Watch Dogs - Everything Is Connected - Connection is Power (All Consoles)

[Thigolf]

Seriously, it would be stupid to cancel it. That's a lot of money down the drain. And before someone tells me that it's a lot of money down the drain no matter what, it's better to release it and recoup some of the money than just straight up cancel the release.

 

What if they canceled it at an earlier point, when they knew they had to pour a lot more money into the port than it would probably earn (which, in the Wii U case, isn't a lot), so they stopped instead of keep porting?

 

Edit: Since I don't think I worded it as clearly as I could:

-Ubisoft ports Watch_Dogs to Wii U

 

-They come to a point where they realise the port costs more money than planned and they need to put a lot more money into the project to actually finish the port

 

-Ubisoft knows they will get even less money back if they keep up the development of the Wii U version

 

- Ubisoft cancels the U Version of the game

[Kaabiitorori]

Seriously, it would be stupid to cancel it. That's a lot of money down the drain. And before someone tells me that it's a lot of money down the drain no matter what, it's better to release it and recoup some of the money than just straight up cancel the release.

 

Exactly. Hence why I said on my previous post it would be incredibly stupid from Ubisoft to cancel the Wii U version at this point when the product is near completion and near its release date.

 

For starters, the budget of the game was $68 million before being delayed back in October last year, so who knows what it's up to now. They will need to sell millions of copies to guarantee a profit, therefore every copy sold from every version available (including Wii U) must count. So here's the thing: it's either make some money off the budget invested in the development or taking a loss by cancelling. To me it's a no brainer. Again, why would they cancel something that's near completion in the first place? That would be a waste of development time and resources!

 

Not to mention, cancelling one of the most anticipated 3rd party titles on the Wii U will cause another PR nightmare to Ubisoft from the Wii U fan base. After messing with them for the delay of Rayman Legends, for the shoddy port of Splinter Cell Blacklist or for not even including DLC on AC4, cancelling Watch Dogs would be an even bigger issue than the three altogether.

[Detective Shadzter]

Looks like things may have taken a turn for the better. A VideoGamer.com staffer on Twitter just noticed that Watch Dogs Wii U is back on GameStop Italy's website.

[PaddyFancy]

Wow people are very quick to jump to conclusions over this whole affair, one country's GameStop website removes Watch_Dogs for Wii U, gaming sites pick it up and go all doomsday yet again.

[AlphaRuby]

You Wii U owners weren't worried, were you?

[PaddyFancy]

You Wii U owners weren't worried, were you?

 

Not me personally. I'm on the fence about whether or not the Wii U version will be rather unique with the GamePad functionality, but I was going to get the PS3/PS4 version anyway.

[Marcello]

Nintendo has responded. Still no help, though understandable.

http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/24/watch-dogs-wii-u-uk-retailers-still-taking-preorders-ubisoft-responds/

This made me laugh.

 

UPDATE: We have nothing new to say.

 

[Thigolf]

Not to mention, cancelling one of the most anticipated 3rd party titles on the Wii U will cause another PR nightmare to Ubisoft from the Wii U fan base. After messing with them for the delay of Rayman Legends, for the shoddy port of Splinter Cell Blacklist or for not even including DLC on AC4, cancelling Watch Dogs would be an even bigger issue than the three altogether.

 

The Wii U fanbase doesn't give them much money anyway, so I doubt they are bothered by losing them. 

 

And the "Get some money back" case isn't as obvious as it might be:

 

Let's say, the port for the U Version was 5 Million Dollars before the delay - when they delayed it, they noticed that they had to pour another 5 Million into the port to complete it. So they have two choices:

-Cancel it with a loss of 5 Million dollars

or

-Complete it with a cost of 10 Million dollars, get 1 or 2 Million dollars back by sales and get a loss of 9 or 8 Million dollars.

 

All of this is just hypothetical, of course, but I think this scenario is not too far fetched.

[Kaabiitorori]

You Wii U owners weren't worried, were you?

 

Considering I was gonna get the game Day One, it would have pissed me off a lot. Still I could pick it up on PS3 or PC on a later time, but the Wii U Gamepad functionality is a major factor on my purchase alongside how well the game performs on the console (AKA no shoddy/buggy/glitchy/cut-out game, please).

 

Wow people are very quick to jump to conclusions over this whole affair, one country's GameStop website removes Watch_Dogs for Wii U, gaming sites pick it up and go all doomsday yet again.

 

Pretty much. As I said before, games journalism at its finest~

[Detective Shadzter]

Just noticed that GameStop Italy is now displaying a 28th February 2014 release date for the Wii U version, while the other versions show 22nd May 2014. 

http://www.gamestop.it/SearchResult/QuickSearch?q=watch+dogs

[Marcello]

Would be pretty funny if Nintendo bought timed exclusivity. Especially after Rayman Legends.

 

 

Probably just a mistake, though.

[Kaabiitorori]

The Wii U fanbase doesn't give them much money anyway, so I doubt they are bothered by losing them.

 

I respectfully disagree. If they actually bothered on delivering on par, competent versions of their multiplatform games (Splinter Cell Blacklist), not cut out content such as local co-op (again, Splinter Cell) or DLC inclusion (AC IV) or stick to the original release date of a game (Rayman Legends), the Wii U fan base would have been more favourably responsive to these games and therefore would have been translated into decent sales. Especially Rayman Legends: even after being ported over other systems and being released on late August, the Wii U version still outsold the other platforms so there was a certain interest, yet it could have sold much better if it was released back in February rather than being cannibalized by bigger releases in September (mainly GTA V) due to interest loss.

 

This also responds to the so-called "3rd party games don't sell on Nintendo consoles" debate. Obviously they won't sell if you make your user base and potential customers angry with such decisions, and most Nintendo users have had quite an history on being messed with certain 3rd party developers not delivering competent versions of their multiplatform games.

 

Either way, I'd rather finish properly what I began and release it so my customers will be happy with their purchase rather than just cancelling something they have been anticipating for years down to the risk of losing 'em forever. Consumer trust is an important factor in business, albeit a double-edged sword: they are the reason a company may live or die, especially in these current tough times.

[PaddyFancy]

Oh Christ the Escapist is really late on this, reporting this rumour when its just been debunked by its return to the Italian GameStop website.

 

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131608-Rumor-Ubisoft-Cancels-Wii-U-Version-of-Watch-Dogs

[Sami]

They have figures that we don't and have been the only major third party developer to give the Wii U several chances.

Zombie U bombed, Rayman underperformed, Splinter Cell sold worst on Wii U, and both AC's sold worst on Wii U.

If they don't think Watch_Dogs a worthy investment, that's all there is to it.

You shifting the argument to "yes, well the Wii U fans would have bought their games for sure if they had tried better" brings up a point that is not only irrelevant to the topic at hand, but also highly presumptuous. You stated that canceling the game would upset Wii U owners, and he pointed out that Wii U owners hardly paid them any mind regardless. This is fact.

Expressing disappointment at the current situation is fine, but blatantly insulting one of the only major companies in the entire industry to go out of their way to support the Wii U in a meaningful way multiple times just comes off as misdirected anger.

[Komodin]

Frankly, I'd be quite disappointed if the Wii U version did wind up getting canceled. I've been looking forward to getting it for a while now and since I gave away my Xbox 360, don't have a PS3, and can't afford getting nor do I really care to get a PS4 or Xbox One at the moment, I'd be rather screwed if that were to happen.

[Sami]

Frankly, I'd be quite disappointed if the Wii U version did wind up getting canceled. I've been looking forward to getting it for a while now and since I gave away my Xbox 360, don't have a PS3, and can't afford getting nor do I really care to get a PS4 or Xbox One at the moment, I'd be rather screwed if that were to happen.

 

I hear you, man. It really sucks. :/

 

The only thing I get fed up with is people turning around blaming publishers for this stuff, honestly. It's a shitty situation in general.

[Dejimon11]

They have figures that we don't and have been the only major third party developer to give the Wii U several chances.Zombie U bombed, Rayman underperformed, Splinter Cell sold worst on Wii U, and both AC's sold worst on Wii U.If they don't think Watch_Dogs a worthy investment, that's all there is to it.You shifting the argument to "yes, well the Wii U fans would have bought their games for sure if they had tried better" brings up a point that is not only irrelevant to the topic at hand, but also highly presumptuous. You stated that canceling the game would upset Wii U owners, and he pointed out that Wii U owners hardly paid them any mind regardless. This is fact.Expressing disappointment at the current situation is fine, but blatantly insulting one of the only major companies in the entire industry to go out of their way to support the Wii U in a meaningful way multiple times just comes off as misdirected anger.

Meanwhile rabbids aren't selling well but they still make them especially on Nintendo consoles. Rayman under preformed everywhere but sold the most on the Wii U what made it worse for them was not only delaying the game but also claiming that it would be a system seller for the Wii u despite it coming out on all platforms(doesn't help as well since it came out around the time GTA V's release), zombi U was a launch title and people pretty much don't really care about launch games and I don't think they advertised as much. The rest they were all multiplatform and people would wonder "why would I buy a whole new system for a game that may play as good or better on the console I currently own" and an important thing is that they really didnt give people a reason to but it. No special features, no bounus content no nothing

[Thigolf]

Rabbids are probably low budget, cheap cash-ins and you probably don't lose much if they fail.

 

Rayman probably sold most on Wii U because it didn't compete against GTA V unlike the other versions of the game.

 

"Zombi U is a launch title" and "The rest is multiplatform" is a rather bad excuse since, for example, Sonic Transformed sold incredibly well in comparison to other consoles and was both a launch title and multiplatform. Also, next to NSMBU and Nintendoland, Zombi U was probably the most advertised game on the U.

 

Ubisoft gave the Wii U an excellent port, a good exclusive and a few smaller partygames. Unlike many other third party developers, they tried. They got back proof in form of horrible sales, showing that people are probably not interested, so they cut down the support for the console. As much as it sucks, I simply can't blame Ubisoft for their decisions, and we can seriously be happy we get ANY support of them at this point.

[Sami]

If I may try to separate these points one by one - 

 

• They're still making Rabbids games, so they haven't pulled out completely.
  
  - Incorrect, actually. The last console Rabbids game was Rabbids Land, a Wii U exclusive launch game that bombed. The series has now moved on to the 3DS and an interactive TV show thing on Xbox One.
   
• Rayman was delayed and multiplatform.
  
  - I doubt early console hype would have amounted to more than the sales on every other console combined, but okay.
   
• Zombie U bombed because it was a launch game.
  
  - Assassins Creed IV performed great on PS4 and Xbox One.
   
• The rest bombed on Wii U because they were multiplatform.
  
  - Refer to the above.

 

Feel free to correct me if I'm assuming wrong.

[Fletch]

So GameStops are cancelling Watch Dogs Wii U pre-orders...in the U.S....

 

http://kotaku.com/gamestop-is-canceling-watch-dogs-wii-u-pre-orders-this-1508273787?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

[Chaos Warp]

They're doing this all based on an unconfirmed rumor.....

[Thigolf]

Wii U sales of Watch Dogs on amazon.com and .ca went up after the cancellation rumor came up.

 

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=221032

[Sami]

So GameStops are cancelling Watch Dogs Wii U pre-orders...in the U.S....

 

http://kotaku.com/gamestop-is-canceling-watch-dogs-wii-u-pre-orders-this-1508273787?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

 

Damn. I guess that pretty much confirms it.

[PaddyFancy]

Those retailers are shooting themselves in the foot, and losing potential business for cancelling game sales based on rumours.

[Sami]

Those retailers are shooting themselves in the foot, and losing potential business for cancelling game sales based on rumours.

 

I really don't think that's what's happening here...