Nintendo has officially ended all support for the Wii U.
Nintendo previously confirmed it would be shutting down the online stores for both the Wii U and the 3DS in early 2023, while servers enabling online play were shuttered in April of 2024.
“This is part of the natural lifecycle for any product line as it becomes less used by consumers over time,” explained Nintendo when it first announced the news.
And now Nintendo has confirmed that the final element of support for the Wii U would be closing down. Taking to social media, the company confirmed it would no longer be able to repair the console in Japan, because it had run out of parts. The repair service has already been shuttered in other regions.
This means that Nintendo is no longer supporting the Wii U in any capacity.
修理に必要な部品の在庫がなくなりましたので、2024年7月3日をもって、Wii U本体および周辺機器の修理受付を終了いたしました。 https://t.co/pmexAcLr4J
— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) July 4, 2024
One fan called it the “end of an era” while another paid tribute to the console by writing “good night, sweet prince.”
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“I need to protect my Gamepad with my life at all costs. Otherwise I’ll never be able to play Xenoblade Chronicles X again,” wrote another fan on Reddit, with one more adding “If they’d just port over The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Windwaker HD I would have no reason to even play the Wii U.”
Good night, sweet prince. 😢 https://t.co/bEyvX75wWn
— Tony Cocking (@WildTonyAppears) July 4, 2024
Some fans have pointed out that Nintendo promised to repair the Wii U for six years after it launched, with the company stopping production of the console in 2017. However, others believe that the lack of support for the Wii U is because Nintendo is gearing up to launch a successor to the Switch.
Originally the Nintendo Switch 2 was rumoured to be released this year, but the console has reportedly been delayed to allow the company to build up stock and a decent catalogue of games for launch. “As a measure against resale, we believe that the most important thing is to produce a sufficient number of units to meet customer demand, and this approach has not changed since last year,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said during a recent Q&A session with investors.
In other news, the Batman series focused on Arkham Asylum has reportedly been cancelled by HBO.