51 replies to this topic

[routerbad]

I think ZombiU Had sales of 450k.

that's just the VGChartz numbers, doesn't include many retailers and doesn't include digital at all.  There was no quote, the author of the article made something up that seemed plausible to him and fit his narrative enough to get clicks.  His editor in chief is happy, the guy brought views to the site, and profit, journalistic integrity be damned.

[Tricky Sonic]

I honestly think a lot of blame falls on Nintendo gamer's - I know tons of gamers who buy Mario/Zelda and all the other  Nintendo franchises on their Nintendo consoles, but either don't play 3rd party games or buy them on other systems. All the blame? Not at all - but it doesn't help.

[routerbad]

I honestly think a lot of blame falls on Nintendo gamer's - I know tons of gamers who buy Mario/Zelda and all the other  Nintendo franchises on their Nintendo consoles, but either don't play 3rd party games or buy them on other systems. All the blame? Not at all - but it doesn't help.

There is no blame, ZombiU started and continues to sell well enough to make Ubisoft start prototyping a sequel and enough to ensure that Wii U gets all of Ubusoft's big releases this year.  The article is bunk, the statements are non-sequitur.

[Tricky Sonic]

There is no blame, ZombiU started and continues to sell well enough to make Ubisoft start prototyping a sequel and enough to ensure that Wii U gets all of Ubusoft's big releases this year.  The article is bunk, the statements are non-sequitur.

 

I think that's a little unfair as you don't know for certain. While it could be BS and just them backing out of their big Wii U "support" statements, It's not entirely certain. I don't know the exact numbers, but I imagine that them scrapping a game (killer freaks from outer space), and then turning into another completely different game ...can definitely effect profits lol. I was just throwing it out there that lack of support from what install base there is for the Wii U, can also hinder sales.

[Julio93]

Well.....Maybe they'll make something different than a Zombie game.

[Colinx]

I don't know.. I mean, the game wasn't very long and wasn't very graphically impressive either. I'm calling bs.. maybe just because I want a sequel very badly. 450k in retail alone(idk if that includes the version that was bundled with the Wii U) isn't great, but for a game that probably had a couple million dollars budget doesn't seem non-profitable to me.

[BrandedSwordsman]

Red Steel sold around the same amount... Half a million for an install base of 4 million is pretty good. 

[MorbidGod]

Excuse me for not checking every article to make sure a quote is 100% correct?
I'm not sure that I should be apologizing for trusting a news source that's supposed to check these things for me. :/

That's what is sad about this industry. I, someone who is educated in writing, didn't catch this. After re reading, and listening to 3Dude, I see he didn't actually quote anything. We are suppose to assume it's real. Which is wrong.

I've emailed Ubisoft US PR about this. I'll let you know if I get a response.

[Mewbot]

It's sad that someone would make something like this up. I hope that Ubisoft or Nintendo clear this up, can you take a guy to court for this? You should be able to, they're construing things that were said by them out of context in a malicious way to tarnish the reputation of a company, sounds pretty illegal to me, .

[routerbad]

I think that's a little unfair as you don't know for certain. While it could be BS and just them backing out of their big Wii U "support" statements, It's not entirely certain. I don't know the exact numbers, but I imagine that them scrapping a game (killer freaks from outer space), and then turning into another completely different game ...can definitely effect profits lol. I was just throwing it out there that lack of support from what install base there is for the Wii U, can also hinder sales.

I know for certain that when someone who conducts and writes interviews for a living they know when and when not to contain statements within quotation.  If the author had actually conducted an interview with anyone at Ubisoft it would have been quoted.  Note that the other quotes used from Activision and EA are word for word the exact same quotes used on other outlets.  He didn't conduct any interviews, its an opinion piece that is cleverly masked to look like legitimate news in order to exploit the perception of authoritative commentary to move forward the narrative that the author identifies with.

[MorbidGod]

It's sad that someone would make something like this up. I hope that Ubisoft or Nintendo clear this up, can you take a guy to court for this? You should be able to, they're construing things that were said by them out of context in a malicious way to tarnish the reputation of a company, sounds pretty illegal to me, .

I've told Ubisoft about it. These things usually don't go to court. They usually will email, mail or fax a request to take the statement down. In this case, they'll have to do that to a lot of outlets.

I've contacted Ubisoft about it. Asked them if an actual interview happened. It's in their hands now.

[Mewbot]

I've told Ubisoft about it. These things usually don't go to court. They usually will email, mail or fax a request to take the statement down. In this case, they'll have to do that to a lot of outlets.

I've contacted Ubisoft about it. Asked them if an actual interview happened. It's in their hands now.

Yeah, I know they rarely go to court, but they're pretty nasty anyway, they must be getting close to that. :/

[routerbad]

It's sad that someone would make something like this up. I hope that Ubisoft or Nintendo clear this up, can you take a guy to court for this? You should be able to, they're construing things that were said by them out of context in a malicious way to tarnish the reputation of a company, sounds pretty illegal to me, .

It would be easy to assert that the statements do not cause financial harm to either company, and that is what they would do.  They would also simply state that it is an opinion piece and that there were no inaccurate quotes within the body of the article, because the writer knew not to quote Guillemot

[Mewbot]

It would be easy to assert that the statements do not cause financial harm to either company, and that is what they would do.  They would also simply state that it is an opinion piece and that there were no inaccurate quotes within the body of the article, because the writer knew not to quote Guillemot

Yeah, I guess.. I just really hate it when people do things like this because they either dislike a certain company or just want clicks. In my opinion there should be harsher penalties for this, this one has really got out of hand as I've seen it on many major news sites.

[tboss]

to be realistic only thing that would make next gen versions profitable for the first year is porting from PC to the low end PC archetucter. otherwise VERY FEW early next gen games will be profitable unless they are indie quality.

[routerbad]

Yeah, I guess.. I just really hate it when people do things like this because they either dislike a certain company or just want clicks. In my opinion there should be harsher penalties for this, this one has really got out of hand as I've seen it on many major news sites.

Similar to the false statements made about Denis Dyack on Kotaku.  Kotaku never saw any consequences, never issued a retraction, but none of the "allegations" were corroborated, none of them were accurate.

[Socalmuscle]

Joystiq reported on this as well.

 

They are good with retractions labeled "updates" usually.  But they haven't done so here.  and if there is any misrepresentation, I would be surprised that UBI wouldn't want to correct that.

 

And yet, I do feel that there may be some truth to Zombi U profit struggles, but it has nothing to do with how many copies were sold.  I imagine it was a fairly healthy sell-through.

 

But the problems are the fact that it started as a game for the Xbox. with little alien things... that costed money that was not recouped. And then they shifted development gears to get it rolling on Wii U. that costed money too.  Then, they decided it should be a Zombi game, based on an old UBI IP.  so they had to created new models, new assets, new audio, new CGI, etc.  Then it REALLY cost some money.

 

In all, they made a game, a port, then another game.  that's like 2.5 times the cost of what it would be if they just developed a zombie for the Wii U from the start. 

 

Whether or not UBI feels Zombi U profited or not is unclear at the moment.  However, once thing for sure is that they are looking at the wrong culprit if they are eyeing the Wii U.  It was their own development path that had the game possibly costing over twice as much to make as it should have.

[McMurphy]

While I personally enjoy the Wii U (off and online), the writing is pretty clearly on the wall when it comes the future of third party development. The future releases of MK8 or the next Smash Bros may help, but it will most likely be a case of too little, too late.

[IvyT]

Well obviously ZombiU isn't going to sell as well as, say, NSMBU but that's to be expected just a little, right? I mean, not only most people who buy the Wii U mostly enjoy only Nintendo's first-party games (tbh that's my case) but survival horror is rarely a genre that gets as many sales as other genres, and considering this is a brand new IP, it's sort of to be expected. And I've played the demo and to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it. I was gonna buy it but I'm glad I tried the demo first. The gameplay feels bland, repetitive and I feel like they didn't try that hard with the environments, not to mention story-wise it's terribly boring and there's not even a likable character that you can get attached to because once you die, you start over with a completely new character. 

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

I think ZombiU Had sales of 450k.

 

Exactly, I thought those would be amazing sales for a new console that JUST came out, hell I even brought the ZombiU bundle I wanted the game that much, I was really hoping for a sequel, looks like Ubisoft might be doing an EA on us