Is the Wii U actually getting harder to find?

[Rick Dangerous]

This was posted recently:

 

https://kotaku.com/the-wii-u-is-getting-harder-to-find-1822623761

 

Yes, they didn't make a ton of them, but there are currently like 3-4 on CL locally, and at least half are for pretty reasonable prices.

 

Seems like a bad time to sell a Wii U really, better off in 5-10 years when it's like a Sega Saturn or a Dreamcast and really is a bit more rare.

[homerj]

They aren't hard to find at all, at least in my area. I wouldn't think they'd be hard to find anywhere unless the people that bought them just aren't getting rid of them.

[Rick Dangerous]

Inevitably, with 13 million made, and Nintendo collectors hanging on to them, they will become a rare bird...

[DCent]

Inevitably, with 13 million made, and Nintendo collectors hanging on to them, they will become a rare bird...

I love my Wii U. I have a pretty good stack of games for it. I don't know why so many people hated on it, it was a solid system. I also love the Switch and Xbox One.

[Blazing Lazers]

They're still perfectly common around here. In the long term, the controllers might become tougher to find, and fullset collectors will drive up the prices of a few titles. If a lot of the really good titles get ported to the Switch, then there might not be much interest in this system.

[Austin]

They're still perfectly common around here. In the long term, the controllers might become tougher to find, and fullset collectors will drive up the prices of a few titles. If a lot of the really good titles get ported to the Switch, then there might not be much interest in this system.

 

My thoughts are about the same. Game Pads might go up in price as good working ones become less readily available, and fullset collectors may drive up the price of certain titles. It'll be interesting to see where it goes over the next five to ten years but I'm not really holding my breath on it.

 

Inevitably, with 13 million made, and Nintendo collectors hanging on to them, they will become a rare bird...

 

As much of a failure it was, 13 million is still a big number. I don't expect these to rise in value too much if at all, especially if much of the first-party lineup becomes available elsewhere. Worst case I see it turning into a Game Boy Player kind of scenario where the console is dirt cheap (comparison to the GBA player attachment), and the Game Pad goes up (comparison to the GBA Player disc).

[Blazing Lazers]

There might also be an increase in price for some of the more obscure shovelware titles- I doubt Brunswick Pro Bowling sold well, for example, or had that large of a print run to begin with.

[homerj]

 

My thoughts are about the same. Game Pads might go up in price as good working ones become less readily available, and fullset collectors may drive up the price of certain titles. It'll be interesting to see where it goes over the next five to ten years but I'm not really holding my breath on it.

 

 

As much of a failure it was, 13 million is still a big number. I don't expect these to rise in value too much if at all, especially if much of the first-party lineup becomes available elsewhere. Worst case I see it turning into a Game Boy Player kind of scenario where the console is dirt cheap (comparison to the GBA player attachment), and the Game Pad goes up (comparison to the GBA Player disc).

Good points. The durability over time of the gamepad might ultimately determine the collectibility of the Wii U. The Dreamcast sold similar numbers & I could easily go buy 10 of them today. Of course it could just be that there isn't much interest in the Dreamcast in my area.

[TDIRunner]

13 million is pretty low as far as big name consoles go. In addition to that, there is a lot of stuff that goes with the system and as game pads inevitably break down over time it's possible that the system might be considered somewhat rare or difficult to find. With that being said, I have a feeling that only die hard collectors will be looking for these down the road because most of the big name tiles are getting ported over to the Switch. It seems like Nintendo is trying to get us to forget the Wii U ever existed. Funny thing is that it seems like the only people who really care about the Wii U already have one, so there may not be much demand outside of replacement/repair consoles.

[Rick Dangerous]

I think it will be on par with the Saturn in the future. You see the occasional one but's it's not really a prevalent system.

 

The challenge is, what games are actually going to be rare for the Wii U like those on the Saturn are? Not much really......

[Rick Dangerous]

Although...there are still plenty of Good Wii U exclusives at this time.

 

Super Mario 3D world, Captain Toad, and Star Fox come to mind. I can't imagine Nintendo wouldn't want to cash in on these with a quick port at some point though, but you never know they may have to dedicate most of their resources to new game creation.

[cybercylon]

At the moment, there is pre-owned Wii U stuff everywhere around here... systems, games, controllers, etc.

 

I don't expect the system or games to get all that high in value like a lot of the Saturn stuff did, especially with the games. Some of those expensive Saturn games had a very low print run and were on more fragile CD discs. Wii U discs are once again some sort of propriety format. They kind of feel like a blu-ray disc and look like the could withstand more of a beating.

 

It's the tablet control itself that will make it expensive. Without it, the Wii U is a brick, so as mentioned already, those that are interested probably already have one and will take good care of it. For others, it will probably be long forgotten in 15-20 years.

[Rick Dangerous]

it will probably be long forgotten in 15-20 years.

 

I don't know about that..it was Nintendo's primary console for 5 years. Is the N64 long forgotten? That was 20 years ago.

[NE146]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/261304-any-retailers-selling-new-wii-u/

[cybercylon]

I think the N64 had better following (selling around 33 million units or so), and it will probably be a console that millennials with think of as it may have been their first console (granted... that might be the GameCube for younger ones). Also, the N64 is more durable. For every game pad that dies, so does a Wii U

[Rick Dangerous]

I bought a white Wii U today at lamestop for $150 to have in my downstairs gameroom. Excited to have a second one and the interesting 8GB white model...

[omegadot]

My Wii U ended up taking a beating because during it's life my wife delivered me two children and, despite my honest best efforts, they messed with the thing. It's been taken apart twice. The Gamepad had a stick go and had to be taken apart and had that replaced. I really like the console so I'll be trying to buy it off any friends that ditch theirs for when mine inevitably goes. I only got a handful of games on the eshop and I won't be too broken up losing them.