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Yves Guillemot: ZombiU Wasn't Profitable, not even close, no sequel planned

2

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
Too bad because it looked really interesting. They could work on port/sequel on other consoles though.
 
V

Visualante2

Member
Wonderful 101k sales

edit. Perhaps this will put some cold water on the constant suggestion that bundles are a solution to the WiiU's problems.
 
R

Ridley327

Member
oldmario said:
guess that's code for expect a port on ps4 and xbox one, could work on both with vita and smart glass
Click to expand...

Vita compatibility, sure, but the game does require you to have a controller built into the second screen device, which isn't going to happen with SmartGlass.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
rvy said:
The PR way of saying:

"We can't rip-off the consumer on the WiiU, so they're out of sync with the future."
Click to expand...

What part of "running the servers" has anything to do with DLC or "rip-off" to you? He is talking about making games with strong online/multiplayer components being a waste of time on Wii U because Nintendo themselves put very little emphasis on online multiplayer so nobody on that system gives a shit about it as a feature.

Talk about spin...
 
cyberheater

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Not surprised in the slightest. And I bought the game for WiiU.

If I was a third party dev I wouldn't got near WiiU with a barge pole. Nintendo. You are a joke.
 
G

GulAtiCa

Member
Glass Rebel said:
I'm surprised there's still no port for PC/PS3/360
Click to expand...

Game would lose much of it's main aspect if it dropped the 2nd screen aspect. Wouldn't work well unless they did a PS4 and Vita required use or something.

Granted, The Last of Us did something similar with Joel kneeling down to look for supplies. So the same aspect could be done, but even then the horror aspect of that would have to be scaled back.
 
N

Newline

Member
SmokyDave said:
Bollocks, man :(

The game was great. Put a sequel out on consoles that people actually own and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Click to expand...

Yep dunno why they made it exclusively for the Wii U. There's two platforms that you just don't touch right now as a 3rd party... Wii U and Vita.
 
C

Calamari41

41 > 38
Horrible name (a zombie game called Zombie. That'll get lines forming), no marketable characters or enemies, barely any marketing period, and a game that is clearly more proof-of-concept than anything. This is no surprise, but it is sad because it ended up being a very good game.

Seriously, who is going to see a game on the shelf called "Zombie" with a picture of a zombie on it and actually buy it?
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
It's a launch title, so the numbers are going to be low. This seems particularly bad though. They should release the game or at least a successor on other systems. The franchise definitely showed promise.

Aquamarine said:
Clearly this was instrumental to Ubisoft's decision for reducing support for the Wii U platform.

ZombiU must have been a major writeoff. Those kind of losses, even if Nintendo subsidized part of development / marketing, would put off any company from supporting a platform.
Click to expand...

I have to imagine this is the reason for Rayman Legacy going multiplatform. Makes sense.
 
SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
As opposed to companies like EA, you can't say that Ubi didn't try.

Still, very bad news for everyone involved.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Calamari41 said:
Horrible name (a zombie game called Zombie. That'll get lines forming), no marketable characters or enemies, barely any marketing period, and a game that is clearly more proof-of-concept than anything. This is no surprise, but it is sad because it ended up being a very good game.

Seriously, who is going to see a game on the shelf called "Zombie" with a picture of a zombie on it and actually buy it?
Click to expand...

Then why has nothing else besides NSMBU moved any software? The root cause here is the WiiU's ecosystem.
 
E

Effect

Member
What I find most interesting about this is that Ubisoft never put out a single advertisement for this game in North America from what I can tell. Not a single North American tv commercial for it on youtube that I can find. I know a few came out in Europe but how much of the game they showed was in question. Then there is the lack of online multplayer in the game. Their choice not Nintendo's. Especially since they had online multiplayer in Assassin's Creed 3. That would have extended the life of the game or just given people a reason to play if they tired of dying over and over again in the single player and allowed for more sales.

I bought the game and enjoyed it. I was disappointed about the lack of online multiplayer as you can't even play the local multplayer against a computer opponent. That was on Ubisoft. That is why I haven't touched the game in months. The game getting blasted in early reviews certainly didn't help either.
 
D

Deleted member 126221

Unconfirmed Member
This is very, very bad news... I still think ZombiU was the greatest showcase of what the WiiU hardware can do outside of minigames... And it was also one of the most tense game I ever played...

Very sad news for WiiU owners...
 
R

Raide

Member
Time to port it and claw back some money.

I thought the game was very cool and inventive and also a shame it was restricted to one console. More people should have the chance to check out the game and its unique way of getting some more survival horror back into the industry
 
V

Visualante2

Member
DoctorWho said:
It's a launch title, so the numbers are going to be low. This seems particularly bad though. They should release the game or at least a successor on other systems. The franchise definitely showed promise.
Click to expand...
Ubisoft's Wii launch titles came out selling a million shortly after and spawned numerous sequels. This time they put up more money for a core title and the early adopters turned up their nose at it.
 
R

Ryuuga

Banned
SmokyDave said:
Bollocks, man :(

The game was great. Put a sequel out on consoles that people actually own and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Click to expand...


No you can't say that man. Haven't you heard? The gamepad makes the game what it is and whatever scheme they come up with otherwise would pale in comparison.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
So, I suspect this is true, but it's really odd to me that the biggest piece of news in the article isn't quoted or sourced at all, just stated like that.

Like, here's what Yves actually says in his own words in the article:
"We must find a way to ensure the creativity of those games could have a big enough audience," he says. "We hope it will take off. At the moment, we've said 'let's do through Christmas and see where we are from there.'"
Click to expand...

Here's what is attributed to Yves in the article:
Betting big on the Wii U didn't work out well for the company. ZombiU, one of the most popular launch titles for the system with players, was not profitable, he says. Not even close. As such, he says, there are no plans (or even desire) for a sequel.

It was, in fact, because of that game's performance that Ubisoft decided to make Rayman Legends a multiplatform game.
Click to expand...

Every other statement in the article is provided in a direct quotation. When did Chris Morris talk to these people? What specifically did Yves say on the subject?
 
N

NateDrake

Member
Calamari41 said:
Horrible name (a zombie game called Zombie. That'll get lines forming), no marketable characters or enemies, barely any marketing period, and a game that is clearly more proof-of-concept than anything. This is no surprise, but it is sad because it ended up being a very good game.

Seriously, who is going to see a game on the shelf called "Zombie" with a picture of a zombie on it and actually buy it?
Click to expand...

Good point. Where was the marketing for Zombi U? Ubisoft pushed AC3 at every corner, but I never saw a commercial for Zombi U. No marketing plus terrible reviews doomed the game.

Positive word of mouth is the only reason it probably has achieved whatever sales it has, thus far.

Patryn said:
Hmmmm....

Joystiq - 4.5/5
Eurogamer - 90
G4 - 4/5
Quarter to Three - 4/5
Giant Bomb - 4/5

Yep, not a single good review anywhere.
Click to expand...
That is about the entire round-up of good reviews. Even the general view of people on NeoGAF who did not play the game thought it was mediocre based on review scores.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
Ugh, horrible news. ZombiU is a great game that could have been improved upon tremendously in a sequel. There is so much potential there...
 
B

BRocknRolla

Member
That's a huge shame. It was a really enjoyable game.

Would have loved to see more in that style. Hopefully someone picks up that type of game, or it moves to other platforms.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
The problem with porting it would be that smartglass and Vita controller play are not standard on those systems, so for a game that already struggled to sell on one platform, you are really taking a risk by limiting it to people that use smartglass or Vita. I wonder if a straight port to PS3 and 360, with the 2nd screen stuff removed, would work.
 
D

DeuceGamer

Member
This saddens me. Great game and people with a Wii U should buy this ASAP.

I hope we see a sequel, regardless of what console it's released on.
 
B

BigDes

Member
With smartglass integration mandatory in Xbox One I can see the game being ported over, maybe as a download game at some point.
 
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