ZombiU Proves Unprofitable, Sequel Seems Unlikely

[weirdee]

yeah, i'm sure the duo of "we're basically in it for as much cash as we can get and no other reason" and "our selling point is that we're pretending to not be as bad as the guy next to us because you'll give us money if we say that while continuing to overcharge everybody for proprietary hardware" are doing much more for the "hardcore" gamer than the company that doesn't blame everybody else for their losses

but keep talking, you'll get exactly what you wished for

i don't need to deal with the company who came up with uplay and thinks everything revolves around them

 

[1337mokro]

How is 300'000 copies sold not profitable?

That's roughly 30 million in cash for the publisher. How the hell did Zombie U cost 30 million to make?

The WiiU really is quite a good console, taken on it's own merits there are some good games, more games to come and the thing is basically a 360 with games other than sports titles and shooters.

However... the Wii taints all that it touches. Nintendo basically set a precedent where it loudly declared last generation that it did not give a FUCK about you as an avid/hardcore gamer. You wanted something other than kid games and peripherals then you could just go fuck yourself with the playstation move.

Nintendo garnered bad blood and mistrust in it's products and now it is paying the price for it.

You are aware that publishers and developers only make between $12-$18 (spit between the 2) per game sold in a store when sold for $60.

You do know that is actually not true

For one it's an in house developer. Second wholesale prices of games are usually around 2/3rd's of retail. So if we take into consideration taxation that would leave roughly 20-30 dollars for any game sold for the publisher taking into consideration the fee for the platform owner. Now sure those are not profits but 20-30$ a game is pretty nice.

Sure my 30 million was an exaggeration but that is pretty much the ball park you should think in, given that those 300'000 copies probably are not the total number of sales. Not to mention that I would still seriously doubt a 20 million price tag on zombie U.

 

[1337mokro]

yeah, i'm sure the duo of "we're basically in it for as much cash as we can get and no other reason" and "our selling point is that we're pretending to not be as bad as the guy next to us because you'll give us money if we say that while continuing to overcharge everybody for proprietary hardware" are doing much more for the "hardcore" gamer than the company that doesn't blame everybody else for their losses

but keep talking, you'll get exactly what you wished for

i don't need to deal with the company who came up with uplay and thinks everything revolves around them

I'm sorry was that aimed at me?

You see I can't quite hear you over the sound of my PC fans.

 

[weirdee]

yeah, i'm sure the duo of "we're basically in it for as much cash as we can get and no other reason" and "our selling point is that we're pretending to not be as bad as the guy next to us because you'll give us money if we say that while continuing to overcharge everybody for proprietary hardware" are doing much more for the "hardcore" gamer than the company that doesn't blame everybody else for their losses

but keep talking, you'll get exactly what you wished for

i don't need to deal with the company who came up with uplay and thinks everything revolves around them

I'm sorry was that aimed at me?

You see I can't quite hear you over the sound of my PC fans.

shush you, my pc fans are larger and more numerous

anyway i still ain't too divorced from this to see that none of these companies pretending to be loyal to their customers is the better alternative, especially those who dumb their pc games down to fit on consoles when it clearly won't work right

 

[Boogie Knight]

This generation has been plagued by out of control costs and unreasonable sales expectations. Not sure how much this applies to ZombiU, but in general if one is working on an exclusive for a platform that is a small part of the console market... costs have to be kept, budgets have to be reigned in, cause there are only so many potential consumers. Even if it goes gangbusters on that particular console, there is a practical limit to total revenue.

 

[Hero of Lime]

When I first heard of Killer Freaks form Outer Space(the original game) I was pretty interested, then they made it about zombies in a recognizable big city like London, how creative! Seriously, I was so excited about a new IP that was going to be exclusive to Wii U, and the original trailer for Killer Freaks looked promising. Then we got another yawn worthy zombie game, because reasons I suppose.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

This generation has been plagued by out of control costs and unreasonable sales expectations. Not sure how much this applies to ZombiU, but in general if one is working on an exclusive for a platform that is a small part of the console market... costs have to be kept, budgets have to be reigned in, cause there are only so many potential consumers. Even if it goes gangbusters on that particular console, there is a practical limit to total revenue.

I'm pretty sure a LOT of that budget was wasted when Ubisoft made the dev team turn it from a goofy, B-grade sci-fi-movie-inspired shooter (with jet packs!) to a zombie survival horror title. The latter was still interesting, but I liked the Killer Freaks from Outer Space idea a lot more. It's just wasteful to change gears that suddenly. As for budgets in general, I don't know if it's due to pubs pouring money into dramatic ad campaigns or devs wasting resources because they think their game is the next masterpiece and thus deserves a eight or nine figure budget which they'll inevitably go over. The AAA system really needs to change and so far the ONLY people who have some goddamn restraint and logic with their budgets are Nintendo or a lot of other Japanese devs like Atlus.

 

[Galen Marek]

You are aware that publishers and developers only make between $12-$18 (spit between the 2) per game sold in a store when sold for $60.

Really? When we sold games for 69$ (down from $99) we used to see 0$ profit. Actually, we lost money on some titles in that case and in a best case (Space Marine for example) we made $2 a sale.

That $69 was not ours and would of gone distributor of the game in the country and to the publisher/developer.

 

[novem]

Did it use the Wiis fancy controllers properly? What gameplay did Zombu have, does anyone have a concise description or video of it?

Yes.

ZombiU used the pad extensively, better than anything else on the system in fact.

The pad was first and foremost your map and motion scanner (think Aliens). For most of the game the subtle blip from your gamepad was your only friend, if you heard it go off you would know instantly to look down and check how close the threat was. Some enemies would disrupt the signal to your gamepad at which point you never felt quite so alone or vulnerable.

The screen was also your backpack and your quick selection inventory. When you went into inventory mode your tv display switched to a 3rd person view obstructing your situational awareness. Various items and weapons could be assigned to quick slots on the pad so that during game play a simple tap on the screen would allow you to switch to melee weapons or various grenade types.

The pad was also a scanner for locating hidden clues in the environment.

The pad functioned as keypads for combo doors.

The pad was your sniper scope. (OK, this one was annoying)

 

[Lovely Mixture]

It seemd like a good idea steeped in bad execution.

But I haven't played it, so I'm only guessing.

I can confirm this. It's a pretty mediocre and boring game with some features that showcase the WiiU. It brings nothing new to the table and actually brings less.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Maybe now people can stop being angry with Rayman Legends going multiplatform.

And while I'm glad Nintendo funded Bayonetta 2, this kind of info does not bode well for that game.

 

[Bruce]

I'm not terribly surprised because it was not terribly good. Once you figured out the baseball bat it went from being very tense to very tedious very quickly.

Its approach to horror appeared to be bad lighting + enemies + clumsy controls - ammo = scary.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

How is 300'000 copies sold not profitable?

That's roughly 30 million in cash for the publisher. How the hell did Zombie U cost 30 million to make?


Not that the games are related and are on different consoles, but the new Tomb Raider game sold about 3.4 million copies and it was considered a failure too... because ZombiU was on the wiiu it the reason it has n't sold well.. the WiiU isn't a good console an people aren't buying it or the limited games released for it.. if they start selling more systems then maybe the game will do better later.. though that's probably not going to happen any time soon.