Activision disappointed by Wii U launch

Written by David Hing

February 8, 2013 | 09:27

Tags: #2012 #financial #financial-results #wii-u

Companies: #activision

Activision has expressed its disappointment in the launch of the Wii U.

Following the release of the mega-publisher's 2012 annual financial reports, in which the company reported an annual revenue of $4.86bn, Acitivision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick explained the company's stance on the new platform.

'As you know, we were somewhat disappointed with the launch of the Wii U,' Kotick said on an investor conference call in response to a question about the Skylanders series on the platform. 'I think it's a challenging environment this year and one of the things we are concerned about is what the install base of hardware will be like for 6-11 year-olds.'

Despite the company's strong performance in 2012 and better than forecast financial results, Kotick expressed his concern for how 2013 will pan out. He acknowledged that it will be a transition year away from the current console generation and that there will be 'new threats from unproven business models' and 'new category entrants' to content with.

According to Activision, Skylanders is continuing to be a rousing success as a line of toys, outperforming both Star Wars and Transformers merchandise lines combined. The success has seemingly attracted the attention of Disney, which is gearing up to launch a similar setup with Disney Infinity.

By the end of 2012, Nintendo reported that the Wii U had sold just over three million units, a much lower number than expected causing the company to reduce sales projections for 2013 by 17%.

The launch of the new console was met with a general positive vibe from the games media community, although the release was tainted by several people encountering technical faults with their machines and by the large day one patch that was required to get the box up and running.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU