Wii boosts Ubisoft sales by 78% in January

by Blake Snow { Feb 26th 2007 at 2:25PM }

Ubisoft rode the back of the hot-selling Wii in January to boost its sales by 78%. As previously reported, the publisher placed early bets that Wii would be a big seller announcing numerous games as a result. So far, the payoff has been a hefty one.

I'm betting, however, that Ubisoft can thank the sheer amount of junk games it threw at Wii owners for the spike in sales as other conservative publishers offered little to no games. And though not the case with all of Ubi's Wii games, a clear majority saw little to no effort during production. I mean, whoever released Far Cry on Wii (read: it was Ubisoft) should be stoned. That game was garbage.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tim Harding @ Feb 26th 2007 2:38PM

That would be 'sheer' amount, not shear amount.

john @ Feb 26th 2007 2:41PM

I think they already were stoned when they made that game for Wii.

JoseMiguel @ Feb 26th 2007 2:42PM

Go figure. Wii owners actually rewarded ubisoft for releasing a lot of crap on the wii that wasn't even on par with GC's offerrings. Add to that the fact that they're not spending much money and you have another crapstorm waiting to happen.

Crono @ Feb 26th 2007 2:43PM

You know, after playing the wii and getting used to the pointer and controls on various games, I went back to red steel last weekend.

This game needs to be re-reviewed badly, because sometime between december when I stopped playing it and now, something has clicked. This game makes total sense to me now. The sword segments are tacked on, but this is a real viable platform for FPS. Its not kb/m control, but its more like Goldeneye control. I played multi with a friend yesterday, and it was total deja vu from playing goldeneye multi. Good times.

If you've thrown this game down, pick it back up and start over from the beginning. Its alot more fun now than it was at launch.

Chris @ Feb 26th 2007 4:23PM

Maybe it is like how Robert Rodriguez makes his movies. He makes a mass market kiddie film in order to get money so he can make the projects he really wants to do. Maybe Ubi just threw a bunch of junk out there so they can move forward with legit games.

I hope I hope I hope.

Cause this crappy port stuff is for the birds! The birds I tell ya!

Ikitsumatatsu @ Feb 26th 2007 2:52PM

@ Crono: I find a few games are like that. My first playthrough of killer7 was a dissapointment, but rather than sell it, I left it for a couple of months then came back... and got hooked on it. Loved it ever since, and I still play it through every month.

UpIrons @ Feb 26th 2007 3:11PM

I did throw Red Steel down initially and I have since picked it back up. I finished the "fun house" level over the weekend. Only problem I have with it is that I had to do this level twice, thanks to a damn lockup right at the end!!!!!

I actually kind of like the game now but it still has just enough in the way of glitches that I can't help but have a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. I would also give anything to be able to skip the cut scenes (or cut slideshows as the case may be).

But FPS is definitely possible on the Wii and I am waiting patiently for the right game to come along and implement it properly. 'Nuff Said.

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 26th 2007 2:55PM

"whoever released Far Cry on Wii (read: it was Ubisoft) should be stoned."

Well part of that statment is true. You do have to be stoned to enjoy it.

Unit @ Feb 26th 2007 2:59PM

red steel gave me a little hope that developers can still make a fps that doesn't involve aliens,the future,space marines and nazi soilders.

ackmondual @ Feb 26th 2007 3:00PM

Do we see another market of vid games coming? Look at your typical curr gen game box cover and you'll find the usual notes like: 2 memory blocks reqired, 480p, 720p, and 1080p, etc., but also being stoned with 3d glasses another set of requirements

Ryan @ Feb 26th 2007 3:17PM

I bought two Ubisoft titles on launch day: Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids, both of which I sold. Red Steel's controls were not to my liking, and Rayman lost its appeal once I purchased Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. All the other games Ubisoft has on the Wii either blow chunks or have already been played on other consoles.

Spoit @ Feb 26th 2007 4:29PM

Sure Ubisoft released a ton of shovelware for the Wii, but it would be remiss to not mention that rayman and red steel were the best selling 3rd party games for the launch.

Unit @ Feb 26th 2007 3:28PM

with ubisoft, it was the case of "oh sh!t,quick put any and everything on that system" mentality.While ea is taking their time and doing games well on the wii. Godfather and ssx blur controls real good!!!

thispaceforsale @ Feb 26th 2007 3:41PM

Red Steel had this unfair weight laid upon it- you know your reaction when you first heard about it, unbridled optimism of how amazing it could be. The pure potential was ruined because it is simply decent. It is a solid rental game. But not trash.
Rabbids is a phenom, as a multiplayer game and as a new ip, ubi nailed this one.
I haven't tried the other offerings. But, hit or miss, as a Wii owner, I wish more companies were at least taking the risks to put more games out. There is a strong learning curve for wii games, and these early teeth-cutting efforts will pay more handsomely for Ubi in the future. Bruce Campbell experience style.

J @ Feb 26th 2007 3:40PM

Yes but EA is not implementing too much of new level design. Its SSX that you probably already played, but with a much more functional control system.

otisgibbon @ Feb 26th 2007 3:44PM

I would like to believe that Ubisoft big wigs are sitting in their offices right now going: "Wow, imagine if we actually started making some good games on it". I did like Raving Rabbids and from what I understand Red Steel was more a show of potential than anything else hopefully they take more time with the polishing. You have to do this if you truly want to compete with Nintendo in the game market.

Finn @ Feb 26th 2007 3:49PM

lol at the people who were commenting earlier today about the wii 3rd party games not selling well.

that being said I sure hope ubi gets their shit together and comes up with some good games for the wii instead of the crap they threw us... excluding rayman, that kinda fun for awhile

Kannon @ Feb 26th 2007 6:27PM

"You know, after playing the wii and getting used to the pointer and controls on various games, I went back to red steel last weekend."

Did the same thing, and once I did I saw just how good the sword controls and the basic premise of the game could get. Its another one of those ending is far better then the beginning games, much like Zelda this time around. People complain that a game should be throw all the greatness at your in the beginning, these people don't understand why finishing a game is important, to get the good stuff and the rewarding gameplay.

All of their releases were decent enough to get good sales, and I give them a lot of respect for putting as much support behind an idea that could go either way. This will surely show Ubisoft that original content can do very well on the Wii which is good for all gamers.

Z @ Feb 26th 2007 4:31PM

I might be in the minority here, but I've played WarioWare and Rayman, and Rayman is worlds better than Wario. So much fun, I've had it since launch and still play it most days. WarioWare was just too shallow for me.

I hope that Ubisoft office makes more Wii games.

miles foreman @ Feb 26th 2007 4:52PM

I like Rayman, too. I think I'll pick up a used version of Red Steel as well.

Mr Khan @ Feb 26th 2007 5:34PM

Yeah, i believe Red Steel got the bad reviews due to the "Killzone" mentality as i call it

Red Steel was overhyped as the hope for the future of FPS, while not outstanding, it was a solid title, worth a rent for anyone with a Wii and a buy if you're into FPS, when Red Steel did not meet overhyped expectations, much like Killzone, it crashed in the ratings (if sony hadn't hyped Killzone as "the Halo Killer" it would've done better with lower expectations)

(Sonic and the Secret Rings suffers from this, too, that game's ratings were waaaay too low, its easy an 80% rated game)

Freakhead @ Feb 26th 2007 7:50PM

I hated Red STeel at first. But I picked it back up and finished it and enjoyed it. If Ubi would have polished up what they had it could have been a '9' game.

I've played some great looking fps games that have been hyped up alot, but turn out to be quite repetitive and the same 'ole, same 'ole.

RS has lots of style and variety and some fresh air. If you can put up with frame rate problems, and some glitches you'll find a fun fps game underneath. IT's just a shame they didn't hold this one back, polish it up and really try and hit a home run.

brent @ Feb 26th 2007 9:08PM

I have to say I really enjoyed Red Steel,
I think a great part of that was the music ...

I'm a bit of an audiophile, and the score of Red Steel is phenomenal and fits the game perfectly,

The controls weren't perfect, but worked fine if you took a more deliberate approach to the game, rather than a run and gun mentality ... all in all i really liked it ...

also ... the fun house level ... best FPS level i've played in a LONG LONG time ...

lion @ Feb 27th 2007 3:31AM

Hmmm... just out of curiosity, what is the 78% higher sales compared to? Is it 78% higher then last January? Or 78% higher then December? Or is it their financial quarter over last years? Or the previous? What games did Ubisoft have out in hte period being compared to? The number 78 sounds good, but its pretty meaningless without context.

t_m @ Feb 27th 2007 6:51AM

People's expectations for Red Steel were just too high. Mine included. However the setting is great, and I really hope that a polished up Red Steel 2 that has a bit more time, and learns from it's mistakes, can be awesome.

I'm torn about ubisoft. They had the right idea about the wii.. but they just didn't get it right. I suppose its good that their sales went up so much, even if a lot of the games were poor, because it means (a) EA isn't the only guy in the game, and (b) they will try again and hopefully improve.

Its odd, but in many ways EA lucked out.. they dismissed the Wii (whereas ubi saw it as a way to compete with the deep pockets of ea).. but when they saw that it was more popular than they expected they were able to learn from ubisoft's teething troules and actually release better games.