Ubisoft Delayed Rayman Legends Due to Slow Wii U Sales
CEO believes it needed more time in development anyway.
Nintendo has had a problem shifting Wii U consoles. A lot of consumers were banking on the release of Rayman Legends to help spur momentum - until it got delayed. Now Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot has, ironically, explained that one reason the game was pushed back was because of of weak hardware sales.
"What happened was that we saw the Wii U was not going to sell enough of those games," the exec confirmed in an interview with GamesBeat. "The game is going to be fantastic, and we didn’t want those creators to wind up in a position where even after making a fantastic game, they didn’t sell well enough.
"We decided that we had to come out on enough machines that players can try it out on any one that they have, and give more time to both improve the game on the Wii U and create versions for the other consoles."
Rayman Legends generated a lot of buzz for being a bona fide system seller for many prospective Wii U owners. Would it have ignited slow Wii U sales if it did release earlier in the year? It's the Catch 22 trap that Guillemot found himself in, and even when Michel Ancel and his developers protested the delay the CEO believes he made the right move.
"I think it was the right decision for gamers and for the team. My role is to make sure that the team is happy with the quality of the work they do and the reach they can have. The quality is there now, because they had more time. They’ve expanded the possibilities of the game. It’s much bigger content-wise. We have new bosses in key levels and so on. The experience is much more complete."
"What happened was that we saw the Wii U was not going to sell enough of those games," the exec confirmed in an interview with GamesBeat. "The game is going to be fantastic, and we didn’t want those creators to wind up in a position where even after making a fantastic game, they didn’t sell well enough.
"We decided that we had to come out on enough machines that players can try it out on any one that they have, and give more time to both improve the game on the Wii U and create versions for the other consoles."
Rayman Legends generated a lot of buzz for being a bona fide system seller for many prospective Wii U owners. Would it have ignited slow Wii U sales if it did release earlier in the year? It's the Catch 22 trap that Guillemot found himself in, and even when Michel Ancel and his developers protested the delay the CEO believes he made the right move.
"I think it was the right decision for gamers and for the team. My role is to make sure that the team is happy with the quality of the work they do and the reach they can have. The quality is there now, because they had more time. They’ve expanded the possibilities of the game. It’s much bigger content-wise. We have new bosses in key levels and so on. The experience is much more complete."
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