Wii U: Ubisoft Says ‘ZombiU’ Not Profitable Enough For A Sequel

Ubisoft says their Wii U title ZombiU wasn’t profitable enough and there are no plans for a sequel.

ZombiU was Ubisoft’s launch title for the Wii U, which at the time seemed like a promising new enterprise for the game developer. However, the failure of Wii U to deliver any profitable success has changed Ubisoft’s attitude toward Nintendo’s console.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has already stated that Rayman Legends was initially going to be a Wii U exclusive, but the lack of profitability in Nintendo’s console led to the game being planned for multiple platforms. The Wii U just hasn’t shown enough promise for third party exclusives, according to the Ubisoft CEO.

Before the decision was made, Ubisoft Montpellier creative director Jean-Philippe Caro had stated in May that the studio had been working on the sequel to ZombiU. Since then, the failure of the Wii U to turn a profit has led to Ubisoft deciding against putting any further titles on the console, and halting work on the sequel.

Even Electronic Arts has expressed disappointment in the Wii U. EA chief operating officer Peter Moore stated, “We were there with four games for them [at launch]. It’s been a disappointment when you look at sell-through and, as a company, we have to be very judicious where we deploy our resources. The lack of online engagement that we see on Wii U [is troubling]. It’s so integral to what we do. They’re so small it’s hardly worth running the servers. It seems like a box that’s out of sync with the future of EA – which is one that gives a real social feel to our games. The Wii U feels like an offline experience right now.”

In general, between the weak sales and the lack of internet functionality, the Wii U is enough to make developers like EA and Ubisoft avoid making games for it, as anything will sell at a loss. It looks like Nintendo is going to have to try harder and take bigger risks to win back third party developers.

Now as far as ZombiU is concerned, Wii U owners are going to be stuck with the first game if the Wii U can’t be made more profitable.

What do you think of Ubisoft deciding that the Wii U is not profitable enough to make a sequel to ZombiU?