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Ubi Says Wii Will Beat EA

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wii-will-wii-will dept.

Next Generation is reporting on comments from Ubisoft, indicating that they are heavily relying on the Wii to fend off advances from business adversary Electronic Arts. From the article: "Ubisoft vowed to stay independent [after EA made inroads to a buyout], and it plans to keep it that way. 'Our goal is not to sell to EA but to beat EA,' said Laurent Detoc (pictured), president of Ubisoft North America in a Reuters interview this week. He hopes that an early adoption of the Wii platform will help push Ubisoft up from the fifth largest independent publisher in North America to the fourth. Worldwide, the company is ranked fourth, although that excludes Japan."

61 comments

  1. Nintendo ad campaign by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wii will rock you?

    1. Re:Nintendo ad campaign by joe+155 · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure if you're posting that because you've seen it, or if it's just a random idea but this is actually what Gamestation (UK) is using in their shops to advertise the Wii.

      --
      *''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
    2. Re:Nintendo ad campaign by Cadallin · · Score: 1

      Yes it would be cliche, but god, Nintendo needs to run a huge TV ad campaign on this, because cliche or not, it would be awesome. "Wii will rock you!" accompanied by Queen is just distilled, crystalized awesome.

  2. independent? by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 1

    I dunno if I would categorize Ubisoft as "independent"...

    1. Re:independent? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Independent means they're not part of a bigger company in this case.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:independent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought Ubisoft was owned by Microsoft now. Just before Halo came out didn't MS buy Ubisoft?

    3. Re:independent? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Are you kidding? If MS bought Ubisoft there wouldn't be any Ubisoft games for any non-Microsoft platform with the possible exception of the handhelds.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    4. Re:independent? by EmperorKagato · · Score: 1

      I think you're referring to the Chicago based company Bungie

      --
      ----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
  3. what the crap? by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Worldwide, the company is ranked fourth, although that excludes Japan."

    So it's not really world wide then. That's like me saying "I'm the supreme ruler of the world, excluding all of the land mass not covered by my feet."

    side note though, I'm rooting for Wii and Ubi.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    1. Re:what the crap? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      That's like me saying "I'm the supreme ruler of the world, excluding all of the land mass not covered by my feet."

      Hamad Karzai, is that you?

      Sorry, couldn't resist.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:what the crap? by LKM · · Score: 0

      Wow. Idiotic, nonsensical attempt at a joke, and you didn't even get the guy's name right.

      Double whammy.

    3. Re:what the crap? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Actually, I did get his name right. If you are aware of a different romanization, which is possible, please go ahead and share it, but Google and the CIA factbook think you should check yourself before you wreck yourself.

      And that joke was choice. :)

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    4. Re:what the crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Run the search in quotes, and you'll discover that Google returns a whole 599 results, which ain't so much for a head of government. Try "Hamid Karzai" instead, and you'll get 2,530,000 returns. Then, if you were to actually *look* at the CIA World Factbook article, you would see that they spell it "Hamad" twice but "Hamid" three times. If they can't be consistent, I wouldn't use them as a defense.

    5. Re:what the crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People often exclude Japan because (except for Nintendo) the main publishers are very different than those in North America/Europe. For 2006 the top 5 publishers in North America were Nintendo (20%), EA (20%), Sony (10%), Take 2 (10%) and THQ (6%); in Japan the top 5 publishers were Nintendo (40%), Square-Enix (8%), Konami (6%), Capcom (6%), Bandai (5%).

      Essentially, Nintendo rules your soul ... I mean there are very few publishers which have the same influence in Japan that they have in North America

  4. Oh God. by Broken+scope · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    If EA got UBI i would cry. EA already controls so damn much and it hurts the industry already, we don't need more EA.

    --
    You mad
    1. Re:Oh God. by GundamFan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hurts the industry?

      How do you figure?

      All they do is produce what sells, and what sells is not always "the best game" but the game that young adults and parents of young children will buy because they recognize the brand perceive a history of quality or at least consistency, that is not to say they didn't leave you or I behind for a different group of consumers. The fact is that any successful business finds and adapts to a group of consumers that are willing to pay for the products they produce. If no one liked EA games then on one would buy them, and the "problem" would solve itself, but people do buy them so they make more of the same types of products.

      We need to support game developers who make the games we like to play (by support I mean buy products from), not sit here and idly complain about EA.

      --
      I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
      Mark Twain
    2. Re:Oh God. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because they buy small companies that DO make the good games and then drive their games into the ground. Your solution to support the companies that make the good games does nothing to solve this because those are the companies EA buys.

      Personally, I don't think EA is all bad. They do make some good sports games, it's just ashame there isn't much to compete with them. People like point out the 2K games, but the couple of times I've tried those games they were worse than the EA games. I think EAs sports games are now sliding in quality because there is no one that can beat there sports games consistently year after year. And, of course, we now have those exclusivity deals with the NFL and MLB that make the whole situation worse.

    3. Re:Oh God. by Broken+scope · · Score: 1

      I never said it hurt the industry financialy. Hell they help the industry in taht respect. I've never been left behind by a company. EA has been going down in quality, hell I loved BF42, I liked BF2 but ive gotten to the point where I'm constantly frustrated by EA's games. So i stopped buying them.

      --
      You mad
    4. Re:Oh God. by Cadallin · · Score: 1
      The issue here is this: Are games commodity items, like spoons, bags of rice, or screwdrivers? Or are they works of art? The Problem is that "the free market" is really, really shitty at encouraging art, while being passably decent at managing commodity items.

      If games are art, that means that just suggesting we let the market decide is crummy advice.

    5. Re:Oh God. by GundamFan · · Score: 1

      I beleve some games are art and some are commodities.

      I beleve there is room for both in the world... someone may enjoy the differing experences of games like Katamari, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy to name a few. Others may want to consume games that are consistant and predictable, much like a MMO style game or sports games.

      I personaly like a good story (well told... shoddy gameplay must not interfere with an otherwise great story) above all else. I don't much care for more simulation style gameing... but then again I am a novel reader and I like TV shows with continuing plots (DS9, B5, BSG, SG1, Lost to name a few). That is not to say I don't play an MMO (CoH) but that fills a diffrent gameing "need" for me.

      --
      I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
      Mark Twain
    6. Re:Oh God. by Trillan · · Score: 1

      True, but we could definitely use less Ubi.

    7. Re:Oh God. by DrXym · · Score: 1
      Hurts the industry? How do you figure?

      By pumping out bland games, serving up the same warmed up shit year after year, not taking risks, canning profitable but niche game series, treating their staff like slaves, buying exclusive rights to major sports events, preparing to add in-game advertising and generally having a chilling effect on creativity and the industry as whole.

  5. Someone with a set... by DESADE · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Strategy sounds good, but what impresses me is the fighting spirit. Too many companies have taken the paycheck, only to see what made them great in the first place whither away. Smart, I don't know, but I gotta admire the fight.

    1. Re:Someone with a set... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Too many companies start thinking about risks and the future and decide to go with the short-term payoff. What this tells me is that Ubisoft really thinks they have a good chance, and that in the long term they will make more money being independent than taking a one-time payment and then being absorbed (and most likely gutted) by EA.

      Personally I hope it works. Ubisoft made some of my favorite games of the last generation (specifically Prince of Persia and Beyond Good and Evil). I hope I say the same thing about the next generation.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:Someone with a set... by chrismcdirty · · Score: 1
      (and most likely gutted) by EA.
      Well we saw what just happened with DICE. EA bought them, then promptly shut down their Canadian facility. IIRC, Ubisoft is a Canadian company, with a few locations in the country. Would EA also decide then that "they already have enough Canadian facilities," and then let the ex-Ubi workers go?
      --
      It's like sex, except I'm having it!
    3. Re:Someone with a set... by ArmyOfFun · · Score: 1

      Ubi is French, not Canadian.

    4. Re:Someone with a set... by Banzai042 · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that ubisoft is a french based company. I think it was something about suing france that reminded me.

    5. Re:Someone with a set... by hollismb · · Score: 1

      Yes, they are a French company, with different development houses throughout the world. UBISoft Shanghai and UBISoft Montreal come to mind.

  6. No! BAD ZONK!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You should use elipses to replace "(pictured)" because there are no pictures associated with your summary.

    Your headline implies that the Wii system will beat EA. The play-on-words makes no sense and is not funny.

    You really need to get another job, idiot.

  7. mod parent funny! by RingDev · · Score: 1

    A funny first post that doesn't claim first post pwnage?!? Someone mod this guy up!

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  8. Wii've had enough by spyrochaete · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ubi Says Wii Will Beat EA

    This "clever" title is confusing and misleading. It reads like EA is developing a console. "Wii" sounds like "we". Wii get it. Let's have an embargo on this homonym, please.

    1. Re:Wii've had enough by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      It's not bad. I got the meaning pretty quickly, in part because of the homonym: The Wii is the weapon that Ubisoft will use to beat EA.

      If /. headlines were often as well worded, rather than frequently misleading or blatantly wrong, then it would work better. If you can assume the author isn't an idiot and knows EA isn't making a console, and the author can assume that thus the reader won't assume the author is implying EA is making a console, it works just fine.

      That's a big if, I know.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:Wii've had enough by ThunderBucket · · Score: 1
      Wii get it. Let's have an embargo on this homonym, please.
      That would be a homophone

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym

      --

      "All I do is eat and poop!" -- Bean
    3. Re:Wii've had enough by hibiki_r · · Score: 1

      To me, it reads like Ubi is banking on good sales of the Wii to beat EA, which is pretty much what the article says.

    4. Re:Wii've had enough by grammar+fascist · · Score: 1
      That would be a homophone

      Honestly, you should keep that sort of thing to yourself. Ditto if you also fancy large appliances.
      --
      I got my Linux laptop at System76.
    5. Re:Wii've had enough by HolyCrapSCOsux · · Score: 1

      if Nintendo pushed that usage of "Wii" hard enough and often enough (given the state of the schools) In 5 years kids will have forgotten that "we" should be spelled "we" instead if "wii". A generation after that, wii will all be spelling we as wii. Then other words will follow along. The old waii of spelling way will fall by the waiiside. Etc.

      --
      0xB315AA8D852DCD3F3DCA578FD2E0BF88
    6. Re:Wii've had enough by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      Let's have an embargo on this homonym, please.

      Oui!

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    7. Re:Wii've had enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This "clever" title is confusing and misleading. It reads like EA is developing a console. "Wii" sounds like "we". Wii get it. Let's have an embargo on this homonym, please.

      iAgree

    8. Re:Wii've had enough by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1

      What it really implies is EA developing a console and that Wii will beat it. It's a really bad headline.

    9. Re:Wii've had enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't read it that way at all. Anyone who knows anything at all about the gaming industry knows EA doesn't have a console. And even if they were planning one it would not be out in time to compete with the Wii or other currently systems. In short, the title isn't the least bit confusing unless you have been living under a rock.

    10. Re:Wii've had enough by spyrochaete · · Score: 1

      I'd always thought homonym and homophone were synonyms. Thanks for the wikipedia link!

    11. Re:Wii've had enough by spyrochaete · · Score: 1

      My complaint was with the title. It's contracted as if there was limited space to write the headline, though this isn't the case. It could have said "Ubisoft's Wii Titles Instill Confidence Despite EA Competition" or something.

    12. Re:Wii've had enough by brkello · · Score: 2, Funny

      I agree, this site seems full of Wiitards lately. (It's a joke, relax)

      --
      Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
    13. Re:Wii've had enough by ThunderBucket · · Score: 1

      "I am the pusher robot", indeed!

      --

      "All I do is eat and poop!" -- Bean
    14. Re:Wii've had enough by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1

      Sure, most of the people browing Slashdot games knows this, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the submitter made a mess of the headline just to make a pun on the 'Wii' name. ;)

    15. Re:Wii've had enough by Hes+Nikke · · Score: 1

      i'd like to take this opportunity to plug one of my favorite podcasts: The Word Nerds. at one point they DID have a discussion on homonyms, homophones, synonyms and other similar/often confus[ed|ing] words.

      i'm only a listener, no other relation.

      --
      Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
    16. Re:Wii've had enough by BOFHelsinki · · Score: 0

      Thanks for the coffee on my keyboard! Short but sweetly contextual (Ubisoft being French and all) = best Slashdot joke I've seen in a while :)

  9. a good advertisement jingle by Sri+Ramkrishna · · Score: 1

    Wii Will Wii Will Rock you!
    Wii Will Wii Will Rock you! :-)

    sri

  10. Sega NFL2Kx by Petersko · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Hurts the industry? How do you figure?"

    Gee. Let me just go pop ESPN NFL 2K7 from Sega into my XBox. Oh... wait a sec... I don't seem to have it.

    What do you mean it's never coming out? Oh, I see. Somebody leveraged their massive size to lock out the competition (and my favorite football game) by buying out the exclusive rights from the NFL.

  11. Not a console maker and not Electronic Arts by tepples · · Score: 1
    I dunno if I would categorize Ubisoft as "independent"...

    Not a console maker, not Electronic Arts, and not a movie studio == independent by some definitions.

  12. Canadian football? by tepples · · Score: 1

    When 2K Games lost the NFL license, why didn't it court the Canadian Football League? Where's CFL 2K7? What about Australian Rules or Gaelic football? Electronic Arts could claim that taking the exclusive rights to the top ranks of gridiron football allows other companies to specialize in other affiliated sports, benefiting fans of other sports. It also freed Midway, developer of Blitz: The League, from the NFL ties that were holding the Blitz franchise back.

    1. Re:Canadian football? by Petersko · · Score: 1

      "When 2K Games lost the NFL license, why didn't it court the Canadian Football League?"

      I live in the home city of the Edmonton Eskimos, who won the Grey Cup last year (we won't talk about this year). But there are only eight teams in the whole league, and the lack of money shows. More Canadians watch the NFL than the CFL.

    2. Re:Canadian football? by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      Because the vast majority of US sports fans won't buy a realistic football game unless it has NFL or US colleg. players/stats/logos/etc. Blitz differentiates itself since it's in no way realistic. In this way, you are right that the NFL connection was holding it back, as now they can probably do moves and violnce levels that the NFL may have objected to before. However, the the NFL2K# and Madden series are both geared toward fans who want to replicate the games they watch on TV.

      There's no way the developer would do anything but lose money trying to make a CFL game with the same production values as NFL2K#

  13. On Slashdot, there is limited space to write the h by tepples · · Score: 1
    My complaint was with the title. It's contracted as if there was limited space to write the headline, though this isn't the case.

    On Slashdot, there is limited space to write the headline. Slashcode uses a fixed-size text field to hold the title of each article and each comment.

  14. Somebody has to say it by killmenow · · Score: 1

    Ubisoft is French...and they're not surrendering? OMGWTFBBQ?!

    1. Re:Somebody has to say it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because the French really aren't very fond of surrendering. Now the Italians, on the other hand.. Their national battle cry goes something like "Hey, those are nice uniforms! Do you have any spares?"

        (I kid, I kid. Italians have discovered that military prowess is a lousy thing to hang your pride on, and I'd agree.)

    2. Re:Somebody has to say it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would have got independance in 1860 if it were not for the french.

  15. pwned! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    God damn zonk is a moron. I took a shit this morning that had a higher IQ than zonk.

  16. Shouldn't be Hard by pj.davis · · Score: 1

    If EA pulls another NBA Live '07, it shouldn't be hard to beat them in the marketplace.

    1. Re:Shouldn't be Hard by Grave · · Score: 1

      And that is precisely the thing that makes software wars in the console industry so much more interesting. While Sony's PS3 may doom them by the end of this generation, it will take years for the repercussions to be fully felt. Whereas when EA released Madden 2005, many people went over to NFL 2K5. Had EA not locked out the license, they'd likely have lost a ton of Madden sales to NFL 2K6. A similar scenario is happening across the board with the sports games on 360. EA released half-baked sports games for the 360 launch, but the 2K lineup was generally ready to rock (albeit with less than next-gen graphics). So this year, I have the feeling that 2K is going to make massive inroads against EA.

      It's a shame there are only two competitors left though.

  17. It's "Hamid" by LKM · · Score: 1
    If you are aware of a different romanization

    The only version I've ever seen is "Hamid." Wikipedia uses "Hamid" consistently. "Hamad" is either wrong or very, very rarely used - and the fact that Google only brings up 600 results for "hamad karzai" leads me to believe that it's wrong.