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[Broken Joystick]

The fact that the Wii U version is in such a puzzling state of confirmation speaks volumes about Nintendo and Ubisoft.

How hard is it to just say "Yes, the game is still coming to Wii U" or "No, we've cancelled/delayed it." and get a clear, concise answer.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

No Watch_Dogs on this list. The defense some people gave is that "Titles are always excluded from this list," but Watch_Dogs actually used to be on it for a while...until it was taken off.

You mean when it was delayed on all platforms with a release date of TBA it was moved off of a confirmed release dates list?

Seems fishy.

 

[ElTorro]

Anyways, seems like the thread title is in need of an update?

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Let me shed more like this to bullshit article. This article has no new findings and was written after the author spoke with a Lawyer concerning the trademark for Watch Dogs. She did NOT speak with Ubisoft today or yesterday or a week ago about anything Wii U related. She read the rumor at GAF that Watch Dogs trademark is abandoned and asked her lawyer buddy to see how this trademarking shit works. Everything else in article is bullshit and nothing new.

Alexa Ray Corriea
‏@AlexaRayC
I talked to a lawyer today who explained what that abandoned Watch Dogs trademark likely means: http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/3/5374634/why-did-ubisoft-abandon-one-of-its-watch-dogs-trademarks …

The only thing Ubisoft spoke about was the abandonment of Watch Dogs trademark being bullshit. "We are working directly with the USPTO on reinstating the trademark for Watch Dogs and it will be active again in the coming days. The matter has no impact on the Watch Dogs' development."

I'm sure she is a GAF poster. Don't read to much into it. Until Ubisoft directly confirms, I'm considering it in limbo/canceled especially when Nintendo didn't mention it either.

 

[Kimppis]

Lol nope

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/432984/watch-dogs-on-wii-u-is-superior-to-current-gen/

The wii U version is confirmed by the creative director to look better than the PS3/360 version. Not to the level of PS4/XBONE/PC... but it will be better than 360/PS3

And runs worse?

 

[fred]

Ubisoft's mature, core games (Assassin's Creed IV and Splinter Cell: Blacklist) sold quite poorly on Wii U over 2013. That sparked the whole discussion on the possible cancellation of the title by Ubisoft.

...If they can't make their money back through a Wii U port of their other major IPs, what financial impetus would they have to put out a Watch_Dogs port?

At this late stage of development the financial impetus would be to mitigate losses. They've invested time and money into the port for quite a while now, even if they're expecting poor sales they'll be financially better off releasing the game in the hope that they'll make some money back rather than not releasing it all when the game is almost finished. If they didn't release the game they'd have to swallow the losses completely.

This is Ubisoft - who must have made a profit from ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed III and Just Dance - not EA who decided to swallow the losses on Crysis 3 purely due to their hissy fit rather than sensible business reasons.

 

[spookyfish]

Not everyone. As long as Ubisoft have implemented the GamePad features well for a game that's practically made for the controller then the Wii U SKU should be the definitive version. I'll certainly be getting it for the Wii U.

>thinks of Aliens: Colonial Marines<

NO no no no no no no NOOOOO!

 

[Aquamarine]

You mean when it was delayed on all platforms with a release date of TBA it was moved off of a confirmed release dates list?

Seems fishy.

Other titles with TBD dates are on that list. Case in point: Yarn Yoshi, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, and Zelda U are all represented there, but Watch_Dogs was taken off.

 

[megabytecr]

Im gonna get it on Wii U. And then double dip on A pc version, no point in settling after all.

Yep, Wii U it is, then if I find it necessary will double dip on the PC on a steam sale but don´t think so. If not coming to Wii U will get it on a steam sale.

 

[MattKeil]

Arkham City and Deus Ex are miles better in terms of gameplay on the Wii U compared to all other platforms and I'm expecting Watch Dogs to be the same.

Not with that framerate it isn't. That is some strong Kool Aid you're drinking there.

 

[prag16]

As mentioned before, it's coming from an unreliable narrator. We don't have any direct quotes from Ubisoft that say specifically "The Wii U version is not cancelled and the Wii U SKU will be released in the appropriate fiscal year at the same time as every other SKU."

The fact that Polygon used Reuters as a second "confirmation" when the Reuters link doesn't say anything specifically about the Wii U version is evidence that Polygon's "proof straight from Ubisoft" might be unreliable as well.

That old "ZombiU was not even close to being profitable" claim involved a quote with questionable context supplemented by unreliable narration. I didn't take that one at face value, so yeah, this one shouldn't be taken at face value either.

At the same time, we have nothing straightforward saying it IS cancelled, so for now I guess I'm assuming it's coming unless we're explicitly told otherwise.

 

[cyberheater]

Given that there is no credible source of information to assert what's in the title. Can we have a title change?

 

[SporeCrawler]

good my preorder is still active

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Other titles with TBD dates are on that list. Case in point: Yarn Yoshi, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, and Zelda U are all represented there, but Watch_Dogs was taken off.

Titles under direct nintendo oversight are listed as meeting their release schedule where a third party multiplatform that slipped and still has no release date doesn't generate the same confidence to its release window?

Seems fishy.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Can you link either of these stories where Ubisoft confirms?

This Polygon story says that Ubisoft confirmed to them at the time. It's literally in the text of the article in the OP. It seems that Kotaku did not get confirmation from Ubisoft though, just from GameStop.

 

[Thorgi]

It's nice that more people will get to play the game, even if the Wii U version is closer to the 360/PS3 than PS4/XB1.

 

[kinggroin]

Let me shed more like this to bullshit article. This article has no new findings and was written after the author spoke with a Lawyer concerning the trademark for Watch Dogs. She did NOT speak with Ubisoft today or yesterday or a week ago about anything Wii U related. She read the rumor at GAF that Watch Dogs trademark is abandoned and asked her lawyer buddy to see how this trademarking shit works. Everything else in article is bullshit and nothing new.



The only thing Ubisoft spoke about was the abandonment of Watch Dogs trademark being bullshit. "We are working directly with the USPTO on reinstating the trademark for Watch Dogs and it will be active again in the coming days. The matter has no impact on the Watch Dogs' development."

I'm sure she is a GAF poster. Don't read to much into it. Until Ubisoft directly confirms, I'm considering it in limbo/canceled especially when Nintendo didn't mention it either.

Ah so back to canceled ?

 

[jmizzal]

Well I tweeted Alexa Ray Corriea from Polygon, to see if they were told by Ubisoft that Watch Dogs WiiU was no canceled

 

[Oddduck]

- Retraction, including Ubisoft confirming to Polygon and Kotaku <-- that's where the confirmation was

Ubisoft refused to comment to Kotaku.

http://kotaku.com/gamestop-is-canceling-watch-dogs-wii-u-pre-orders-this-1508273787

Edit: I see you already read it. Nevermind.

 

[illmatic22]

thread title should really be edited, still the same mess.

 

[Kid Ying]

Other titles with TBD dates are on that list. Case in point: Yarn Yoshi, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, and Zelda U are all represented there, but Watch_Dogs was taken off.

Its not the only title in that sense. Theres also pac world in Japan, which had a release date and all, but das postponed to someday in 2014 and its not on the list. Along with stuff like wonderflick.

Aldo, pacmuseum never was announced for wiiu3ds in Japan (only ps360) indicating that their were already having problems with those versions.

 

[fred]

Not with that framerate it isn't. That is some strong Kool Aid you're drinking there.

The gameplay advantages far outweigh the slight framerate issues during minimal parts of the game. You're making it sound like the game is chugging along at 15fps all the way through the game, which is most certainly not the case. There are a few drops here and there but it's nothing game breaking.

 

[Xater]

This Polygon story says that Ubisoft confirmed to them at the time. It's literally in the text of the article in the OP. It seems that Kotaku did not get confirmation from Ubisoft though, just from GameStop.

Then I would say that it looks really weird that they confirm it to Polygon but not to the dozens of other outlets. If they really have a confirmation at least quote it.

 

[kitsuneyo]

This Polygon story says that Ubisoft confirmed to them at the time. It's literally in the text of the article in the OP. It seems that Kotaku did not get confirmation from Ubisoft though, just from GameStop.

So Polygon had the exclusive Ubi confirmation and they didn't run a story at the time? I'm not buying that, I think this is just bad reporting in their latest story.

 

[Poimandres]

Lol nope

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/432984/watch-dogs-on-wii-u-is-superior-to-current-gen/

The wii U version is confirmed by the creative director to look better than the PS3/360 version. Not to the level of PS4/XBONE/PC... but it will be better than 360/PS3

Hahahaha! If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard that a version is superior and it turned out to not be the case.

If the Wii U version still exists, I would hope for parity with PS3/360 and nothing more.

 

[B.O.O.M]

Good to see that got sorted out then

 

[Aquamarine]

Titles under direct nintendo oversight are listed as meeting their release schedule where a third party multiplatform that slipped and still has no release date doesn't generate the same confidence to its release window?

Seems fishy.

I agree, that is definitely a valid point with no visible counter. No need for your "Seems fishy" mantra, I was just establishing the context of the arguments from the previous thread. ;-)

At this late stage of development the financial impetus would be to mitigate losses. They've invested time and money into the port for quite a while now, even if they're expecting poor sales they'll be financially better off releasing the game in the hope that they'll make some money back rather than not releasing it all when the game is almost finished. If they didn't release the game they'd have to swallow the losses completely.

This is Ubisoft - who must have made a profit from ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed III and Just Dance - not EA who decided to swallow the losses on Crysis 3 purely due to their hissy fit rather than sensible business reasons.

Indeed...mitigation of sunk costs seems like the most reasonable argument to be made for the game's current existence.

 

[Guevara]

So Polygon had the exclusive Ubi confirmation and they didn't run a story at the time? I'm not buying that, I think this is just bad reporting in their latest story.

Yeah. Polygon totally got the exclusive, but they decided to bury it in an unrelated snoozer about trademarks.

 

[jmizzal]

Ah so back to canceled ?

never been canceled the game was announced and is still up for preorder, only had one error in Italy and everybody ran with it being canceled, other then that its always been coming to WiiU after the announcement

 

[Glass Joe]

Other titles with TBD dates are on that list. Case in point: Yarn Yoshi, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, and Zelda U are all represented there, but Watch_Dogs was taken off.

If you didn't notice, on the Nintendo financial report for 3rd party software in Europe, Child of Light by Ubisoft on Wii U is listed. Watch Dogs is not. So that's something relevant too.

 

[Aquamarine]

Yeah. Polygon totally got the exclusive, but they decided to bury it in an unrelated snoozer about trademarks.

I agree...if they really got the exclusive confirmation---i.e. Ubisoft directly said to Polygon and no one else "The Wii U version is coming along nicely and will be released exactly the same time as the other versions"---it's weird how they buried that in an off-hand, indirect comment instead of making a story about it.

 

[Pez]

If Watch_Dogs is coming out for Wii U, the only thing to speculate is how much it'll bomb.

=(

 

[cyberheater]

Given that this rumour about Watch Dogs being cancelled on WiiU has been circulating for a while now. Has anyone got a credible reason why Ubisoft wouldn't simply send out a 1 line tweet saying it's still coming out?

 

[Goldenmoney]

Is it really this hard to confirm something? I mean this is really sad. The fact that we can't get any kind of solid confirmation out of either of these companies is pathetic.

 

[jimi_dini]

- Emily Rogers says Videogamer gets No comment after the fact
- Trademark abandonment story
- This story which is primarily about how trademark abandonment doesn't mean anything and has a closing tag referencing the above

It doesn't seem like anything has changed here?

Create hype 101

 

[Glass Joe]

Given that this rumour about Watch Dogs being cancelled on WiiU has been circulating for a while now. Has anyone got a credible reason why Ubisoft wouldn't simply send out a 1 line tweet saying it's still coming out?

Well, detractors say that it's because they don't comment on speculation. So if they commented on this, they'd have to tweet about every little thing. I don't really buy that though.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Well, detractors say that it's because they don't comment on speculation. So if they commented on this, they'd have to tweet about every little thing. I don't really buy that though.

Its not that they'd have to tweet about every little thing, lol.

When you comment on rumours and speculation, you tacitly confirm every rumour you don't comment on.

this is how its so easy to know what rumours are and aren't true about MS and why they're so leaky - they frequently DO comment on rumours and speculation to deny rumours.

 

[ultratruman]

Well, detractors say that it's because they don't comment on speculation. So if they commented on this, they'd have to tweet about every little thing. I don't really buy that though.

You'd think the Gamestop debacle would've forced their hand. Everything about the Wii U is so up in the air right now, I wonder if even Ubisoft know for sure.

 

[massoluk]

Given that this rumour about Watch Dogs being cancelled on WiiU has been circulating for a while now. Has anyone got a credible reason why Ubisoft wouldn't simply send out a 1 line tweet saying it's still coming out?

Standard business practice dude. You do it once, you do it everytime.

 

[cyberheater]

Well, detractors say that it's because they don't comment on speculation. So if they commented on this, they'd have to tweet about every little thing. I don't really buy that though.

Nor do I. Surely if this was coming out on WiiU and they let the rumour continue then it might affect pre-order sales for that platform.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Nor do I. Surely if this was coming out on WiiU and they let the rumour continue then it might affect pre-order sales for that platform.

Do people often preorder games with no release date?

 

[kitsuneyo]

Nor do I. Surely if this was coming out on WiiU and they let the rumour continue then it might affect pre-order sales for that platform.

They could easily confirm it indirectly. Put out any Watch_Dogs-related news release that happens to mention platforms. Update some platform-related information on http://watchdogs.ubi.com. Could quickly can the rumour that way.

 

[jmizzal]

Nor do I. Surely if this was coming out on WiiU and they let the rumour continue then it might affect pre-order sales for that platform.

preorders went up after the rumor, and somebody posted earlier in this thread WiiU version has more preorders then the PC, PS3, xbox 360 on Amazon

 

[Glass Joe]

Nor do I. Surely if this was coming out on WiiU and they let the rumour continue then it might affect pre-order sales for that platform.

Yeah. When the rumor is about previously confirmed information, it makes no sense not to squash it. I can see them not commenting on an unannounced new game in development -- but not commenting on Wii U Watch_Dogs doesn't serve their interest if it is still coming. Though, the fact that it's up in the air I think is causing some Wii U owners to preorder it now.

 

[cyberheater]

Do people often preorder games with no release date?

Yes. Which is how this rumour started in the first place.

They could easily confirm it indirectly. Put out any Watch_Dogs-related news release that happens to mention platforms. Update some platform-related information on http://watchdogs.ubi.com. Could quickly can the rumour that way.

That would do it.

preorders went up after the rumor, and somebody posted earlier in this thread WiiU version has more preorders then the PC, PS3, xbox 360 on Amazon

Well that's worse then isn't it. Because if it is canned. The pre-orders for platforms that the game will get shipped on are being cannibalised.

 

[Like the hat?]

It's like when nobody would confirm call of duty until like weeks before release

 

[Wartari]

So is Watch Dogs Wii U not cancelled?

 

[catmario]

Oh this is good news for wiiu users!

WiiU version not canceled after all! I want to buy wiiu copies even I didn't have wiiu.

 

[John Harker]

At this late stage of development the financial impetus would be to mitigate losses. They've invested time and money into the port for quite a while now, even if they're expecting poor sales they'll be financially better off releasing the game in the hope that they'll make some money back rather than not releasing it all when the game is almost finished. If they didn't release the game they'd have to swallow the losses completely.

This is Ubisoft - who must have made a profit from ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Assassin's Creed III and Just Dance - not EA who decided to swallow the losses on Crysis 3 purely due to their hissy fit rather than sensible business reasons.

I'm not commenting specifically in the case of WD, but it's not as simple as you say.
It isn't like publishers go, 'okay today I will ship 200,000 copies of Game X to recoup my losses!' - retailers have to actually order copies of the game. People like to say 'why didn't EA ship more?!' like it's some unilateral decision. They have big sales teams that meet with Walmart and Target and GameStop that actually have to sellin-in orders to these guys. Sometimes, they just don't buy. If Target and WM decide the return isn't there or the title is a risk, they might just be like - naw, all good. i'm only going to carry ps3/4/xbox/one platforms today, here's a 500k day-one order on what I know I can sell.

So, that's a factor. If pubs can sell in enough, they might just not ship, unless someone comes in with financial incentives or they make deals with retailers requring them to carry SKUs in exchange for a guaranteed marketing spend/supprot and things like that.

THis, by the way, is how most of retail works - not just gaming.

 

[kitsuneyo]

So is Watch Dogs Wii U confirmed?

It's not re-confirmed by Ubi as coming out, it's not confirmed to have been cancelled. That's all we really know.