We are committed to providing fast, efficient, and affordable software solutions that set new standards in the software development industry.
  • Nintendo Is Killing the Wii U
Technology Articles > Entertainment > Gaming Consoles > Nintendo Is Killing the Wii U

What is the world going to do with Nintendo? Well, maybe not the world, but definitely those people that used to love this company and its consoles. If you think back to the 1990s, Nintendo was one of those console companies that started it all - and followed it up with epic games like the Legend of Zelda.

Lately, though, the company has been struggling. Nintendo has just created a new console called the Switch, but its older console is now dead. I’m talking, of course, about the Wii U. The Wii U was the follow-up to the Nintendo Wii, but it never really took off. The Wii U was really just a large tablet-like joystick. It didn’t excite people the way that the Wii did.

Why Wii U Didn’t Work

So why didn’t the Wii U take off the same way that the original Wii did? We can break it down like this. The Wii wasn’t a console for gamers. It wasn’t a console for people that enjoyed gaming in any way, really. The Wii was a console for people that didn’t game, but would pick up a console and play a game if they could get something enjoyable out of it - like dancing on a large tablet.

So Nintendo had success getting people to move while they played a game - and then the whole Wii community was a lot of fun for those people too. Plus, you could literally lose weight with the Wii, so this console tapped into weight loss and fitness as well - all good things that were really original at the time. In fact, Nintendo’s Wii was the first of its kind and people loved it (people of all types).

But then the excitement surrounding the Wii died.

Enter the Wii U

Nintendo tried to pick up those same Wii players once again with the Wii U. But this console wasn’t the same. It was a large joystick-type console that simply wasn’t that fun to use or play. People didn’t gravitate towards the Wii U like they did with the Wii. It just wasn’t as much fun. So the Wii U wasn’t a huge success.

Eventually, sales for the Wii U started to die out. Nintendo was at a loss. So the company has now created the Switch. If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday, you probably saw the commercial about the Switch. Nintendo is hoping to snag the same Wii crowd with the Switch. But will the Switch do what the Wii did? Or will it be another Wii U type flop? It’s hard to say.

Stopping Production

Nintendo is officially stopping production and support of the Wii U as of this week. If you are one of the few out there that still uses the Wii U or likes it, this means that you won’t be able to get new games, support from Nintendo, or anything else related to the Wii U after this week.

This is something that companies do periodically, so it’s not unusual, and Nintendo doesn’t think that it will impact too many people given the console’s non-existent popularity.