Ubisoft Scaling Back Output For Wii U, Watch Dogs Last “Mature” Game For System

Ubisoft is probably the biggest third party publisher that has backed Nintendo’s Wii U console, supporting it with games like ZombiU, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, and Watch Dogs. However Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot has spoken to GameInformer about the company deciding to scale back on supplying games for the console, which explains why Assassin’s Creed: Rogue will not be launching on the Wii U.

 “What we see is that Nintendo customers don’t buy Assassin’s Creed. Last year, we sold in very small numbers. What we see is that they are very interested in Just Dance, very interested by other kinds of games So what we are trying to do is to focus more on the types of games they are interested in.

Watch Dogs is coming to Wii U. It will be the only mature game we publish on it.”

According to Ubisoft’s figures only 3% of its total sales figures came from the Wii U, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 accounted for 27% & 25% respectively. The PS4 and Xbox One also beat the Wii U by making up 9% and 6% of sales during the 2013/2014 financial year.  While the Wii U will be getting less now it won’t be too long before Ubisoft moves away from the PS3 and Xbox 360 either.

“What we see is that this year is still fine for the PS3 and 360, but next year because they are selling very quickly, we’ll move to the new hardware. After 2015, it will be hard for us to create games for those systems.”

So we may get another Assassin’s Creed after Rogue on PS3 and 360 but then 2016 may see no major Ubisoft titles on either of those consoles. That’s not so surprising as the install base for the new generation climbs steadily.

Source: Game Informer

7 Comments

  1. All makes sense. We’re seeing the transition period between generations. Additionally, we’re seeing Nintendo doing their own thing (commendable and questionable, as always). They’ve lost nearly every ounce of momentum they had in the beginning and it’s now starting to bite them on the arse.

    I guess, what doesn’t help, is the fact that a PC, PS4 and Xbox One version might be relatively easy compared to downgrading things for the Nintendo platform. Then again, I’m unfamiliar with the architecture but perhaps someone can mention how PC-like it is, or isn’t.

  2. So the majority of sales of Watch Dogs were PC then I guess? Around 30% or so?

  3. Couple of things to look at, on a story like this i feel:

    1)Many folks i know buy/bought a Wii U for it’s exclusives and so things like A.Creed/Watchdogs, they’d have bought for the ‘main’ console (PS3/360 or soon to be Xbox One or PS4).That’s not putting Wii U in lesser light, they simply bought it to play the superb output of Nintendo, not 3rd parties, so i’m not surprised by Ubisoft’s % breakdown.

    2)Given the amount of comments on so many forums, from friends etc who bought Watchdogs and ended up hating it, i’m surprised to see Ubisoft continuing with Wii U port.this time around it won’t have the benifit of selling on hype alone, there’s stacks of customer feedback to over come.

    3)Just because Ubisoft are giving up on ‘Mature’ games for Wii U, does’nt mean they don’t see potential with the Wii U, does it?.Something like Rayman should thrive on the platform and i hope to see Ubisoft supporting the Wii U for many a year yet.

  4. Interesting that even the wii-u is outselling the Xbox one….

    And many in the press called that a dismal failure.

    • Interesting…indeed. Not a fanboy but I hate when you don’t actually compare the proper numbers. The wii-u was shipped an entire year earlier than the ps4 and the Xbox one. Let’s look at their sale numbers to date. Ps4 at 10 million Xbox one nearing or at 5 million. Wii u at 6.6 million as of June maybe 7 million now. The ps4 and Xbox one have only been out for 10 months while the Wii u has been out for nearly 22 months its failing to move units. Its not doing as bad as the Xbox one. The Xbox one might catch up to the Wii u but neither of the two will catch up to the ps4. Don’t worry we are also calling the Xbox one D.O.A.

  5. Oh dear.

  6. It’s a shame for those people who use the wii U as their main console but most people I know with a wii U have a PS3/4, Xbox 360/One or PC too. Wii U for nintendo’s great first party exclusives and a PS3/4, Xbox 360/One or PC for everything else. It’s the best of both worlds.

    What I want to know is how many sales does a console need to achieve to be considered a success? Over 6 million wii U’s sold to date and 8 million PS Vita’s. Sure, they’re not breaking any records but they’re still pretty decent numbers and worthy of a bit more support than they seem to be getting lately.

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