Okay, I will be honest, I do not care for Rayman as a franchise. I have not liked a single Rayman title even from the beginning, and nothing has changed in recent times to alter this opinion. I find the games either completely (and painfully) frustrating, or criminally easy. This might very well be just me, but it is my opinion nonetheless, regardless how controversial it may be.

So, you can imagine, that I wasn’t particularly offended when the ‘Wii U-exclusive’ Rayman Legends was not only removed from it’s exclusivity, but also delayed until September to be released multi-format. This is despite the fact that the Wii U instalment was fully completed and, understandably, a lot of fans of the franchise have become very irate (to put it VERY politely) with this turn of events. They have taken to Twitter and Facebook (among other internet platforms) in droves to complain about it, some even taking the complaints directly to Ubisoft themselves.

I will admit, I didn’t quite understand why this decision warranted such a ferocious backlash at first. I mean, yes Rayman Legends is a very beautiful game, but is it really worth all the hassle that has come from it’s delay? However, after reading up on the entire situation, and listening to the opinions of various people who were angered by the decision, I think I can see the perspective these self-styled ‘Rayvolutionaries’.

Their first qualm, which even I (unaffected by the decision) cannot argue with, is the fact that the Wii U version was physically ready to launch. Seeing as the game was produced for the Wii U platform from the very beginning, I have to agree that it is a little bit of a foolish business decision to keep back a game that is ready, just so that it can be altered for two platforms it was not designed for in the first place. I can’t imagine any benefits given by the uses of the Wii U GamePad transferring well onto the Playstation 3’s Sixaxis controller for instance.

I am aware that the reason for this idiotic call is the fact that Microsoft are a bunch of petulant children that couldn’t possibly have a multi-format title released on their console later than another platform (well done Microsoft for adding another reason for me not to like your console), but the fact remains that Ubisoft (as the developer) should have stood up and refused such an outlandish demand. Quite honestly, Rayman Legends will probably sell in high numbers, so Microsoft would have soon come crawling back to get a release for it on the 360.

Their second qualm is that there are a fair few people who bought the Wii U so that they could play this title. Now, through no fault of Nintendo or the console itself, they are now being forced to wait another seven months or so before they even get to play it. Then, to add insult to injury to these particular fans, Ubisoft respond by releasing an ‘exclusive’ new demo of the title onto the Wii U eShop. Something that, rather than achieving the desired effect of placating the fans, will only serve to rub salt into a very recent wound.

Their final qualm is one that has been reported since this farore began, and that is that the game’s creator, Michel Ancel, and the development team at Ubisoft Montpellier, have also began protesting against this decision too. They even went as far as posting the picture above so that Ubisoft could clearly see the disappointment of a team of their developers. You would have thought that the creators of the game themselves would be able to overturn such a mistake, but clearly not.

This whole fiasco is made even more comical by Ubisoft’s reaction to the wholly negative response that their decision has received which, after the laughable demo, has comprised of complete silence on all social media platforms. It is one thing to create a massive problem, but another entirely to then ignore this problem as you didn’t quite anticipate the level of negativity it would cause.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I do not really care whether Wii U gets Rayman Legends or not, or whether it even gets it at all. I do not believe that Wii U losing this ‘exclusive’ is damning for the console or it’s future. However, I do believe that the decision itself, and the response of Ubisoft since, have left a lot to be desired. What do you think? Were you looking forward to Rayman Legends, or are you looking forward to it now that it is coming to 360/PS3? Let me know in the comments or Tweet me .

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