Ubisoft forum moderator explains forthcoming shovelware
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Jun 2nd 2008 at 8:00PM }
It was only a few months ago that Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot was promising us all "Nintendo-like quality" games. Since then, the company has announced Raving Rabbids TV Party, Babies Party, Shaun White Snowboarding, and much, much less. It's a line-up that has generated only ripples of laughter on the internetz, rather than tremors of fear in Kyoto.
The snickering is not limited to NeoGAF. Ubisoft's own forums have come under attack from those who are disillusioned by the company's planned Wii output, so much so that UK Forum Manager "Raide" recently had to ride to Ubi's defense. The gist of his argument seems to be: because the best-selling games on the Wii aren't necessarily the best games, it's actually okay for Ubisoft to release stuff that, well, doesn't have "Nintendo-like quality."
"If you look at the most successful Wii games, they are not amazing new AAA games, they are predominantly family-orientated games/alternative games," explained Raide, adding that Ubisoft is pursuing the casual dollar because "parents who are buying a console for their children do not really care about Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six or Far Cry on the box."
On one level, Raide's logic is fairly sound; after all, games targeted at the casual sector do sell well (particularly in the UK and Europe), and it's understandable that Ubisoft has shareholders to keep happy. But promising higher quality Wii games and singularly failing to deliver on that pledge? That's just weak. Hit the "Source" link below for Raide's full defense.
Gallery: Raving Rabbids TV Party
[Via Kotaku]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
psyborg @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:31PM
I don't think I will be purchasing Ubisoft titles for now on, not even their real games on the 360. They'd have to make something really special to win me back.
ballistic3188 @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:55PM
except the guy is wrong the games that sell are either really good games as in mario galaxy and smash bros or RE 4 or they are quality casual games ala wii fit or warioware. it really sucks that pretty much all the developers pretty much have shuned the wii.
capcom included pretty much disregarded the wii even with strong resident evil game sales for the xbox and ps3.
It is sad that game developers can't see that the wii is strong hardcore as it is casual.
you know what is more annoying is that they throw this shovelware all over the console and then later complain that 3rd parties don't sell well. It is cause the game are terrible that they don't sell well.
you know what makes nintendo make casual games awesome. it is cause they don't thow their worst talent on it. in fact they throw their best on it and actually strive for a quality product. see wii sports and nintendogs are prime examples.
too bad pretty much every devloper thinks that that throwing slop will sell when it is still as it always is: the good casual games are on top the bad on bottom
Lijik @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:59PM
Nintendo puts out crappy Minigame compilations at least once a year with their only quality series in the genre being Warioware.
If you think about it, Yves is actually right on the money (with the Raving Rabbids franchise being the WarioWare in this analogy).
Sonic_13 @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:01PM
"Wii owners are only casual gamers, so quality and AAA titles are unimportant?"
That's just a lame excuse. Hard-core AAA titles and mature games can sell really well on Wii.
I think Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles are most telling. Both sold over 1 million each, despite the fact that one was a re-release and one was a quickly made shoot-em up game. These games only appealed to a fraction of the hard-core base. If a company were to release a AAA "hard-core title" like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, Resident Evil 5 on Wii, then they would easily sell several million.
mian @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:07PM
I registered on Ubi for that thread a couple of days ago, got halfway through a rant on "which 3rd party has bothered to try AAA". I mean maybe everything they say about Wii being for kiddie crapware and 1st party only will be true, but virtually no one's tried. RE4 is last gen, and it still sold a cool million plus, RS is far from AAA, but it's just shy of a mill. NMH is niche and a little weird. The 3rd party AA category is pretty thin too. MoHH2 (my favorite) sucks in virtually every way but controls, and it was barely outsold by it's over-invested, over-hyped big brother Airborne.
Before you can write off core AAA on Wii (and be taken seriously), someone has to actually try it. Invest in a solid, mass market core AAA project, finish it (that's a pretty big sticking point), and if THAT fails, THEN you can whine all you want about the platform (and be taken seriously). Until then, it's all just crap. The evidence so far leaves no room for an actual conclusion.
I closed my half-written rant because they aren't really listening. I'll put my dollars behind anything half worth-while that comes out of High Voltage and keep watching Capcom too. That's the only form of protest anyone will really hear. Ubisoft has passed the point where they can meet us 1/3 of the way (like EA/MoHH2 did) and expect us to be happy with it. They don't get another dime from me until they come the whole fraking distance. If they put out something I'm just a little interested in, I'm ignoring it. I'll buy an extra copy of The Conduit instead.
I'll reward good behavior no matter who it's from, but slightly-better-but-still-sucks behavior isn't good enough anymore.
CJLopez @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:45PM
Well, we can't comlpain much. Yeah, Ubisoft is throwing us some shovelware that really would be better to be released on Wiiware, but, this snowboard game, Shaun White snowboarding, using the balance board, i can see that ubisoft is trying to give us a good game with a good appeal, using the balance board. Yeah, its only 1 out of 3, while the other consoles are getting better games. Well, I tell you all this:
If this keeps up and ubisoft keeps on complaining and throwing us shit, then lets declare war to Ubisoft. Let it now, to every nintendo wii fanboy to not purchase not even 1 title from Ubisoft, not only for, but for wichever console a game is. We may not be able to keep parent from buying Ubisoft games for their kids, but at least we can make that Ubisoft gets less and less profit from shity games to invest on the mayor consoles.
For myself, 'll be buying Shaun White snowboarding, cuz I did really liked the game, and using the balance board will be thrilling, but seen how Ubisoft is becoming, i'm getting to hate it more and more, and stop buying their products
ballistic3188 @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:45PM
for anyone that cares this an really good reading as to why ubisoft and most 3rd parties are just plain stupid when dealing with the wii.
http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html
samfish @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:15PM
It just continually amazes me how games like Mario, Zelda, Resident Evil, Metroid and others can continually break a million+ units sold, but these publishers sit there and say, "Nope, only minigames and kids games sell!"
I wish just ONE of these publishers would analyze what at LEAST the core Nintendo crowd likes, if not the 'hardcore' Wii audience and make a REAL AAA-level game aimed at that crowd. No shoestring budgets or anything like that...just go all out with a Zelda clone or something.
Ugh. Unfortunately, that seems like it'll never happen at the rate we're going. Ubisoft in particular has REALLY struck a blow to my confidence in how this generation will turn out. I know it isn't fair of me to think that way, but God DAMN has that company ever got a case of stinking up the joint for everyone else.
raindog @ Jun 3rd 2008 12:24AM
I wonder how much of their perception that games like Far Cry won't sell on the Wii stems from the fact that the Wii version of Far Cry rivals Ninjabread Man in quality.
Willozap @ Jun 3rd 2008 1:46AM
Great article there ballistic. That just wasted my lunch hour.
Ethan @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:06AM
Kids don't like bad games, parents will just buy bad games for them.
WillTheSecond @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:49AM
If you actually look at the sales figures for Wii on VG chartz (I think that's where I saw it) No More Heroes has outsold 'Dogz' and 'Catz' on Wii by about 100,000 units. And let's face it, NMH is niche.
The the whole argument is pure bollocks. Casual content is fine to, but only when it's quality casual content, otherwise casuals (who are averse to spending too much money on games by their very nature) won't buy it.
Nigeria @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:01AM
I haven't brought an Ubisoft game since Rayman on the Saturn.
They're clearly not as good as they were especially if you ignore their shoddy Wii output and look at their 'marque' games on the 360/PS3: Blazing Angels lacks character and plays like a bore, Assassin's Creed was repetitive beyond belief. I've also heard bad things about the new Rainbow Six game.
Regardless of the console, Ubisoft games lack real polish and seem constrained in a straitjacket of banality. Their logo is a clear sign of their current predicament: a fast dwindling reputation swirling down the toilet.
Nigeria @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:08AM
marque = marquee
But in a way the original sentence still works, we are talking about Ubisoft here.
espeonz @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:50AM
I lost all faith in ubisoft. Next thing ubisoft will be making Koalaz, Polar bearz, Lionz, and other crappy games about endangered animals to get "casual" gamers aware about them. And to make quick $$$$ too.
Will @ Jun 3rd 2008 10:22AM
Why do people care so much about stupid crap? If you don't like, don't buy. "Declare war on Ubisoft?", "I hate Ubisoft?" Puzzling. Don't buy.
All other criticism about them is pretty fair, though, but it's criticizing that can be attached to most Wii developers outside of Nintendo. Why don't some spread the "hate"?
LeChuck @ Jun 3rd 2008 10:42AM
He is right though. The casual games are the ones that really sell. People point at RE4 and UC as doing well but the minigame collections far outsold those. Mario Party, Mario & Sonic Olympics, MySims, even Carnival Games. Even Metroid sold below the casual games so quality isn't always the culprit.
Luckily there are some hardcore 3rd-party games coming to Wii but they're always going to be the minority as long as the sales trends stay the way they are.