Ubisoft tries to appease Wii U fans…with a Demo

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A number of Wii U owners are pretty pissed at Ubisoft for delaying one of their most anticipated games for the year, Rayman Legends; a delay caused by the treacherous act of making the game multiplatform. Ubisoft has apologised..sort of. Wii U owners will now be treated to an exclusive…demo.

“Thanks for all your feedback regarding Rayman Legends in all of its forms,” Ubisoft said via Facebook. “We have heard you and we will continue to listen. We understand your frustration and that you want to get your hands on the game. We are working with the development team to provide you with a new, exclusive demo for the Wii U soon. Stay tuned for more.”

As you’d expect, that post is now littered with the vitriol of thousands of Wii U adherents whining and threatening boycott. They’re being pretty vocal about their feelings towards the company – and right now there are nearly 3000 hate-filled comments that make for lovely reading on a Monday morning.

The unfortunate thing is the September release might actually be out of Ubisoft’s hands. The game is now being released on the 360 – and Microsoft’s contracts have a stipulation that the company has the right to demand that multiplatform games are released on its platform at the same time, ensuring a bit of platform parity.

Still, if you think fans are pissed; imagine the plight of the developers who’ve been forced to work double-time getting Rayman Legends ready for release, only to be told weeks before launch that it would be delayed for months – making their sacrifices unnecessary. The game’s apparently been complete since January 9th.

"If you’re pissed, imagine how we feel," wrote  one of Legends’ developers on Spanish site EOL,(translated by NeoGAF). "Think on the situation, we’ve been making overtime with this game practically since May preparing E3, and then almost a demo per month (Gamescom, Wii U presentation, shops, eShop, etc…) and at the same time trying to actually finish the game.

"We had a first delay because it was obvious we couldn’t finish on time but we gave it all to be there on February. What face do you think we had when the week we had to close the game we’re being told it’s not going to be released? I couldn’t believe it.

"For us, this means we’ve spent six months barely seeing our wives, kids, and friends for nothing because, after all, such a haste wasn’t needed. Believe it, it was a hell to swallow this news."

While I’m a little upset by the delay, I have little sympathy for butthurt fans. I have to feel a little sorry for the developers though.

I’m actually looking forward to a new Rayman Legends demo. The last one was just sublime.