Need for Speed: Rivals Declined for Wii U due to Poor Sales

By Jorge Ba-oh 21.10.2013 8

Need for Speed: Rivals Declined for Wii U due to Poor Sales on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Need for Speed: Rivals isn't being released on Nintendo Wii U due to previous game, Most Wanted, not having enough gas.

EA brought over a solid port of Need for Speed: Most Wanted onto the Wii U earlier this year, complete with GamePad controls, off-TV play and various gameplay additions. However "it didn't really sell that many", according to Ghost Games creative director Craig Sullivan in an interview. "I would love for it to have, because we put so much effort into that, trust me."

Because new game Rivals "is going onto new hardware", the team had to decide "to go with where we think the biggest audience will be for the game".

Would you have bought Rivals if released on the Wii U?

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WP-Final is offline. WP-Final 21.10.2013#1

WiiU port comes out over 5 months after every other version....

Add that to the fact that the majority of WiiU's small userbase want new games and not ports and I'm not suprised it bombed.

 
Modplan Man is offline. Modplan Man 22.10.2013#2

Port does well on Nintendo console - it only did well because it's well known, we're not gonna put new games on the console:

In spite of great sales for Resident Evil 4 and the Umbrella Chronicles, these groups were unable to support the projections required to create a viable P&L for the title.

[...]

Whenever we would remind publishers of Resident Evil sales numbers on the Wii they'd wave it off, saying, "but that's Resident Evil." Of course, you can only make RE4 if you have the courage to try RE1.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/01/20/wiis-lost-game-winter?page=3

Port does badly - no future titles on Nintendo console.

 
Frapp is offline. Frapp 22.10.2013#3

If only publishers, including Nintendo, would realise that a port that hits one console months after it has appeared on others, absolutely HAS to be priced attractively or it will have no chance at retail.

They just don't get it, do they?

 
SirLink is offline. SirLink 22.10.2013#4

Ifrit XXII said:
WiiU port comes out over 5 months after every other version....

Add that to the fact that the majority of WiiU's small userbase want new games and not ports and I'm not suprised it bombed.

Which is sad because this port actually had some effort put into it but like you said, why should people care? Anyone who really wanted the game either already bought it when it came out or was able to buy it much cheaper than the Wii U version on another system, leaving only people who exclusively have Nintendo systems which is more of a rarity these days.

Either way, they already said back in May that Rivals wouldn't come to the Wii U because the Frostbite 3 engine isn't being made for the Wii U, so unless it sold over a million copies or something it was already set in stone anyway.

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J4K is offline. J4K 22.10.2013#5

I dunno, I used to feel like there was always a reason things didn't sell well on Nintendo's system, kinda of like you guys are saying now.

But now I'm just tired of all the excuses. Rivals was an excellent port of a good game. Criterion put a lot of effort into it and gave Wii U fans a great product. How many of you with Wii U's bought it? 

I'm sure there's an excuse for that too. "Uh...racing games aren't my thing. Uh...I didn't have money left after buying something First Party."

Bottom line is it didn't sell and so you all won't get the next Need for Speed. Which is for the best as far as the publisher is concerned, because you all wouldn't have bought that either.

 
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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 22.10.2013#6

Jacob4000 said:
But now I'm just tired of all the excuses. Rivals was an excellent port of a good game. Criterion put a lot of effort into it and gave Wii U fans a great product. How many of you with Wii U's bought it?

I'm sure there's an excuse for that too. "Uh...racing games aren't my thing. Uh...I didn't have money left after buying something First Party."

Bottom line is it didn't sell and so you all won't get the next Need for Speed. Which is for the best as far as the publisher is concerned, because you all wouldn't have bought that either.


I think you meant Most Wanted up there but I get your point. Bought it personally! In fact Wind Waker HD this month was the first "first-party" title I bought on Wii U since launch Smilie. I only bought third party stuff ever since I got the system at launch with ZombiU.

SirLink said:
Anyone who really wanted the game either already bought it when it came out or was able to buy it much cheaper than the Wii U version on another system, leaving only people who exclusively have Nintendo systems which is more of a rarity these days.

Yeah, dudes like me, who at the time didn't own a PC capable of running it, or a console on which it came out Smilie.

As a dedicated Nintendo fan, I'd still wait on the Nintendo version a few extra months to buy it on Nintendo's system and support that version though, even if I could get it earlier on another system. There are practically no games nowadays that makes me wet my pants in excitation so much that I have to buy it right away (safe perhaps for Zelda games, like I did recently with Wind Waker HD ^^)

( Edited 22.10.2013 22:35 by RudyC3 )

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Cheesing It Up is offline. Cheesing It Up 23.10.2013#7

I kinda agree with Jacob. I'm getting sick of people blaming gaming companies for not putting new games onto the Wii U. The short version is that they need to make money, and they can't really do that on a console that has an uncertain future and where people usually buy first party anyway.

EA will have set a sales target for the previous game knowing that it was a port onto a console with a small userbase. THEY'RE NOT STUPID! Clearly it didn't match up to expectations, probably because the Wii U hasn't really taken off, and this is the result. It's a natural development.


( Edited 27.10.2013 16:37 by Cheesing it up )

 
WP-Final is offline. WP-Final 23.10.2013#8

I think another problem is that some publishers are expecting too much of their ports. The big problem the WiiU has is that it's similar in power to machines 7/8 years old. Millions own these other consoles so releasing a port months later of a game most have grown bored of, on WiiU and at a much higher price than what people can get the game elsewhere with mostly the same content is just a silly way of trying to establish a foot in the WiiU's userbase, especially when it's still quite small.

That's the reason I didn't get the game. I'm not made of money and I can't justify paying the price for something that has gone dirt cheap elsewhere, no matter the effort they've put into it. Had it been a new game releasing on all platforms together... then I would have gone for the Wiiu Version.
 

 

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