Originally slated to be a Wii U exclusive, Rayman Legends has been recently delayed and announced as a multiplatform title. Rayman Legends will release simultaenously on the Wii U, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in September 2013, with Ubisoft Montpellier handling development for all three platforms.
The Rayman Legends demo arrived on the Wii U a short while ago, and gave many Wii U purchasers something to look forward to from the console. The game which seemed to be built with the Nintendo Wii U GamePad in mind showed great promise. From this recent announcement it looks like the slow adoption rate of the new console would’ve made the release of Rayman Legends an unprofitable venture.
Though Ubisoft’s not saying this exactly. In the press release announcing the delay and multiplatform release, Ubisoft’s Chief Marketing Officer explains:
“We heard from many Xbox and PlayStation owners and Rayman fans who told us they really wanted to play Rayman Legends on their current system…We decided to give the fans what they wanted while at the same time broadening the audience exposed to this innovative and memorable game.”
As video game publisher stockmarket earnings season wears on, numerous companies have cited weakness in the Wii U launch in their conference calls. With this former Wii U exclusive going multi-plat, this could signal more pain to come for Nintendo, as analysts have already been vocal about Nintendo’s missteps with the Wii U and lagging sales figures for the new console.
