1st sign of low sales w/ an M-rated, unpolished (though good), & ultimately untested remake like ZombiU, & Ubisoft’s shareholders freaked out. Business-wise? Obviously, PS3 & 360 had the #s advantage, so waiting to release on them, if ever, should’ve been an easy parachute. If sales still weren’t satisfactory, they could’ve just made RL U a timed exclusive (I would’ve accepted that compromise). Ubisoft could’ve released RL on Wii U as promised. Yet Ubisoft broke exclusivity AND delayed it (they also claimed they wanted everyone to experience it simultaneously, but failed to do that w/ Watch_Dogs). Wii U was also not only looking to be heading for a drought the time of RL’s initial release date, but those interested in Wii U were known to be anticipating RL. Plus, it was a new entry, & in a fairly well-established franchise. It also used the Gamepad in better ways than some other games. RL’s genre & art-style were perfect for the Nintendo subculture. But Ubisoft didn’t really give Wii U a fighting-chance. So all parties actually must really have thought this through and considering that masterplan, the disappointment on all sides must’ve been tremendous when it just didn’t work out for either of them. Nintendo didn’t even bother bringing out any big 1st party game, only New Super Mario Bros U for the fans, but no real seller. They just imagined, after 100Mio sold Wii units, a Wii U with focus on more core-stuff has to work out. Then they even managed to bring out a bundle. They encouraged some of the biggest players to come up with some support and other than EA, Activision and Warner Brothers, Ubisoft actually created some unique exclusive with ZombiU as well as some ports. During the initial promotion of the WiiU, Nintendo seemed to promise devs as well es customers to go away from their focus on 1st party titles and push 3rd parties more. Sure, on a Nintendo console, every non-Nintendo title might be a niche-title, but that’s actually the point why they didn’t make ZU2. It’s not a niche launch title, it’s a 3rd party launch title.
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