Wii U will reportedly cease production this year

[toptenmaterial]

The Wii U will supposedly go out of commission this year. Is this premature? I hope that Nintendo changes its strategy for the NX.

 

http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/22/nintendo-to-cease-wii-u-production-this-year/

[TPA5]

Makes sense to me, it can't be cheap to keep dumping money into production of a struggling console. I'm sure Nintendo has learned from this mis-step and the NX will hopefully revive the brand as a console manufacturer. I'm definitely looking forward to the NX in any case, I'm hoping it actually makes current-gen gaming something I'm interested in.

[Flojomojo]

I hope the new thing is backwards compatible.

[4Ks]

Oh well, it had a good run. I just bought one earlier this year and I've been enjoying it immensely. I feel like it could bow out at the end of the year and be able to retire with a pretty damn good library of games.

[Tempest]

It was worth buying for Super Mario 3D World and Xenobalde Chronicles X alone. I put 60 and 110 hours into them respectively.

[leods]

Well, I never had a Wii, so to me the WiiU actually opened a huge library between wii and WiiU. I consider the WiiU as failed as the Vita. I still want to buy half a dozen games for the System, which will put me at a dozen games total. And those 12 games will totally justify the purchase of the console. The Wii backwards compatibility Comes as a Bonus.

[Gentlegamer]

I'll be using my recently purchased Wii U to catch up on its library, the best of Wii, and enjoying the upcoming remaining releases that I hope includes nuZelda.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I am disappointed to see the Wii U come to an end after 4 years. I got mine in February 2015 and played the heck out of NES Remix, Super Mario Maker, Super Mario 3D World, Mario U, Luigi U, and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. I have Mighty No. 9 reserved for it's end of May release and hopefully it will be good after all these constant delays.

[Tempest]

How is the Wii-U version of Watchdogs? Worth buying?

[+Cafeman]

We just bought it not long ago. Nobody plays it.

[Newsdee]

I've got mine to replace a broken Wii and be able to get newer games on occasion. Smash Bros. is OK but I miss the "story mode" they had in the previous one.

[fultonbot]

I hope the new thing is backwards compatible.

 

I just came here to say that. I hope it's Wii U backwardly compatible. There are some really good Wii U (okay, Mario Maker). I also hope my virtual console purchases transfer. I lost all my Wii purchases because of bad Wii console.

[cimerians]

Today nobody really plays it in my house. If not for the handful of (usually) excellent Nintendo first party games I actually would have sold it. Its frustrating.

 

Will look forward to the NX but won't expect anything other than the usual quality first party games. Don't care about BC in the least.

[Austin]

If this is true, then I feel like Nintendo is pulling a SEGA with this one. The system hasn't seen much of a price drop and people that have bought into it recently are going to feel burned. I figured they would have at least continued production for another year after the NX is released. Oh well.

 

As a Wii U owner since near-launch, it's not a big deal to me. It was good while it lasted and I'll still fire it up to play Mario Maker, Xenoblade, and many other first party titles. I just feel bad for people that recently invested in one and what that might do to their confidence in Nintendo down the line.

[Newsdee]

They don't say anything about inventory. Maybe they consider they'll have enough until the NX arrives.

[Bill Loguidice]

It's all but a guarantee that the Nintendo NX will have zero backwards compatibility with anything prior to it outside of Virtual Console stuff. The NX needs to represent a much-needed clean break both technologically and in spirit.

[Tempest]

They don't say anything about inventory. Maybe they consider they'll have enough until the NX arrives.

 

This was exactly my thought. The Wii-U hasn't sold all that well and they probably have enough back stock to last until the NX arrives.

[Bill Loguidice]

If this is true, then I feel like Nintendo is pulling a SEGA with this one. The system hasn't seen much of a price drop and people that have bought into it recently are going to feel burned. I figured they would have at least continued production for another year after the NX is released. Oh well.

 

As a Wii U owner since near-launch, it's not a big deal to me. It was good while it lasted and I'll still fire it up to play Mario Maker, Xenoblade, and many other first party titles. I just feel bad for people that recently invested in one and what that might do to their confidence in Nintendo down the line.

 

For the record, I had blogged about it here: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/03/22/nikkei-nintendo-ceasing-wii-u-production/

 

It's clear that due to the high production cost for the screen-based controller that there was no way for Nintendo to drop the price on the Wii U any further without losing money. If it wasn't, they would have already tried it to help boost sales. As it was, they tried to increase the Wii U's value by including more games. For whatever reason that's not as compelling to the average consumer as a straight up price drop.

 

Even though the latest is Nintendo denying the Nikkei report, I have a feeling it's true. They probably produced enough to meet remaining demand, which will almost certainly continue to drop once the NX is officially unveiled around E3 and then the NX is officially available around November (just a guess, but I believe an educated one). As it is, the Wii U's final sales tally will probably end up around 15 million units (compared to around 36 million and counting for the PS4 and 25 million and counting for the Xbox One, both of which came out a year after the Wii U). That says all you need to know about why the Wii U is probably going to stop being produced and why the NX is probably being fast-tracked for the end of this year. As we've discussed in other threads, if the 3DS also wasn't in the home stretch of its run, they might have been able to stick with the Wii U a bit longer, but since that's the case and the Wii U never caught on, Nintendo really has no choice but to reset sooner rather than later.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Bill Loguidice

[Mord]

Assuming all this is true, then it looks like they really are pushing the promised Zelda U to the next gen console. I guess I can wait til E3 to see what they officially say.

[Tempest]

Assuming all this is true, then it looks like they really are pushing the promised Zelda U to the next gen console. I guess I can wait til E3 to see what they officially say.

 

I wonder if they'll do what they did with Twilight Princess and have it release on both the Wii U and the NX?

[glazball]

This is sad news, *if true*, but not surprising. I just hate seeing everyone ooh and ahh over the NX, which is about as solidified now as the Coleco Chameleon. To those of you who own the Wii U and enjoy it's already incredible library of games, thank you. After the Wii U is dead, everyone else years from now will try to pretend it was always their favorite system (a la Dreamcast).

 

Personally, I'd like to see a Wii U release of Skyward Sword HD. I'd love to have HD versions of Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword all on one console.

[Bill Loguidice]

 

I wonder if they'll do what they did with Twilight Princess and have it release on both the Wii U and the NX?

 

That's the logical conclusion. They already promised it for Wii U and it's clearly been in development for Wii U, so no reason not to release it for Wii U as well as the NX. Even with the meager Wii U install base, certain titles are guaranteed million+ sellers. This is one of them.

[Bill Loguidice]

This is sad news, *if true*, but not surprising. I just hate seeing everyone ooh and ahh over the NX, which is about as solidified now as the Coleco Chameleon. To those of you who own the Wii U and enjoy it's already incredible library of games, thank you. After the Wii U is dead, everyone else years from now will try to pretend it was always their favorite system (a la Dreamcast).

 

Personally, I'd like to see a Wii U release of Skyward Sword HD. I'd love to have HD versions of Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword all on one console.

 

I don't think anyone is oohing and aahing over the NX, at least not yet. There's interest in the NX because the Wii U is effectively dead and has been dead software-wise for quite some time, and the 3DS is in its inevitable declining years. The NX is interesting because this is Nintendo's chance to recapture some of their lost cache and it's going to be their first clean break of a system since the GameCube. It will also be a chance for Nintendo to rally around a single system, which will serve them well once the 3DS is effectively sunsetted, since their usual pedestrian release schedule will be targeted to a single system. So, if you're a dedicated Nintendo fan, and there are probably at least 15 million of them still out there based on Wii U console sales, the coming of the NX can only be seen as a good thing. The challenge will be if everyone else sees the NX as a good thing (and of course how well Nintendo carefully manages the transition for Wii U users so as not to "offend" their most loyal fanbase, especially since there almost certainly won't be any backwards compatibility).

[Raticon]

Honestly i'm not surprised, given the (in Nintendo terms) very poor sales it has seen almost since release day and i'm sure some of the corporate suits holding the money-bag got fed up and said "enough is enough".
As others have said, NX will be a clean break and a new opportunity for them. I hope it'll catch on and get some good content.

[godslabrat]

 

I don't think anyone is oohing and aahing over the NX, at least not yet. There's interest in the NX because the Wii U is effectively dead and has been dead software-wise for quite some time, and the 3DS is in its inevitable declining years. The NX is interesting because this is Nintendo's chance to recapture some of their lost cache and it's going to be their first clean break of a system since the GameCube. It will also be a chance for Nintendo to rally around a single system, which will serve them well once the 3DS is effectively sunsetted, since their usual pedestrian release schedule will be targeted to a single system. So, if you're a dedicated Nintendo fan, and there are probably at least 15 million of them still out there based on Wii U console sales, the coming of the NX can only be seen as a good thing. The challenge will be if everyone else sees the NX as a good thing (and of course how well Nintendo carefully manages the transition for Wii U users so as not to "offend" their most loyal fanbase, especially since there almost certainly won't be any backwards compatibility).

 

 

 

One thing Nintendo really needs to do is bank on the Virtual Console from Day 1. Every single game that was on the previous VCs should be available on launch day, and if they could manage to include another hundred, that'd be excellent. I was absolutely appalled at how the Wii's extensive VC library did not get inherited by the Wii-U.