Rayman: A Legend Deferred
The delay of a finished product sucks, but listening to entitled, butthurt whiners is just as bad.
If you've at all been keeping up with current events, then you've undoubtedly come across one of our generations biggest stories: Rayman Legends for the Wii U is no longer a Wii U exclusive and will be appearing on Xbox 360 and PS3. What makes matters worse? It's being delayed. "Oh," you think to yourself, "that's not so bad. It was supposed to be a launch title for the Wii U, and it got pushed back 3 months. I can wait another week or two." Well, keep dreaming, because Ubisoft is pushing that shit back for another seven months.
Yes, it's true; twenty days before its scheduled North American release and eventual worldwide release Ubisoft hit Rayman fans with a seven-month delay. You can only imagine how that went down for all interested parties.
Ubisoft can't even begin to fathom the amount of Butthurt they've caused.
And the worst part of all this, if you haven't surmised, is that the game is practically finished. They're delaying the Wii U version so they can release the game multiplatform, and Ubisoft needs that time to develop for the other consoles. Naturally, people start asking, "Why not just release the Wii U version and release the ports later?" To be honest, that's a good question. That's why it's not hard to give credit to some people's theory that Ubisoft was bought out. By whom, I've no idea. Sony? Microsoft? Both? Whomever it may be, if a buyout happened at all, I'd like to think that Ubisoft got enough money to fill that hole where their souls used to be.
Yup. This'll plug that right up.
I'm a huge Rayman fan. I habitually played his first game on my Saturn when I was a kid, slogged through its sequel on the N64, ignored him until Raving Rabbids, and continued ignoring him until the sublime Rayman Origins recaptured my heart. Man, that game really is phenomenal. I seriously believe that, in Origins, Rayman does platforming better than Mario and speed better than Sonic. But I digress. Presently, I'm an enormous Rayman fan who's main reason for purchasing the Wii U was for Rayman Legends. Also, I've played the Castle Rock level in the Rayman Legends Demo more times than I'd like to admit. Let's just say my 2-year-old daughter can sing verbatim the gibberish version of Black Betty that plays during that level.
The Metal-est thing to happen in gaming since ever!
Being a Wii U owner who invested in the console solely for Rayman Legends, you can imagine how heavy this news hit me. So, in order to find some solace, I went online to see how others were taking it. It wasn't pretty.
Perusing a lot of forums and comments sections, I got a good sampling on how people were reacting. I also saw how people were assessing those reactions. For the most part, I noticed how the assessers tended to focus on the loss of exclusivity and attribute that loss to the overall feeling of disdain that Wii U owners were exhibiting. I can't say that there aren't instances where that's not true, but I don't think these people were really getting the point of our - Rayman Fans/Wii U Owners - disgust. Allow me to elucidate.
Let me just step right up here, now....
Some people, specifically PS3/Xbox 360 fanboys, want to believe that we Wii U owners are upset that our precious little game isn't just ours anymore. I really can't speak for everyone, but I can say that that's not the case for me. I understand Ubisoft is a company, and companies exist to make money. Therefore, selling a game for multiple consoles instead of just one is a great way to bolster sales. In that sense, this is a pretty damn good business move. However, it's a damn bad PR move, and this brings us to the real reason why we're upset: the seven-month delay!
Crap, man! That's a long-ass time! Especially for a game that's already finished! It's hard to understand how Ubisoft thought delaying a finished product would be a great move. Moreover, they're delaying it to be released alongside Grand Theft Auto V. I'm sorry, but that's just bad business. GTAV is going to clean the floor with Rayman Legends, and this is coming from someone who doesn't give a shit about GTA.
They'll hijack Rayman's game faster than any Rabbid.
Now, let's go back to the community of outraged Rayman fans. I've heard talks of people cancelling their preorders to boycotting the game to shunning Ubisoft altogether. Wherever you stand on this, all I can say is do what you have to do. I don't agree with what went down with Mass Effect 3, but I can't deny the power of a group of willful individuals.
As for me, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to wait seven months and then purchase Rayman Legends on Wii U. You know why? Because I'm not entitled. It blows; I can't lie. It blows hard that this is happening. But there's nothing I can do about it. I could bitch and moan like the Mass Effect 3 ending haters, but I got better shit to do with my time. If you're not going to buy this game, or if you're going to boycott Ubisoft for whatever self-righteous reason, just know that you're going to be missing out on one hell of a game. I can't wait for Legends to come out (but tough shit! I'm going to have to!), so I think I'll play me some Rayman Origins to tide me over. That game's the shit!
What do you think, g1s? Is everyone overreacting or reacting just right? Am I too lax on the issue? Should I be up in arms, too? Or is my cynical, overly passive approach too lame? Let me know in the comments!
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I'm Bygjuce, a former educator that believes, when combined, grammar, comedy, and video games are magic! Also, peanut butter. Peanut butter is also magic! Come be butthurt at my personal blog! Like me on Facebook and follow my tweets!
» Tagged In: #bygjuce, #comedy, #delay, #funny, #humor, #Rayman Legends, #thanks for your playing, #Wii U
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
darkhyrulelord
I could imagine being a Wii U owner and this happening. : /
Sadly, while fans speak loud, money sometimes speak louder. Although you do have a point---why have the release so close to GTAV? That's a bad idea, and I'm not a big fan of GTA either. I'm torn by whether or not to get the game on the PS3 due to this since I don't know when I'll get a Wii U anytime soon.
GaryCXJk
Upset 'Rayman Legend' Fans Are Entitled Because That's What We Call People Who Complain About Video Games
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/01/22/upset-dmc-fans-are-entit...
Now I'm not going to lie. I'm not interested in the game. I'm never going to purchase it, because it's not my genre.
But calling those who did complain entitled or butthurt just rubs even me the wrong way.
Bygjuce
In the article you provided, the author talks about two things: 1.) How Dante's hair color change caused a lot of his fans to turn on the franchise, and 2) The author's reaction to another writer's reaction on the consumers' reactions (LOL. I just had to write it like that).
In actuality, the complaining I touch upon in my post is not about video games, per se. It's about business practices and how the consumers' negative reactions to these practices make consumers look petty and entitled. It just so happens that the product is a video game.
It's perfectly fine to complain about the stuff you like when it starts sucking. I don't think I could ever stop complaining about how terrible the Lost season finale was. But I didn't rally a bunch of other people disappointed with the ending and cry like a freaking baby until they changed it, effectively making the case of "Video Games as Art" moot. (A Mass Effect 3 allegory, ladies and gentlemen! You dissenters are awful and should be ashamed of yourselves)
My use of entitlement is exactly how it is: people want something because they think they deserve it. Do we Wii U owners deserve - or have owed to us - Rayman Legends? Hell, no! Ubisoft can take the game and burn it, and there's not a damn thing I can do because it was never mine to begin with (please don't burn things, Ubisoft....)
Sorry for the long reply; I appreciated your willingness to coherently argue with me. I just don't feel the author of that article and I are talking about the same things.
TwistoFate
I agree, I'm not angry that its coming out on more consoles, but the fact its been delayed for 7 MONTHS!!
I can't help but think that this delay was done in the first place to rile up gamers and get more attention on the game, a strategy that will flop as previously mentioned GTA V will be coming around that same time. It doesn't matter how awesome Rayman Legends will be, it will be almost impossible for it to stay out of the shadow of the most recent installment of a well-reviewed and popular franchise like Grand Theft Auto. I'm also nervous of the fact that by then the Wii U will already have plenty of strong titles (Pikmin 3, the new smash bros, Bayonetta 2 etc.), so even if it remained exclusive to the console, Rayman Legends would STILL be overlooked!
Phrosen63
Exclusive to certain consolse is the worst thing in video game history, so I'm glad it lost it's exclusiveness. Too bad on the massive delay, though.
yggdra324
With out exclusives, what the point of different systems.
Flapperdoodle
I pretty much agree 100% with this. We are not entitled, so we must wait.
IronMaster777
I'm glad that 360 and ps3 user will get it as well but why the hell does ubisoft need to delay the wii u version
Koenig
Great points across the board. As for myself, I will simply not buy the game new if I even buy it at all. It took months for Ubisoft to kindle my interest in the game, but by lying about exclusivity and delaying the finished game they have extinguished that interest.
Sergeant Smithy
I do agree with all of your points, because an overly entitled fanbase is really annoying to hear from (*cough cough* MASS EFFECT 3 *cough*). I would add that boycotting, though a noble effort, really only ends up hurting the developer, not the publisher. Publishers use the sales info to evaluate what sort of games should be kept or scrapped, and therefore, by boycotting a game, you send a message to the publisher that "we don't want this game," rather than "we think your business practices are bullshit" (which is really what most people want to say when they boycott a game).
However, there's a much better reason to be pissed about this delay than a multi-console release (which is stupid, since the game is pretty much finished, but is something I can live with). If you caught Hard News a while back you would have heard that this surprise delay announcement came from the publishing execs at Ubisoft, not the developers. This is a tragic story. The development team has basically been in a perpetual state of crunch time since last may, which means the people working on the game have sacrificed a lot of time and effort to get this game finished for this month. All of a sudden, the execs in the publishing arm of Ubisoft decide to throw all that now-useless crunch time out the window. That is appalling, and we should be complaining about *that,* rather than the fact that the game is suddenly multi-platform.