Pachter has harsh words for Wii U, thinks Activision should buy Take-Two

I think it might rain tomorrow. I think that rain might be wet. I think the rain is going to fall on the ground.

But hey, caveat emptor and all that jazz.

Also… There’s a game monetization summit? I really hope that’s some sort of obscure coffee club that only seats about 5 people, all of whom know eachother.

They can… *cough* to put it nicely… FUCK OFF AND STAY AWAY FROM TAKE-TWO.

I for one don’t want an annualized GTA franchise.

I really disagree on his stance with Wii U. Developers will create unique projects on Wii U that will look fine. Japanese developers have already started moving all their console games to Wii U, like Monster Hunter, and Dragon Quest. Nintendo has a staple of First party games that will drive the install base up, therefore forcing developers to make games for the system. Even the Wii version of Call of Duty Black Ops sold over 1.5 million units. Give Nintendo a chance to build up their install base.

I really have no Idea how the Future of the WiiU will look like. What Patcher says is possible, but you don’t need to be an Expert to see this Possibility. .

The WiiU can going down, or it owns the Market for some Years like the Wii. Everything is possible. I was way more Pessimistic about the Future of Nintendo when I got the Wii, but the WiiU actually feels good. So I am Optimistic for now.

The Wii U predictions are pretty much just common sense. We all know it’s going to be Nintendo’s Dreamcast.

The rest just sounds like him pulling things out of his ass.

“Thinks Activision should buy Take-Two” Just when I thought I couldn’t hate this man anymore.

Sod off Activision. We don’t all like annual games and stupidly expensive DLC.

Edit* Well thank God for that! http://www.cybercrimesunit.com/as-grand-theft-auto-game-sales-increase-take-two-boss-says-annualised-ip/

@Clupula you fail to know history but you use it in your argument. The Dreamcast went down because of a lack of games, not system power. Sega’s own games were not as good as Sony’s, Microsoft’s, and Nintendo’s.

Sega’s failed previous consoles did them in as well. The Sega CD, 32X, emptied Sega’s bank accounts and they bailed on Dreamcast due to a lack of funds.

Nintendo is in no such position and has enough capital for years if not decades to come. The Wii, DS, DSi, were very profitable.

Nintendo also has so many more IPs than Sega had that sells well. Mario Kart Wii sold more units on the Wii than Dreamcast sold consoles. Super Smash Bros, Zelda, Metroid, Nintendo has too many franchise to bow out like Sega did.

The Dreamcast was cool and all but we all know Sega failed to adapt their franchises to the technology. Most people still like the old Sega Sonic games more than Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast.

@7 the DC most certainly did NOT fail due to lack of games and games quality…. Look at the machines with the highest meta critic scores for games and Dreamcast is in the top 3, Sega ran out of money and could no longer market the machine, a simple Wikipedia search would show this is you want a ‘history’ lesson.

The Dreamcast had 600+ official games in under 3 years…. Look at how many the GameCube and Xbox managed in 5 years on the market and you’ll see Sega certainly didn’t lack support.

Please Actvision, don’t buy Take Two.
Take Two rocks and you suck!

@Clupula…you have never been offensive, you are always about facts not rants. i know. you are making that clear yet again.

i played blops 2 tonite on the wii u. with the (really great!) wii u pro controller and on the touchpad. i have the 360 version too. i prefer the wii u version hands down and i already prefer the wiiu community.

the wii u is here to stay. if you played one you´ll know. at this point it is the greatest console on the market imho…what happens when ps4nextbox roll out? well i will judge then.

http://youtu.be/TE7kXJe0PUs

Everytime.

fucking google had to fuck with youtube looks again

Thankfully Take Two isn’t selling.

Sorry, but if you think the Wii U isn’t basically going to be reliving the story of 3D0, you need to repeatedly punch yourself in the balls until some modicum of common sense appears to save you.

No one is necessarily saying it’s a bad console, or that people aren’t having fun with it, but you need to separate that ‘emotion’ you have there from commercial reality. It won’t sell to enough people once the early adoption stage is out of the way to garner third-party support. And it will die.

This time next year, Nintendo will have reduced its price to <£150 and still nobody will be buying one. Nobody. Pop back and have a gander at this post next November and we'll see who is right, eh?

He’s just repeating what I’ve already said about Wii U.

I seriously doubt that many people are going to pick up the Wii U version of MW4, for example, if (which it almost certainly will be) it’s released on 720/PS4.

@14

I don’t think it’s as cut and dried as you make out…

We haven’t even seen Sony & MS’s offering yet, and although there’s a good chance they’ll bring more power, there’s also a good chance they’ll bring other things with them that a lot of gamers may not like:

Advertising increase
Non gaming Media focus
Subscriptions
More Season passes
Always on online
DRM
No second hand market

Im not saying these things are definate, but you can definatly see it’s the way MS and Sony are heading. Nintendo is also guilty of things like this (Tvii, Panorama view etc…), but looks to be more games focused with the Wii U (cheaper dev costs etc…)

What im saying is; there could be a lot of unhappy people on the reveal of 720 & PS4.

The same thing was said about the Wii remember, Sony and MS are fighting a battle Nintendo is not. If anyone will ‘bow out’, it’s more likely to be Sony…

Nintendo only needs to release:

Zelda U
Mario U
Pokemon U
Mario Kart U
Animal Crossing U
Star Fox U
Metriod U
Pikmin (Already coming)
Smash Brothers (Already Coming)
F Zero
Wave Race U
Project Zero U
Harvest Moon U
Fire Emblem U
Advance Wars U
Yoshi’s Island U
Donkey Kong U
Mario Party U

Nintendo don’t need third parties as much as Sony & MS do. I mainly buy Nintendo Consoles for the exclusives, many of which are seen as the finest examples in gaming.

And that pretty much secures the Wii U’s success for at least 5 years… Who knows, maybe then they’ll move straight onto tablet / handheld devices?

Nintendo has timed there consoles for profit far better than MS or Sony IMO, they managed to sell the Wii and make profit straight out the gate.

@15

We already know what MW4 will look like.

It’ll look like MW3 does now on the PC, it’s no great loss.

The Wii didn’t really suffer without it.

^ Complete rubbish.

MW3 on PC looks like it does because it’s a port from the 360.

There are 40 million monthly CoD players across all platforms, and I’d be willing to guess that less than 2% of those are on any Wii version.

I’m quite certain that no CoD fan with their own disposable income plays CoD on a Wii.

Stop kidding yourself.

He may well be right on wiiu. About his other predictions, I am only unsure about Take Two part, otherwise everything may well be correct.
WiiU may face real troubles if it fails to attract others outside ninty crowd, as we saw with gamecube.
Of course, too early to predict (but early sign are not good). Cash conscious consumers should wait for 1-2 years before taking the plunge in next-gen as we would have a clear picture by then.

I dont agree with him, i think the WiiU will be more supported than the Wii was, because of two things; first the unity deal, that will improve the indie support on the console, which will mean more indie games than with the wii.

And secondly because of the scale down form of games on the WiiU, it will run Unreal engine 4 and or any of the newst engine tools, in scalable form of course, something the wii lacked and didnt had, because it didnt support any of the biggest engines this gen, therefore it will be easy to publishers/developers to port games without major efforts and money involved, that will mean easy money, something they will not pass, with the wii they didnt had the option the tech was not there, with the WiiU it is, just in scale down form.

Also i do believe as people will keep hands down with the console, with friends, stands, worth of mouth, it will do fine, you just need to prove it, to see that it works good, it works way better than the Wii with their initial motion controller, i mean the wii motion controller didnt worked 1-1 gesture from the box, just in adventure games, it did had to wait for the add on in order to have the zelda skysword or red steel 2, in order to get that 1-1 gesture ratio, but with the WiiU you get from the box, what it sets out to do, playing outside the tv with asynchronous multiplayer games experiences, something that will not need a lot of time to prove it.

Man I’m so glad people are talking the same bollocks they spewed about the Wii as the WiiU.

Oh and have been chatting about the PC for the past decade.

Its doomed!

@18

Your assuming they will release a new engine for the next Call of Duty?

If anything, it’ll be the same engine for MW4 with a few more bells and whistles for the PS4 & 720 launch (Should those consoles arrive sometime around Nov next year)…

I won’t really be until BLOPS 3 / MW5 that maybe we’ll see another COD engine that takes advantage of newer hardware. Thats 2 years time!!!

Even then, there’s a good chance it’ll be scalable to tap into the huge install base the 360 and PS3 will still have, so, there’s a good chance the Wii U will see another couple of COD titles.

Thats assuming it’s still even the same game by then…

Will it be free to play multi player only subscription based? Who knows?

In 2 years a lot can change.

I don’t think many people are buying a Wii U for COD, it’s just a nice bonus if they do and want an online shooter.

COD is an important game, but it’s not the be all and end all when it comes to gaming. Look what Activision did with their other ‘Golden Goose’ titles, you really think the product is still going to be viable or change that much gameplay wise in the next 2-3 years?

The only thing that will change will be the amount of money they can screw out of you with subscriptions.

Agree about Wii U, hope he’s wrong about T2.

I remember him saying before “Core gamers that don’t care about Nintendo games don’t care about Wii U”. Best way I’ve seen it said.

It might be slightly easier to port some games to WiiU, Manu, but are people going to want to buy these games, when they could get the full version, rather than a gimped one?

If people stop buying 3rd party WiiU games like they stopped buying 3rd party Wii games, then devs will just as similarly see porting too WiiU as a waste of time.

What I can say about WiiU is: so far it looks good, but I’m not planning on buying one this year or the next, I’m one of these people who like their zone of comfort, WiiU is trying too hard to be different from what exists now. So, I’m waiting to see what MS and Sony has to offer for the next-gen, if they choose the path of two screens, I will choose Sony, because I’m used to it, I’m with them since PS1. If they choose to stay with the classic controller, I will stay with Sony again and forget about the dual screens. But, if WiiU really receives a lot of good titles (but not only Super Repeating Mario U 12, The Old History of Zelda 13. I want to see some good thirdies) and MS and Sony adopts dual screen, then I would go for Nintendo.

If you assume 1/4 of the players thinks like me (and a lot of my friends in my country do) and nintendo doesn’t receive third party support then you can say WiiU can (no that it will) fail to the hardcore gamers, but sure it will still appeal to people who have nintendo as their choice and Nintendo will stay making money.

And I’m not taking in consideration the graphic whores. I can say I’m pleased by good graphics, but it’s not the selling point for me. If MS and Sony realease their consoles sometime after 2014 then you can assume their graphics will be better than the ones from WiiU because of hardware advance, and again the third party will move away from Nintendo.

So, if you want a WiiU I say the time to get it is now.

TL;DR; I agree with him partially about the WiiU

@24

Gimped in what way?

Elite?

Graphically, 360 & PS3 games have been ‘gimped’ for years compared to PC so thats not really an issue.

COD has never been about graphical fidelity anyway so it would seem funny bringing that up.

Polygem has been playing it on Wii U and says it’s great and the community is much better and more friendly.

Now, wether the ‘hardcore clan’ community is better, well obviously not. It’s only been out 3 days…

The beam to pad feature sounds great too.

What is a hardcore gamer?!

I hate this phrase…

Are COD gamers considered hardcore?

Their fucking choir boys compared to me!

@22:

I’m not assuming that it will be a completely new engine. I don’t think that “IW” will ever come up with a completely new engine.

However, I am assuming that the next gen versions will put the current ones ‘to shame’ in terms of, not just visuals, but also features (offline and community) and content.

Bigger, better visuals, better sound, more features, more content, more options, etc.

And you’re absolutely right. People don’t buy a WiiU for CoD. There are many reasons for that, and they are shared along with other big, core titles that will probably also flop in WiiU.

So no big core titles, no big core gaming community, no reason to spend much dev time, and Pachter’s right (for once).

@26:

Gimped in what way? See 360 -> Wii for a comparison.

Also, you can’t use the 360 vs PC with CoD, because as has already been explained, 360 is lead version. There are no features that you get on PC that aren’t available on 360. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Besides, we’re talking about a direct console comparison, here. ‘PC’ can range from anything up to a high end, £2000 rig, down to a cheap laptop, which can only run games on low settings. So from a WiiU console to a 720/PS4 console, you’re almost certainly going to see a huge difference.

Also, if that’s how polygem feels about the WiiU version, then that’s good for him.

I’m pretty sure that the vast majority aren’t going to feel the same, or even give the WiiU version a chance, for that matter.

The CoD fanbase is the epitome of casual.

#24 GIGA but thats the crux of every console, all the games are different between all the iterations, theres always the lead console or a console where the performance is better, like bayoneta and red dead on 360 or darksiders, final fantasy on ps3; and if we get down into it, even all the consoles get lesser versions compare to the PC, therefore i dont think that will hurt them neither, at the long run all the consoles will suffer from this, the important thing is that the console will have those games available to their end users, that will be a plus reason for getting one IMHO.

Is like the ps2 vs xbox vs Gamecube, the playstation 2 did have the “gimped versions” of some games, compare to the competition, and it didnt harm it in the end, it did harm the wii, because it was not possible to run those games, therefore the third party support was not there, with only a few great exceptions, but this is not the case with the WiiU.

@29

No, Wii Fit is the epitome of casual.

Like it or not, Call of Duty players are core gamers.

@27 For me a hardcore gamer is someone who isn’t stuck to certain franchises or publishers, someone who likes to try everything the industry has to offer unless it’s a franchise wich is in the industry for so much time that you know what expect from it.

Still, my concept of it may be totally distorted haha But I include myself in this definition.

That’s the thing, Manu. It’s not like PS2/Xbox/GC at all.

It’s like 360/PS3 vs GC.

PS2/Xbox vs N64.

PS1/DC vs SNES.

Who is going to want to stay last gen?

With the exception of the Wii, which sold to a completely different market, when it comes to devs and gamers, the old gen gets left in the dust.

Are they fuck.

Using the power of Micheal Pachter I will pull from within my ass the evidence that most CoD players buy nothing else apart from possibly Fifa over the course of a year.

In fact I know someone who only plays CoD on his 360 (its always a fucking 360), when the new one comes out he trades in his old copy. He owns nothing on XBLA and has no interest in any other games.

Casual as fuck.

The PC has always and will always out perform every console released. The 3DS has battered the shit out of the Vita.

Phones and tablets are battering everything. Reducing purchasing decisions down to that level will never work. Its something Pachter himself would do, oh look he has the thick cunt.

#33 GIGA i dont think that is a fair notion, the WiiU is more than PS3 and 360, in some key aspects technically speaking, and it will be less than ps4 and 720 for sure, but it is not 360/ps3 vs gamecube, that it is a wrong perception, the WiiU can be consider a dreamcast/ ps2 vs xbox/ gamecube.

Casual gamers play games willy nilly, and don’t really care about the game itself, just having fun and passing time.

Most CoD players play on a daily basis. They are not casual gamers, just because they play one game.

Or is anyone going to suggest that people who play WoW for 18 hours a day are casuals, because they only play one game?

@34, Yeah I know 2 guys like that. But to be fair, I’d rather be classed as a casual gamer…

Hardcore gamer has too many “cheesy snacks in my mom’s basement” connotations :-/

@36

Pretty much what you said there is spot on.

And it really does irk me the people that think just because you play a widely popular mainstream game, you’re branded as a casual gamer regardless of how much time you put into it.

Hardcore gamer/ casual gamer, i just focus more on the word gamer, than the hardcore or casual, it group us rather well at the end we like gaming and thats whats matter the most, i think we should not separate our hobby like that, we behave like nazis with that sort of thinking, imagine if the hardcore will rule the world, they will decimate the casuals .

@36

RE WOW 18hours a day:

I wouldn’t say they were hardcore or casual…

I’d say they have a fucking problem and need to break up there days a bit more.

And yes, I would define someone who puts a crazy amount of time into one game (COD) and forgoes any others as casual. Casual, single minded, etc…

Companies love these kind of players as they are effectivly gaming ‘addicts’…

Waiting for the next fix of their familiar gaming drug. COD and FIFA are prime examples.

This is why the COD situation has upset me within gaming. Because such a large amount of people are addicted, the gaming companies use that as a base demographic. It’s such a sweeping way of looking at the industry and it’s customers and it’s why we see endless shit sequels.

Drugged up COD fanboys who can’t seem to think of trying anything new in case they become ‘rusty’ with their precious online franchise.

Everyone has to get in day 1 or get left behind…

In fact, those gamers aren’t Casual, their suckers!

This year I have enjoyed:

Mario Land 3D
Pilot Wings 3DS
Star Fox 3DS
BLOPS 2 (360)
Prototype 2 (360)
Dragons Dogma (360)
Yakuza 4 (PS3)
Zombie U (Wii U)
Nintendoland (Wii U)
Uncharted (Vita)
Numerous iPad games
Halo 4 (360)
Far Cry 3 (360)
Journey (PS3)
Skyward Sword (Wii)

My nephew (20), has played FIFA 12, FIFA 13, MW3, BLOPS2…

I know ALOT of people like that. They are the people who will be first to subscribe, they are the casual.

@35:

That’s the way it’s coming across right now, Manu. We’re already seeing the WiiU struggling to keep up with the current gen: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-black-ops-2-wii-u-face-off

Until the WiiU can produce games that show that it’s ahead of the PS360, then for me, it will only ever be a current gen console that was too late to the party.

I think that my description is accurate, and fair. Wii U is no more than a current gen console with a touch screen pad.

It’s a seventh gen console, along with the PS360 (and the Wii, for that matter), and I’m pretty sure that the 8th gen is going to blow it away in terms of games, features, power and online infrastructure.

@40:

Casual and “single minded” are two completely different things, and have never been synonymous in this context.

A casual gamer is someone who hardly knows anything about games, they might download Angry Birds on a whim, play it for a few days and get on with other things that they find more important in their life.

You’re clearly mixing up your definitions, here.

@43

Okay, my points getting jumbled in my head (I have a cold!),

Fifa & COD players are an easy and trusted demographic to tap into.

They are a marketing teams wet dream.

They love yearly updates, regularly buy DLC, will pay to get ahead of other players, it’s a proven yearly cycle (and more if they can squeeze other stuff out in between), have easily logged online play, are suseptable to advertising etc.. etc…

As much as I like the odd go on COD (mainly single player), I think 90% of COD players unhealthy attitude towards the game is destroying the industry as we know it and shaping it into something horrible.

So I guess Core would be a better name for them, and ‘core’ in marketing speak would mean ‘sheep’. The core continue to buy without question.

If the Wii U can step away from that direction, even a little bit, I’m in!

#42 a port game is not indicative of this GIGA, if we go by this we will be saying the 360 is superior to the ps3 because of games like bayonetta red dead, skyrim, due their performance is better on the 360. Or we can say the ps3 is superior becuase there are games like darksiders or Final Fantasy, but thats not the case the thing is they are pretty close and both are equally in terms of power, therefore they are current.

This is the same thing with the WiiU, ports dont told the whole truth about the capabilities of the console, games that run around the consoles newer architecture and how it works will tell how it is, and of course a lot of factors as well, therefore that is not a fair notion, i think that is the way of thinking of the people that dont line nintendo as brand, because what we know so far it is that it is more than ps3/360, and that it will be lesser that 720 and ps4, with things like

1.- it has more RAM four times more
2.- it has a new chip GPGPU with a CPU IBM called 45nm SOI process (some kind of new tech)
3.-The GPU is based on a Radeon HD 5670

Therefore for all this, the developers have yet to exploit or know their works around the console, with its new architecture, which will take time for sure, and will tell how well the transition will be between this gen and the next one, and based on this, we can say that the WiiU will be in between both gens, but is not like the notion that is a ps3/360 vs gamecube, that is a wrong notion, and ports dont tell the whole picture here.
p.s the port of FEAR on the ps3 was bad, but it wasnt indicative of the console great power, then became games like uncharted 2 and killzone 3, therefore early ports, dont say a thing about a console.

“A casual gamer is someone who hardly knows anything about games, they might download Angry Birds on a whim, play it for a few days and get on with other things that they find more important in their life.”

That is exactly your average CoD player though. Check the Steam stats, check out the numbers that the game sells in comparison with the online dedicated contingent. Most CoD players pick the game up and play for a couple of hours every other day, just something to pass the time, they have no real connection to the game itself, its just something thats popular that they have choosen to get on board with.

As you can see its pretty fucking easy to just state random shit and have people believe it. “Most players” “Everyone I know” “1/4 of players”

uh huh, sure.

Well i did started like casual playing the intellevision and atari, playing decatlon and other sports games, playing pong, etc, then i became hardcore, i think it does more harm than good to differentiate ourselves like that, at the end we all started like casuals and became hardcore or more avid with the time, is like insulting ourselves back then (like spitting to the sky it will eventually fall down to your face), i dont understand that reasoning, but well thats the way it goes, just dont forget our origins, and respect the casuals they will be the avid/core of the future.

Ugh “casual gamer”, “hardcore gamer”…

We’re all just “gamers” who share the same love of a very fun and powerful medium who also throw money into the same big pot that keeps the whole industry going.

It doesn’t matter if said money comes from a CoD fan or an Angry Birds fan, we all help keep the industry alive.

So just chill out, play games and let’s all be mates, yeah?

(Not aimed at anyone here btw)

Theres nothing at all wrong with being a casual gamer in my eyes. In fact I would rather be known as a casual than be associated with what the industry thinks the core is right now.

@48

That would be nice of course!

The thing is, as a journalist, surely you can see the power games like COD have and what immense marketing power they wield?

That in turn can shape other games and even whole platforms.

Some games have been forever changed or even completely canned because a marketing team doesn’t seem them viable in comparison to COD…

And that’s really sad IMO.

Of course things in any medium change over time, but as new generations come in, surely older gamers jobs are to educate casual or younger players to show then gaming did exist before COD 12 or FIFA 2025.

This is how art and history gets lost in the ether and why we have so much shit now.

Look at all the crappy film remakes coming out at the moment. There’s always gems in their too, I’m not saying its all bad, but some people talk about the future of media as if its predetermined.

Like, oh well, it’s going to happen anyway, may aswell embrace it.

I hate that attitude, companies like Activision use that complacency to steamroll the average consumer with shit products or offer little choice.

DLC, subscription services etc… Are all becoming more common using COD as a benchmark.

You simple cant take something that’s working for COD and apply it to the whole gaming industry as much as business execs would have you believe otherwise.