Alongside announcing their fiscal year results, Activision have outlined their concerns for this year among which is the Wii U.
Having sold below even Nintendo’s own expectations, the publisher has fears for consumer interest in next-generation hardware.
“While we have had a solid start to the year, we now believe that the risks and uncertainties in the back half of 2013 are more challenging than our earlier view, especially in the holiday quarter,” Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick explained.
“The shift in release dates of competing products, the disappointing launch of the Wii U, uncertainties regarding next-generation hardware, and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns, as do continued challenges in the global economy.
“For these reasons, we remain cautious. However, our focused and disciplined approach to our business has served us well in the past, and through continued investment and careful management of our costs, we expect to continue delivering shareholder value over the long term as we have for the last 20 years.”
It isn’t just the Wii U impacting upon Activision’s sales either, with the Wii underperforming as well.
Kotick continued, “Obviously, a growing installed base of family friendly consoles would be a benefit. And console prices and sales are one of the risks and one of the issues that we articulated for the fourth quarter.
“That said, we’ve done well despite weaknesses for both the Wii and the Wii U and seeing the Wii U take off would be great, but remains to be seen.”
Activision: Disappointing Wii U launch raises concerns
