Bet ya $50 bucks it won't be delayed on any other consoles but Wii U.

It will be cancelled

I beginning to believe that the WiiU is in substantially worse-than-Gamecube trouble.

I look forward to the follow up story a month after the game's release on other platforms to acknowledge its cancellation. They stopped working on the WiiU version probably back in October when Rayman Legends tanked on all platforms.

Don't worry guys. It will soon be on shelves, right next to the Wii U version of Alien's Colonial Marines. And that Dirt game Codemasters was working on...

Businesses gotta business.

Ubisoft stuck it out this long, put in solid efforts and gave the Wii U every chance to succeed with a solid selection of quality titles. This may have been undermined by most other studios, and Nintendo themselves, but Ubisoft has to think about whats best for Ubisoft.

I want Watch_Dogs as much as the next person, and the gamepad has the potential for a unique experience on the Wii U, but bottom line is that the game is not likely to sell very much on the failed Wii U, and unless Nintendo gets their shit together and finds a way to salvage this mess with something that starts selling the system, it's in their best interest to focus on completeling the game on the systems that it will sell on, on time.

If we are lucky though, assuming Ubi doesn't quietly cancel this game, maybe we get one with the already released DLC included dubbed the "Special Collectors Edition".

This was my first thought also. Are Ubisoft really going to take a portion of the development team off other potential projects to continue working on a Wii U Port? I kind of doubt it. I think it's much more likely that the Wii U version has for all intents and purposes been cancelled, but Ubisoft wish to muffle any backlash or bad press until after the game has launched on other platforms.

Although, quite frankly I don't think Ubisoft has anything to worry about. I don't think any sane person would begrudge them their decision to cancel the Wii U version. I mean, who can blame them?

They should just man up and cancel it. Gamestop almost did them a favor last month. Who are they afraid of pissing off?

the 12 of us paying attention, that's who. We are pretty damn vocal on our secluded, micro island of the internet. We are not to be messed with.

Third party support is a real 'chicken and the egg' situation. Do publishers gimp third party releases in some way because they don't sell, or do they not sell because publishers gimp third party releases?

If they do cancel it, I will just wait a few months and buy it used for the PS3.

Stick a fork in the Wii U's 3rd party support. This pretty much confirms that it's done if even Ubisoft's backing out. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't cancel the Wii U version altogether, though I'm sure that's coming as well soon enough.

I'm not sure I care about this game anymore after Assassin's Creed 4 just drained me of my excitement for Massive Open World games, but if I get it I'll get the PS4 version.  The Wii U version was already a poor proposition, but with this version releasing likely long after anyone still cares about the game (if it releases at all) I can't possibly see this version selling more than 10,000 copies worldwide (and that's probably a generous estimate).

Ubisoft is not a smart developer. How dare they advertise a Wii U version and then go back on it! All of their past failures sold best on Wii U, so it stands to reason that supporting the Wii U is worth something. I bet this game does not sell well on other consoles. If Watchdogs is cancelled for the Wii U then Ubisoft can join EA on my gaming shit list. <$1alt="" title="" onresizestart="return false;" id="smiley__$2" style="padding: 0 3px 0 3px;" />

Not that it matters, but I hope you are joking, as Ubisoft has atleast offered considerable support equal to it's efforts on other systems for more than a year, including an exclusive solid launch title.

What EA did was inexcusable, promoting "Unprecendented" support and then purposely sabatoging all efforts (outside of NFS:MW) and canning all other software without explanation outside of "VENDETTA!!!".

Ubisoft gave Nintendo Wii U every effort up to this point. Them pulling out now makes business sense. Wii U has failed.
If business makes money, then business makes sense, and right now Wii U doesn't make business sense. Especially not for a game in a genre that is not heavily prominent on Nintendo systems.

I don't expect Ubisoft to pull all support, as in if they release another Rayman, then I'm pretty sure it would hit the Wii U, and I'm not sure how AC games are selling, but my guess is that if they would make more money if they didn't bother, then I would expect them to not bring the next one over.

First Rayman, now this.

Ubisoft delayed a Wii U exclusive for Sony and Microsoft fans that they did not buy. The Wii U versions of Splinter Cell and Rayman sold better on Wii U. There is business on the Wii U, but Ubisoft has to work for it.

Supposedly ACIV only sold 11,000 units worldwide on WiiU. Add to that that Splinter Cell and Rayman bombed in general, Rainbow 6: Patriots and The Division are stuck in development hell, Watch Dogs has been delayed once already and has an iffy smell about it, and that ACIV did worse than ACIII, and I think it adds up to Ubisoft circling the wagons and going on the defensive. Pulling resources from WiiU Watch Dogs falls in line with that, even though they've been as warm as possible to Nintendo so far.

While this is certainly another blow for the WiiU, I think it's also related to the weird, fragile state of the game industry right now and the Trojan horses of new consoles that promise to reinvigorate flagging sales but actually just greatly increase the amount of work a AAA game takes, and also the extra resources needed for two or three differently spec'ed versions.

MagicCow64 spitting hot fire truth from the udder!

AAA console is going on the defensive. Take a $50-100 million dollar gamble! Welcome to new gen!

& Nintendo gamers got the multiplayer portion ahead of time and for free.

This is like arguing that your kid is the smartest kid in the remedial underachievers special ed class.

It doesn't matter if the Wii U sold the most out of a game that overall didn't succeed, or even come close to it. (I don't know the sales figures, but I imagine that if it sold most on Wii U, and still fell short of it's sales projections, it probably didn't sell all that well)
It would be a different argument all together is the Wii U version was wildly successful, and the other 2 versions were barely worth the discs they were printed on.
or that the game was successful and Wii U had a large share of that, but I think we know that didn't happen.
p

Ubisoft did work for it. It didn't work out. It's time to scale back. It's understandable.

This story doesn't personally affect me, as I'm patiently watching Watch_Dogs from the sidelines until some reviews come out.  That said, Ubisoft's support of the Wii U hasn't necessarily paid off for their Wii U games like it did for the Wii, so it doesn't surprise me that they're refocusing efforts for the other platforms they're supporting.


I think this is more a sign of them having some serious issues with Watch_Dogs as a game in general, not specifically them shunning the Wii U users.

That makes sense too. Game is having issues, additional resources are needed to get it back on track, and Wii U being expected to bring in the least amount of sales, gets the short end of the stick.

Before this announcement:
http://th377.photobucket.com/albums/oo216/03redTuscani/th_Give-a-damn-o-meter.gif

After this announcement:
http://th377.photobucket.com/albums/oo216/03redTuscani/th_Give-a-damn-o-meter.gif

Skylanders 4 please....

The WiiU version of Splinter Cell Blacklist was approximately 1% of the total sales of the game.

Think about that.

Sad. I bought Zombiu and have rented Just Dance enough times to pay rent. Watch Dogs was a buy and I'm getting Child of Light, even thoughI don't like turn based combat. Maybe there is something else at work. Nintendo asked them to implement more GamePad features as per their new approach. And some NFC stuff since I'm in a dreaming mood.

"The Wii U versions of Splinter Cell and Rayman sold better on Wii U"

? Love to see those numbers:

Both PS3 and Xbox 360 sold 10X+ for Splinter Cell: Black List which and Rayman Legends sold about the same aross all three platforms. 

Watchdogs WII preorders numbers were the lowest out of the consoles even the PC so dropping support for a game nobody was ordering isn't the developers fault--you have to want it first.

I'm skeptical that costs are really increasing that much from PS3 to PS4 development.  I think that's just an excuse that developers that have games that miss the market, sell poorly and lose money use.


http://gamasutra.com/view/news/194029/Nextgen_game_development_costs_will_stay_the_samefor_now.php


http://techreport.com/news/24430/ea-ps4-to-raise-game-development-costs-5-10


Computer games have been 1080p and scalable forever and you don't hear about their crippling budgets.  PS4/Xbox ONE architecture should make it easier to port between the two and the steam platform.  Not that costs will increase, just that I think the real transition was to HD. 

Maybe, just maybe, this is a strategy to potentially increase overall sales for the Wii U version and not an outright cancellation (yet).
Maybe Ubisoft is delaying until one or two of the Nintendo "system sellers" are released that might increase the Wii U install base.
I am not saying this is a sound strategy, I'm just trying to maintain a little optimism here.

It's cancelled.  They're delaying just on the off chance that somehow Nintendo pulls a miracle out of their butt and saves the Wii U and then Ubi can finish this off and release it then.  But for all intents and purposes this is cancelled.

Back when the Wii U launched some incredibly optimistic fans were all excited that EA and Ubisoft were supporting it.  At the time I said that neither company's support means dick because they support everything.  Well that's not completely true.  Their support means something in that if they AREN'T supporting you you are fucked.  If you can't get Ubisoft to make games for your system it's over.

The Wii U is toast.  I said last Christmas was its last and I still think that's a realistic possibility.  How many games will be released between now and the end of the year?  Eight?  Will anyone but Nintendo themselves release a game for it?  Nintendo should replace this thing ASAP and NOT with some bullshit health system.  New console for winter 2015 or Nintendo's time as a console maker is over.

What drives me nuts is that this is all Nintendo's own fault!  My favourite company is crashing the plane into the mountainside and I've had to watch it happen in slow motion.

I don't think there's a better third-party exclusive on WiiU than ZombiU from Ubisoft. Ubisoft delayed Rayman on WiiU, but the WiiU version is still the closest to the original vision by a long shot- though the vision wasn't universally appreciated. And they released very solid ports of Blacklist and ACIV (I beat both the games on WiiU). So, if Watch Dogs is canned on WiiU, I still think Ubisoft was Nintendo's closest partner and hope they'll return for whatever has the difficult role of following the WiiU.

Delaying with the intention of quietly canceling later in an attempt to soften the blow of an outright cancellation would be insulting. In any case, delaying the Wii U version doesn't make sense since it'll likely sell the fewest copies and now Wii U owners who wanted the game have to wait longer. If they have another console, they might just buy a different version. If Ubisoft is worried about sales and is still committed to releasing the game on Wii U, I think it'd make more sense to release the Wii U version first and let it benefit from front loaded sales. Wii U owners who really want the game won't have the option of buying it on another console initially.

Personally, I wasn't that interested in the game though I admit it will be yet another blow to the console if the game ultimately gets cancelled.

Looking back through Wikipedia and like Watch Dogs was originally for PS360 and Windows.  They added XBone, PS4, and WiiU.  Now we are up to 6 Platforms.  Out of those the PS3 and WiiU are the most unique.  PS3 has existing engines and technical familiarity.  The WiiU does not.  Add in the strain of adding in 3 new consoles with new licensing requirements and new, all bight similar, tech to figure out and its fairly obvious why the WiiU would get the short end of the stick.  Irony being that this game could have easily had the WiiU as its target platform in another universe.