NPD December 2013 and Ubisoft's Watch Dog Blues

Well I gotta get this out of the way.  I'm late and I know it.  But before I do so, it seems a little mess up just came out of Ubisoft

Wait.  Did I say little?  If you're one of many anticipating Ubisoft's Watch Dogs, well here's something out of left field.

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Ubisoft briefly appeared to have abandoned its trademark for Watch Dogs, but the publisher reports today that the request was fraudulent and was not issued with the company's knowledge.
Earlier this afternoon, Polygon reported on the initial filing, but has since updated its original story with details provided by Ubisoft in a new filing submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

"On February 1, 2014, Ubisoft Entertainment received an email from TEAS@uspto.gov notifying Ubisoft Entertainment that a Request for Express Abandonment had been filed in connection with Application Serial No. 85642398. The Request for Express Abandonment purports to be signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft Entertainment, Yves Guillemot.

"Mr. Guillemot, however, did not sign the Request for Express Abandonment, nor did Ubisoft Entertainment file the Request for Express Abandonment. The Request for Express Abandonment is fraudulent and was not filed by Ubisoft Entertainment or its representative."

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Embarrassing, isn't it?  But who was the face of this fraud who got the Watch Dogs trademark canned?  More will come up as soon as someone posts information about it.

Anyway, What were the Top games of December 2013?  Well...

At number 10: Skylanders Swap Force by Activision Blizzard for the Wii, Wii U, 360, PS3, 3DS, XBone and PS4.  Spyro's been having a great New Years party

At number 09: FIFA 14 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and Vita.  Wait, what do you mean PC gamers can't play Soccer?

At number 08: LEGO Marvel Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3, 3DS, XBone, PS4, Wii U, Vita and PC.  And Marvel is still apart of Disney.  What next, a Mickey Mouse/Bugs Bunny crossover done by Platinum games?

At number 07: Grand Theft Auto V by Rockstar/Take 2 for the 360 and PS3.  Who needs a next-gen system?

At number 06: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone, Wii U and PC.  Recommended by Pirates, Rebels, Scoundrels of the Seven Seas, and Yahtzee of Escapist Magazine

At number 05: NBA 2K14 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC.  At least PC gamers can slam dunk like Michael Jordan

At number 04: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC.  Not as embarrassing as the Broncos was in the Super Bowl

At number 03: Just Dance 2014 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone, Wii and Wii U.  Looks like everyone wants to be like the late Michael Jackson

At number 02: Battlefield 4 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC.  And yet, they're locked in lawsuit over its glitches

And at Number 01: Call of Duty: Ghosts by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, XBone, PS4, Wii U and PC.  Isn't the game suppose to be dull right now?

And then there's the overall 2014 picture.  For the first time in a long time,  Call of Duty was not number 1.

At number 10: Disney Infinity by Disney Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U, Wii and 3DS.  Behold, the competition to Skylanders

At number 09: Minecraft by 4J Studios, Mojang and Microsoft for the 360.  Too bad it ain't as grand as the PC version.  But amazing what you can do with a lower price.

At number 08: Just Dance 2014 by Ubisoft for the Wii, 360, XBone, Wii U, PS3 and PS4.  I swear there's something off about this dancing machine

At number 07: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC.  Wait a minute.  What's this game doing on the list?  Didn't it release in 2012?

At number 06: NBA 2K14 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC.  Like I said, everyone wants to be Michael Jordan.

At number 05: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone, Wii U and PC.  Missing from the game: Pirate's Life for Me song from Pirates of the Caribbean.

At number 04: Battlefield 4 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC.  And yet they got the worst problems out of that

At number 03: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4 and XBone.  You won't get any interruptions in the post game conference

At number 02: Call of Duty Ghosts by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, XBone, PS4, Wii U and PC.  So what beat Call of Duty this year? Well, that game happens to be...

At number 01: Grand Theft Auto V by Take 2 for the 360 and PS3.  And you still don't need to buy a next gen console just to play this. XP

Now overall, The X Box One, despite being supply constraint, managed to outsell a supply constraint Playstation 4 at around 900K.  This could make it hard for Sony to take the American market.  The 360 manages to stay relevant at around 640K as the PS3 and Wii begin to fade into obscurity.  The Wii U, while not as powerful as the XBone, manages to sell more than 460K.  But they say the 3DS Sold more than a Million.

Not really the best Christmas despite Hardware launches, but it could have been worse.

January is a lame duck month for gaming.   What will it bring to us?  Stay tuned. 

 Works Cited:
IGN
NeoGAF