AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has revealed ZombiU made no money, the Wii U launch title failing to become “even close” to profitable. Despite rumors and teasing, it now appears no sequel is on the cards for the foreseeable future.
The Ubi boss man went so far as to blame ZombiU‘s performance for the final decision to make Rayman Legends multiplatform. The implication seems to be that the great-but-flawed survival horror game did so badly Ubisoft has really cold feet about throwing exclusive support behind Nintendo’s system.
In the same GI.biz article, Electronic Arts got some digs in at the Wii U too, stating, “The lack of online engagement that we see on Wii U [is troubling]. It’s so integral to what we do. They’re so small it’s hardly worth running the servers. It seems like a box that’s out of sync with the future of EA — which is one that gives a real social feel to our games. The Wii U feels like an offline experience right now.”
Publishers have been quietly distancing themselves from Nintendo’s home console since launch, and now we have some solid statements of explanation. Between ZombiU‘s failure and perceived shortcomings of the system’s online capabilities, it’s not looking good for the console’s third party chances. Nintendo’s going to need about a hundred more Marios, stat!
Man, that sucks for ZombiU, though. I love that game.
Does Nintendo stand a chance this holiday? [GI.biz, via NeoGAF]
