Nintendo Wii U: Flagship 'ZombiU' Game Didn't Make A Profit Says Ubisoft

Games Publishers Abandon Wii U
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How much trouble is Nintendo's Wii U console in?

Really it depends who you ask (and how much faith they have in Mario).

If you ask us, we're pretty sure that for the next 12 months at least there will be some amazing games on the dual-screen machine. Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Brothers and the next 3D Mario game are all stellar - and we can't wait to play them in depth.

On the other hand, if you ask games publishers they have a very different impression.

And now it's emerged that Ubisoft's flagship Wii U launch game ZombiU - which Nintendo even packaged in a 'Zombie Deluxe Set' on the console's release - didn't even make a profit.

Not even close.

Speaking to Games Industry, Yves Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Ubisoft, said that ZombiU was a commercial failure and confirmed that no sequel would emerge.

"We must find a way to ensure the creativity of those games could have a big enough audience," he told the website.

"We hope it will take off. At the moment, we've said 'let's do through Christmas and see where we are from there.'"

Nintendo Direct June 2013
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This undated image provided by Nintendo shows Nintendo's TVii. The TVii, which comes with the new Wii U game console and its innovative GamePad touchscreen controller, transforms the GamePad by turning it into a simple remote control that operates your TV and set-top box. (AP Photo/Nintendo) (credit:AP)
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This undated image provided by Nintendo shows Nintendo's TVii. The TVii, which comes with the new Wii U game console and its innovative GamePad touchscreen controller, transforms the GamePad by turning it into a simple remote control that operates your TV and set-top box. (AP Photo/Nintendo) (credit:AP)
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Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) (credit:AP)

Other companies were more direct. Activision told GI that it "came to the table with a robust slate but we have no announcements now".

EA's Peter Moore was the most brutal saying that Nintendo's online community was so small "it's hardly worth running the servers".

"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," he said.

"It seems like a box that's out of sync with the future of EA."

For Nintendo's part, it says it is working hard to boost sales with great first-party games - and admits that it underestimated the scale of making titles in HD.

Nintendo chief Shigeru Miyamoto said:

"Please allow me to explain that we may have underestimated the scale of this change. The overall software development took more time than originally anticipated just as we tried to polish the software at the completion phase of development."