much less impressive.
It’s the original Wii all over again, only this time the Wii U doesn’t have the huge casual appeal that the original Wii had. It’s going to have to rely much more heavily on first party titles, and Nintendo has not been doing a great job of that so far. I mean NSMB U as a launch Mario game? In only 720p no less?! That’s hardly the big game-changer that Super Mario World for the SNES or Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64 were. The only real AAA first party game they’ve announced was Wind Waker HD; a remake. And a new Zelda game that has no release date or info/screens at all, so… as of now, that’s not much of a selling point. Pikimin is hardly a blockbuster AAA title; the GameCube version was a cult classic, not a huge franchise seller like Mario or Zelda or Metroid. They haven’t even HINTED at a Metroid game coming out; that should have been a no-brainer, and in my opinion, would have made a much better launch title than NSMB U!
Sir, really nice point of view. I make your words mine.
I’m not anti-Nintendo; I wanted Wii U to be a beast of a console. Unfortunately, it’s far from it. And I fear it will be left in the cold, and Nintendo didn’t adequately take advantage of the full year head start they had. They launched the console with underpowered specs and a terrible launch lineup and haven’t done much of anything to remedy that, and now are going to be in a piss-poor position when far superior consoles come into the market.
At least if they had great launch line-up (I still think Metroid HD would have been a good start, as well as better, NEWER multi-plat 3rd party games), they could have had a decent library of good games to hold themselves up when PS4 and 720 come out. But they won’t even have that, sadly.
ok, now the PS3 and 360 users will suffer a little decrease of games in their consoles and probably will be left behind in the future, it’s pretty obviously, because developers are paying more attention on what to do with this new generation (Wii U, PS4, and 720 consoles respectively)
This^ cause wiiu is next gen people like it or not.
Wiiu is next gen, but we gotta stop denying that the other consoles won’t be several times more powerful then wiiu. 3rd parties are already hesitant to support it, they will support it even less when they are forced to downscale their games to accomadate wiiu.
This is basically what I said above, and below. Only I gave a bit more detail lol. But you’re precisely right.
As much as Nintendo fans don’t want to admit it, and as much as they want to call Wii U “next gen”, as far as specs go, it’s not really “next gen” where developers are concerned. Take away the power needed to run the second screen, and it’s barely more powerful than XBOX 360. That’s not “next gen” to developers. When compared to PS4, which is something like 10 times more powerful than a PS3, and DOESN’T have to sacrifice any of it’s power for a second screen, the Wii U will simply not be able to keep up with next gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft. And those consoles not only have the horsepower developers want, but have features they & gamers want as well, not just a second screen which, admittedly, is already losing much of it’s “wow” factor among the public. People are already starting to realize the difference between “all of the many possibilities it can offer” and how many of those possibilities actually are worthwhile and make a game better, rather than just being a ho-hum “feature” that people really don’t much care for either way.
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Didn’t was said in another news that Ubisoft was pleased with the Wii U sales? But yea, the sales numbers of the Wii U have been sucking lately, Nintendo need to do a huge ad campaign to promote their console better.
Great, even more fuel for the Trolls.
For the 50 millionth time, Wii U saled are doen because the games are not out yet. Why is that so difficult for any idiot to understand?
“Sales” “down”
The biggest conclusion I went to at the end of the PS4 conference is that WiiU is definitely as Next-Gen as PS4. let’s wait to see XBoxwhaterverthenumber
the sad thing is,
all the sony trolls who were shouting “Ps4 GRPHICKS gonna blow Wii U away!!” are now as quiet as their mom with a Move controller in her mouth.
Um… not sure which conference you were watching but I haven’t seen a single game, announced or released or otherwise, for the Wii U that even comes close to say, the new Killzone or the PS4 version of Watch Dogs. Until I see what the Wii U’s version looks like and how it runs, I still maintain the Wii U is severely anemic graphically compared to PS4.
The specs alone for PS4 are several times more powerful than Wii U, and it doesn’t have to sacrifice any of those specs/power for a second screen.
You have no clue what you’re taking about. 2GB of DDR3 in Wii U compare to 8GB of DDR5 in PS4; that alone means PS4 can handle much more immersive, larger, more detailed games than Wii U could even dream about, and that’s just the RAM!
“The specs alone…”
The thing is: what defines a generation of console gaming is much more that “the specs alone”. Graphic progress is meaningless today. Killzone 4 looks exactly like Mass Effect 3, which was ported on WiiU: here’s your game that looks like a PS4 game. All I’m saying is that all the innovation Sony has presented on this conference are similar to what the WiiU does or will do (some in better shape, like the ability to share videos or even livestream on the PSiiVerse – some in worse shape, like the ability to “remote play” using a Vita instead of a WiiU GamePad).
“The specs alone” mean nothing if, say, games are scaled for a less powerful console, like it happened between PS3 and X360. Let the WiiU gain a comfortable market between today and christmas and when the PS4 will come out, all multiplatform games will be standard-scaled for WiiU, then upgraded for PS4 for the pleasure of gamers who want to see the bounciest boobs possible in videogames.
In the end, all I was saying is that the gap that existed between Wii and PSX360 looks tremendously thinner, since it was mostly induced by a difference in controllers and in SD/HD. That touchpad on the DualShock 4 is a joke that nobody’s gonna use, so the Classic Pro Controller will be as relevant as its counterparts, and now all consoles are in HD: WiiU and PS4 are in the same Gen, even though the PS4 is obviously more powerful.
yay 70$ games!
True, PS4 games will look and be able to handle things the Wii U won’t, but it’s not THAT big a deal. How much fun did you have (assuming you had a PS3 or #360) w/the HD twins? Hopefully, a lot. The Wii U is still capable of producing good-looking and highly entertaining games. What I’m trying to say is that the PS4 being more powerful doesn’t detract from what the Wii U can do, because the experience the Wii U offers (one similar, but greater than last gens HD twins along w/second screen etc) is still really fun to play
1) What is it with people on this site and being perverts?
2) The sony trolls aren’t quiet at all, what the hell have you been reading? PS4 graphics win easily.
Then stop being lazy and actually put the work in. Notice how well console specific games do compared to crappy cross-console ports?
Word.
Maybe if they would have continued the immense support they said they would give the WiiU at E3 things would be a little different (Rayman Legends)!
If he also means Wii U in some ways then fuck off really…
GRAPHICS is not everything!
Like the PS4 games, sure they look absolutely lovely, but yhe gameplay itself is just the same as PS3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s so fun about that?
Too much cinematics, americans in all games, shooting, humans, shooting, more humans, halo aliens, shooting, even more humans.
Why do realistic american humans always have to be the protagonists of every single game?!
It’s so boring!
Killzone 4 just bored the hell out of me!
And that DriveClub.
A new way of playing…TEAM PLAY?!
Omfg that’s so new! *rolls eyes*
Dear lord you’re a blind fanboy. By that logic, we shouldn’t bother with the 3DS because it is just a glorified DS.
except its not /facapalm
Yes. It is. It’s a DS with 3D tacked on, and SLIGHTY improved performance.
Exactly what Nintendo fanboys think a PS4 is compared to a PS3.
A. It’s absolutely not SLIGHTLY improved performance.
B. it has several more functionalities : a real eShop, StreetPass/SpotPass, 3D games, a Circle Pad. If that’s just a glorified DS, then I guess all consoles are glorified Pong’s.
*facepalm
ALso read what I said again you illiterate twat. I said “BY HIS LOGIC”. And yes by his logic it is just a glorified DS.
Power doesn’t just mean graphics. You fanboys just don’t seem to get that. More power also means better frame rates (affects gameplay), more enemies on screen (affects gameplay), more interactive environments (affects gameplay), larger environments (affects gameplay), improved AI (affects gameplay), improved physics computations (affects gameplay), improved collision detection (affects gameplay), etc.
And graphics DO matter, even if they AREN’T the most important thing. XBOX/PlayStation fans have had Wii U-level graphics for almost a decade now. They don’t want another console with exact same graphics with just a second screen to play on, and have to shell out over $300 for it. They want BETTER graphics, and better everything else. Nobody wanted a second screen to play on at all; the standard gaming controllers are great. They don’t want to work harder to play games, they want bigger, prettier, longer, more engaging games with more freedom and interaction with the games and environments. None of which a glorified XBOX 360 with a second controller screen can offer.
Hence the poor sales of Wii U, because only Nintendo fanboys, aka the only people not used to these graphics, are buying it.
Very nicely said. I enjoyed reading your post.
I would take metroid and Zelda over Amy game on the other consoles any day…
Any
I am more than used to better graphics than you did with your console, since I always gamed on a high end pc. I really like the WiiU though, because it is fun and original. Not that I don’t find the PS4 interesting, but it is games that will sell it to me and not its graphics. And the same applies for any platform.
So you shun better graphics and new game types, but… what is NSMB U compared to the Wii version?
What’s ZombiU compared to Resident Evil or CoD Zombies mode?
What? Because you get to occasionally look down to see your inventory instead of pressing pause? Or because you can take the GamePad 10 feet into another room (as long as there aren’t too many walls), that makes a console that, aside from the second screen, is basically an XBOX 360, worth $349?
Lmao. Okay then.
“What’s ZombiU compared to CoD Zombies mode?”
OMG this is so wrong.
You’re basically comparing Pink Floyd to Blink 182 because they have guitars in them.
wii u sales aren’t doing so great??? hmmm i wonder why!
RELEASE RAYMAN LEGENDS, YOU DIRTY SLUTSSSSS
But me not worried, Wii U will prevail, and hopefully Microshit gets destroyed by Nintendo and Sorny even though I don’t really like copycats and then by Apple in that other area…
By the end of this new gen, Bill Gates will kneel b4 Zod!
Lmao. Must be nice living in a dream world.
Miiverse is a direct rip off of twitter. Mario is a rip off of an earlier plat former, see? I’m acting like an idiot just like you.
Also, Bill gates doesn’t play much of a part in Microsoft anymore, it’s Steve Ballmer who runs Microsoft.
I still wonder what the Wii U is capable of
and how it compares to PS4 and NextBox
That’s the good question. I second it.
We will see it with Watch Dogs…
It would be fun if Nintendo says they can uppgrade the Wii U whenever they want too without us paying for it xD
This man has some nerve. If they would’ve keep Rayman Legends exclusive, AND released it on time, I guarantee some more units would have sold. Units aren’t selling cause there’s no software. Once software releases, especially games that are unique and exclusive to the Wii U, sells WILL pick up!
Yves Guillemot is a vagina.
I highly doubt that
He Knows Nintendo doesnt need them to sale.. unlike micro and sony… . That why they support them over N…Sony snd Micro have to play ball. ..Nintendo doesn’t…they have their on ball.
Its going to sale when Nintendo releases Nintendo titles. …..Rayman was a good game but not a system mover….they know that. . And Nintendo knows even the more….its going to be a problem when they get to rolling out the games…they starve us then they feed us…its sad but its true….but when they began to put the food on the table its beyond compare….Sony and Micro give u junk food in abondents but u just get tiered of it after so long and then u want real food. …Nintendo ..so wr in a diet right now but we will be eating goood soon lol
Be my friend on MiiVerse!!
BEST analogy ever here.
Its hilarious when trolls brag about multi plats yet fail to mention Nintendo’s MEGA Blockbusters.
I can’t wait until Nintendo reveals that crazy blockbuster this E3 and don’t forget Retros AAA game coming soon :D
Oh and Monolith’s X!!!
They have field…;D
you delay Rayman Legends for seven mounths and you are not happy with wii u sales. You are part of the prolbem.
I bought the wii u at launch and would love to see it do well. After seeing the ps4 last night i feel the wii u is doomed ill keep it for zelda but apart from that everything i want will be next gen either ps4 or 720
“We can not say we’re satisfied with the sales of the Wii U.”
Says the group who pushed an amazing game 7 months away. Don’t come crying and bitching about Rayman legends having low sales later.
well maybe wii u sales would be a little better if the meatheads at ubisoft hadn’t decided to delay rayman legends for no reason.. so much for that
ubisoft hasn’t even captured my attention with any of it’s software ( including rayman, i don’t like rayman. ) So really, maybe they should focus more on being relevant rather than make predictions on hardware they haven’t even properly developed for.
Don’t be lazy ubisoft, tons of developers do it.
I don’t care if Ubisoft doesn’t support Wii U. The only game they make that I bought and liked was Rayman Origins and I don’t think it was better than Donkey Kong Country Returns or New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Before Ubisoft made Billions off of Just Dance on the Wii, they were third rate, second tier Publisher with average games. The only good game they had was Prince of Persia and that got old. I’m not into Assassins Creed, so they got nothing. I didn’t get Zombie U because I knew it was Red Steel all over again. Go ahead and make. Assassin Creed 10, 11, 12 and 13 for PS4 and next Xbox, I don’t care. But Nintendo needs to do something about the Wii U and game support.
All will be forgiven Ubisoft if you give us a port of Far Cry 3 and continue to support Wii U and 3DS. It’s that simple…………also could we get Red Steel 3? I really liked Red Steel 2.
red steel 2 was awesome, i hate fps but that was like a sword first person with some shooting,
I swear Ubisoft said they were happy with the Wii U’s sales like last week?
I wouldn’t put it past Ubisoft to tuck tail and run after the decision they made with Rayman, even if I am glad that we’ll be getting Watch Dogs.
I also expect an ocean of trolls counting this as the sign to start redoubling their doom&gloom foretelling sprees about Nintendo not getting any support.
Oh well, i’m buying a PS4 day 1 with Destiny anyway, so whatever.
Same here, except I’ll also be getting Watch Dogs and the new Killzone.
And I’ll be getting XBOX 720 with whatever Halo game they have; likely not Halo 5, since 4 just came out. I’m guessing it might be the long-rumoured Halo 2: Anniversary. Although, if the console launches this holiday, the 10-year anniversary for Halo 2 would be NEXT holiday… so we may not get a Halo game at all, which will be… odd. XBOX console launch with no Halo… feels…. wrong.
Those two, and Infamous if it’s out, but most likely its not.
I don’t care about the Xbox or Halo.
Microsoft have bullshit business ideals, and Halo hasn’t changed since probably 3, it’s just there to milk money now. It’s fun to play, but they’re literally all the same, besides minor differences here and there.
You obviously haven’t played Halo recently. Halo Reach was DRASTICALLY different than Halo 3. In many bad ways, most people think, but different nonetheless.
Halo 4 is again, worlds different than Halo 3 AND Halo Reach.
And look at Infamous: has barely changed from game to game. Why? Because why drastically change something when it’s working? Call of Duty knows this, even though I despise the franchise.
If you build a fan base/following based on a franchise, you don’t radically change it in the middle of nowhere. Why would you? Especially if fans don’t want you to…
Halo Reach did that and look what happened? Everyone hated it. Proof is in the pudding, my friend.
Actually i played 3, Reach and 4. Not much difference. One part in 4 is exactly like 3. In the you still mainly just fight Covenant, the gameplay set up is still the same, corridor segments, more open area segments, and vechiles segments, and the guns are the same, even the Promethean weapons are they same, they just look different.
Dead Space changes every time. The controls stay the same, the gameplay stays the same, but the setting, themes change, they have new weapons, new enemies, new resource systems, new gameplay changes like zero-g segments changing, minor puzzle solving, one game is “non linear”, one is very linear and the other is linear yet more open and optional missions. But its still Dead Space.
People will complain about co-op, but its still got single player. I personally think they fucked up the enemy ratio on single player, it feels like its stuck on co-op in single player, but regardless, its still good.
Halo has done nothing. It added co-op….and thats it. Theres minor changes here and there, some of which come and go, but thats it. The problem is the milk the shit out of the series. There was 2 Halo’s on the Xbox, 4 on the 360…why?
Its not like the tech is getting better on the system, just visuals. they dont make the game bigger, the AI is exactly the same, theres no non linear segments, or optional parts, its just the same thing. Im not saying the series is bad, but its just become a series that’s like “oh, another Halo. Guess i’ll buy it seeing as Microsoft doesnt release anything else”.
I thought the difference between Wii U and PS4/NextBox would be minimal enough that Wii U would be able to “hang in there” with them…
…but after the Sony conference, it’s just not likely. A 4-times faster CPU in the PS4 compared to the PS3 (and the Wii U’s CPU [which handles things like physics and such, all of which affect gameplay not graphics] is terribly slow) and 16 times the amount of RAM than the PS3 has, and it’s DDR5 unlike the sluggishly slow DDR3 in the Wii U (of which it has what, only 2GB compared to PS4’s 8GB?)…
I hate to say it, because I honestly want MORE competition because it breeds better games… but Nintendo is once again stuck in the original Wii’s position. It’s finally got an HD console, but it’s terribly underpowered.
And by that I mean not for you Nintendo fanboys, but for developers. You Nintendo fans are perfectly happy with it, because you’ve not had a console this powerful before and it’s all new to you and such. However, developers have been making games akin to Wii U type games for almost a DECADE now. The only difference now is the second screen. That’s HARDLY enough to last for 5 or 6+ years on; it’s already starting to lose a bit of it’s “wow” factor already. Sure, there are tons of options for it but how many are ACTUALLY worthwhile and make a game BETTER, and aren’t just “oooh look what we can do” features put in just for shits and giggles?
The graphical jump may not look that serious, but it’s more than that: it’s having ALL games natively at 1080p (something Nintendo promised, but hasn’t even come close to delivering), running at LEAST 30fps in 3D, having much better physics, less teture popping, much better lightinger, largter worlds with less noticable draw-in/pop-in, more dynamic environments for more dynamic gameplay/options, more interactive environments for endless gamplay and story options, etc.
All these things are things that developers want to use, but couldn’t with current gen consoles, and now still can’t with Wii U (at least, not even close to the excent that PS4/XBOX 720 will allow). So once again, games will be developed to their max potential on those consoles, and then either gimped significantly for Wii U, or passed on Wii U all together.
Sony showed it has what gamers want most: horsepower, improving things they already love, and lots of great first and third party games and exclusives. Nintendo promised some of that, but delivered practically none. Majority of their 3rd party offerings were poor ports of older games, and several of their promised exclusives were either cancelled or are going multi-plat due to poor Wii U sales and popularity.
The Wii U is in the same place the original Wii is, onnly this time, it’s much worse because they don’t have the windfall of the casual audience to carry the console through. Now, it’s only die-hard Nintendo supporters, and that’s not enough to entice many third party devs. There are still some that are willing to take chances on it, but if the Wii U keeps performing (or NOT performing, as the case may be) the way it is, even THOSE developers won’t be sticking around for long… and that’ll be the death of the Wii U permanently.
Wii U’s only hope is that XBOX 720 is much less powerful than PS4, so that the majority of consoles is less powerful than the PS4, forcing many multi-plat developers to develop games based on XBOX 720/Wii U specs, and then add slightly-updated ports to PS4, instead of the other way around. But that will mean WE, as gamers, suffer because we’re getting inferior games compared to what we COULD have had.
In any case, it seems the 720 will be much closer (almost identical) to PS4, so it looks like Nintendo has their work cut out for them. They have NO room for error at all; Nintendo, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.
I’m sure Nintendo will be fine. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are all massive companies which are next to impossible to kill off, even if they had an entire generation of suffering. Furthermore, they all have backups which allow them to survive in the toughest of markets. In Nintendo’s case, their main backup support is their lineup of first-party exclusives. Even if not a single third-party title was made for the system, people would still buy the console just to play the next Zelda, a 3D Mario platformer, Donkey Kong Country, Pikmin, and so on. At this point it’s unclear how well the Wii U will perform this generation, but it will at least be sufficient to keep the company running.
That’s just it: all Nintendo has right now is first party games. And pretty much everyone (or the vast majority of people) who are going to buy a Wii U just for those has bought it already. And the sales are dismal. Which means it’ll need more than first party Mario and Zelda games to keep it going.
And the “too big to fail” argument is not valid. I’m sure people thought that about Sega prior to Saturn & Dreamcast. I mean, Dreamcast was looking GREAT and then Sega up and jumped ship to software-only. People might have expected that after Saturn, but definitely not Dreamcast.
I entirely disagree on the “Gamers want horsepower” comment.
If that mattered as much as you’re making it out to matter, then after looking at specs for PS4, nobody would ever take a second look at games as fantastic as Portal or Xenoblade Chronicles, among many many others.
In my opinion, it’s the graphics-“lovers” who care most about the horsepower and graphical fidelity.
One third-party dev saying that that’s what they want isn’t a foretelling of doom for Nintendo’s third-party support on down the line, and just like before, everyone is basing the support the Wii U will get later, off of a slow start, using that as yet more doom&gloom material.
If Nintendo was going to entirely fail due to lack of support from third parties, it would have happened with the Gamecube or N64.
Time will prove the dark prophecies wrong again, just like they have every gen before now.
Actually, most people interested in first parties haven’t bought the console yet because none other than New Super Mario are available.
Developpers will never use it all. Because programming everything to have better [everything you mentioned and is relevant, I agree] will take ages, making the time put to the games not worth it, except by pricing games 250 $. That’s it: using all that PS4 makes available is not compatible with the scheme of a new CoD game every year, so half of PS4’s technological possibilities will just gather dust, doomed to not be harnessed for years. PS4 will be great in three years, like the PS3 actually exerienced it, and the WiiU will do the countrary: sell lots in 2013, 2014 and 2015 then look less relevant.
Thos PS4 specs are too good for today (yes, it is possible: it’s what happened to the Dreamcast).
First, you can’t assume the PS4 is gonna enjoy a moderate, late success, since you don’t have a glass ball to see into the future.
One of the many reasons PS3 had a resurgence by the end of its life was because everyone already owns a Wii and are looking for something more to amuse themselves, along with the slight resonance of a variety of genres (RPG, Platforming) that Sony fans generally do not care for, which attract other demographics.
But these circumstances are too specific to reocurr unless Sony gets it together with many, many developers that have already fallen from it’s grace or have stopped collaborating with them.
Sony could also make the same mistakes it did at the beginning of the PS3’s life such as overpricing the console (Which is almost certainly what they’re gonna do) and crafting a very elitist and reduced game catalog. However, Sony is not the powerhouse it used to be in 2006/2007. We all know the only reason Sony’s gaming division stayed afloat during the PSP/PS3 flop years was due to the company injecting money from other divisions into it, but they’ve downsized since then, I don’t know if they can take the luxury of supporting two barely-selling consoles for three or four years until they suddenly have a momentarily burst of sales.
Well yes, I can assume it!
But I also most certainly can be wrong…
Excuse me honey, but just because one likes Nintendo it doesn’t mean we can’t buy a PS3 or a gaming PC, we have experienced this before, we’re not happy because Nintendo has finally gone HD, we’re happy because Nintendo keeps making games and even if they eventually go third party, we’ll still be happy with their games.
But of course, SIZE QUEENS like you cannot think on another plane, it has to be the largest dick available that goes into your ass, so you can’t possibly conceive that someone wants a duck to fuck and another one to suck, can you?
You sure do have allot to say about a console you care nothing about..and none of those other consoles your speaking so great about are even out…and if you truly believe graphics are what really matters, then your just not a real gamer.if graphics matter then why is the vita getting out sold by 3ds, and psp got crushed by ds…wii out sold ps3..i, unlike you just like games and any system that i could play them on.
Even I (a guy who based his whole LIFE on Nintendo) have my doubts about the Wii U. And I’m currently glad I haven’t bought one. That LCD game pad just seems like another gimmick. But we’ll see. It’s gonna be hard to ignore the Wii U when Pikmin 3 releases.
Nobody can deny the power of these upcoming consoles, but I’m pretty sure by the end of this year the Wii U will have a pretty good library of games for it. Not all exclusives, but games like Injustice, Bayonetta 2, wonderful 101, wind waker, a new Mario Kart, Pikmin, and Rayman (even if it is on other consoles), will ensure the Wii U finds it’s audience. In addition I’m sure come E3 there will be alot more to see that won’t be a long ways off. Even as a Nintendo fan I recall how dreary that whole period after launch was, but it’s far past that now. If it builds a decent install base, which I’m sure it will, it’ll have it’s place for years to come. Ubisoft will support it if the money is there. That’s how the business works.
Exactly.
Wii U is as much Wii as the original Wii, it is gonna be called gimmicky, hipocritically copied (This has already happened. Hello SmartGlass and the new PS4 controller) and will eventually find it’s rooting among the very same audience the Wii had in it’s last four years, Nintendo fans and those who want to play the exclusives.
People like to talk about how casual players were the core demographic of the Wii, and while they were always a consistent buyer, the main demographic actually was Nintendo’s fan base and those who had to swallow their pride if they wanted to play things like Madworld, Monster Hunter 3 and Xenoblade.
I don’t care if Wii U stops getting CoD or Assassin’s Creed, I don’t think anyone in the core demographic can give any less of a darn about it, like I said in my own post, I’d rather get the 20-25 worthy exclusive titles the console will have than getting the latest shit port of a shit PS/Xbox game. Our tastes are different anyway, if I had to play something as creativity-crippling as an FPS or a gore game I think I’d rather shoot myself in the face, so I’m rather happy these crap developers are taking their shit somewhere else.
The article should be titled “Amidst an attack of stupidity, Ubisoft confirms the suspicions on the real reason for Rayman Legends’ delay”.
I told you many times guys, delaying Rayman Legends was a way for them to bomb Wii U and eventually get an excuse to stop supporting it due to it’s poor sales.
I for one don’t see the negative in Wii U being different or graphically inferior to PS4 or 760, I’m actually glad these idiots keep calling it last generation (When it isn’t), that way well be getting more exclusives and less ports.
I’d rather get like 20 games for the console throughout it’s life than a hundred PS3/4/360/720 ports or multiplats, I have absolutely no tolerance for the kind of filth those consoles thrive on and have already partially ported to Wii U disastrously,
There is definately a lot to know about this
issue. I really like all the points you have made.