Yesterday’s news that Rayman Legends had not only been delayed, but was also no longer a Wii U exclusive was a bit of a shock. I personally had been eagerly awaiting the game, which was due out this month (after being already delayed from last November) but now it’s not going to be released until this September. That’s quite a delay.
Why? Well, it’s clear publisher Ubisoft wanted to shift more copies, and to do that they had to increase the number of formats it’ll be available on – namely the PS3 and Xbox 360.
But, hey, that February release was actually bang on, with one developer saying the game was finished. “This is not a decision taken by the development team,” says the studio member, translated, “this comes from really really high up, so please don’t pick on the game.”
“If you’re pissed, imagine how we feel,” he added.
“Think on the situation, we’ve been making overtime with this game practically since May preparing E3, and then almost a demo per month (Gamescon, Wii U presentation, shops, eShop, etc.) and at the same time trying to actually finish the game.”
“We had a first delay because it was obvious we couldn’t finish on time but we gave it all to be there on February. What face do you think we had when the week we had to close the game we’re being told it’s not going to be released? I couldn’t believe it.”
The developer adds that they’ve “spent 6 months barely seeing our wives, kids, and friends for nothing because, after all, such a haste wasn’t needed. Believe it, it was a hell to swallow these news.” It’s hoped more will be added to the game during the period required to get it running on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“There are no issues with the game development. All of the information was in the press release, the only reason for the delay is to release on multiple platforms,” Ubisoft public relations specialist Sarah Irvin said.
Sources: Meristation, GAF. Disclaimer: translation unverified.
Spence1115
This was obvious; the demo has been on the Wii U since last year, and the game was meant to come out in a couple weeks time. I wouldn’t be surprised if some copies were already produced.
I get the point that if they released the Wii U version now and the PS3/360 in September it would reduce sales of the latter, as well as reducing the acceptance of a £40 price for what people will see as a 7 month old game when it is launched for those games, but this fucking stinks. They really should have sorted this out earlier than now. Rayman is still one of Ubisoft’s most well known franchises, and it deserves better treatment than this, as does Ubisoft Montpellier.
Dom El
I think that is just a further kick in the teeth to those who bought the Wii U with this game in mind. And as a developer you can see how upsetting it must be too, aiming for a (second) deadline, and achieving it, only to be told actually you needn’t have bothered.
Yes, I see the business decision behind it, but when you look at Origins, which appeared on virtually every platform imaginable, they all didn’t ship at the same time. I preferred playing it on my Vita, and didn’t feel that I was playing a game of diminished quality because I could play it months earlier.
bacon_nuts
Must be devastating for the dev team. Can’t even imagine…
The game does look good though, I’ll probably buy it on ps3, or a vita version if that’s announced/if I get one by then.
The Lone Steven
That is a shit move by Ubi. I suspect someone may wake up next to a horse’s head due to this.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the developers left a snide remark in the code as a result. Ubisoft should have told them months ago about the possibility of it being a multiplatform release so they wouldn’t get told at the last moment that all of their extra work was for nothing. I hope Ubi will give them a few days off at least.
Moshbag
I don’t get this, when Nintendo agreed the exclusivity deal, did they forget to write it down?
KeRaSh
I really feel for the devs.
The people who made the descission probably didn’t want to spend money on two separate advertisement campaigns and with the relatively low Wii U install base they didn’t want to post low sales numbers like with Rayman Origin. This way they can hide low platform sales behind combined sales numbers. It’s really sad but that’s probably how it works in the videogame industry…
I’ll definitely pre order the PS3 version as soon as I can. If they release a separate Vita version I’ll prbably get that at some point too.
They said that the Wii U features would remain exclusive but I still hope that they implement some cross controller functionality between the PS3 and Vita.
Sympozium
To be honest.. w.t.f. Ubisoft the X360/Ps3 doods that wanted Legends could wait but nevertheless its just a lack of confidence on the Wii U and a clear attempt to ruin the chances of the game selling well… Yes lets make the same error with Origins and release it near big games again. X-X R.i.p Rayman.
freezebug2
Publishers obviously trying to kill two birds with one stone in a very underhanded way it seems. Shift the new Ninty hardware with the premise of this game being an exclusive and then delay everything for a contradicted all format release to big up game sales figures.
Sounds like the agenda for a Barclays boardroom meet!