Ubisoft on early Wii U adoption: 'we believe in Nintendo'

Ubisoft will continue to develop for Nintendo Wii U despite the console's poor sales — as well as continue to be early adopters of new hardware — due to the company's dedication to exploring new ways of gaming, EMEA managing director Alain Corre told Polygon.

Corre said that the Wii U's struggle to get off the ground almost one year after its launch has not affected its treatment of the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; rather, Ubisoft is eager to work with new technologies and will continue to try and be the first out of the gate to develop games for them.

"We believe in Nintendo," he said. "Nintendo is a company that has proven in the last 30 years that they are able to fascinate tens of millions of gamers.

"Nintendo is a great game creator; they are magic to a lot of gamers. And we've had a lot of great experiences with Nintendo in the past, such as the Wii and the Just Dance franchise. It has become one of the major franchises on the Nintendo system and is growing on Wii U.

"The other reason is, we're trying at Ubisoft, as a company, to be early on any new technology coming," he added. "We feel there are some interesting things we can create."

Corre also said that ZombiU was a learning experience for Ubisoft; the title's mixed reception helped the company to determine what does and does not work for second screen gaming.

"We have learned some interesting [things about] gameplay thanks to the Wii U," he said. "With ZombiU last year, it was one of the first times we could explore asynchronous gameplay thanks to the second screen. When we look at that today, it's also thanks to that we've been able to create gameplay for games like Watch Dogs.

"This kind of technology is thanks to the learning we've done on the Wii U tablet," he added. "So it helped us also to be quicker and to have today some of the best offerings in terms of second screen gaming."

There is still hope for Nintendo, Corre said — the company needs to put a little more effort into the Wii U and push a little harder.

"What we wish is that Nintendo can put more energy behind the Wii U, and find a solution to put more machines in the hands of the consumers," he said. "We feel that this machine can find its place, we just need more push from them to help find the market."

Ubisoft is very excited for the upcoming launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The company's opportunities to play with more technologies and provide gamers with new ways to experience their franchises will guide them in next generation, Corre said.

"This is the first time in history two new home consoles are coming out at the same time," he said. "That opportunity is really big for us. We are seeing that already with our pre-orders on Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4, and they are much bigger. It's really a big surprise for us, and it's only increasing."