For several months, Nintendo has been slowly killing two of its consoles. And the situation is getting even worse for one of them. Some will have to take care of it or risk getting a nasty surprise.
Consoles are not made to last, and sooner or later, they are buried by their respective manufacturer. As a general rule, the end is gradual with the deactivation of certain important features. Then, little by little, production is stopped and after a while, it is no longer even possible to have it repaired through official channels. Nintendo players have been experiencing this in recent months with the discontinuation of two consoles. Things are not going to get any better with this new announcement from Big N.
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A Nintendo console sacrificed for good
Can't play online on 3DS and Wii U anymore? That's normal. As of April 8, 2024, Nintendo has disabled multiplayer on all games. “As of April 8, 2024, online play and other features that utilize online communication will no longer be available for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software. This includes online cooperative play, internet leaderboards, and data distribution.”. On the other hand, if you have one of these consoles, or even both, you can still re-download your purchased titles, DLCs and perform updates. Likewise, the Pokemon Bank and Poké Transfer are active.
Another milestone has been reached as Nintendo no longer repairs defective Wii U units in Japan. “We no longer have the parts needed for repairs, so as of July 3, 2024, we will no longer be accepting repair requests for Nintendo Wii U consoles and peripherals.” (via X).
Almost twelve years after the launch of the Wii U in the Land of the Rising Sun, Big N is therefore stopping the costs and will no longer help out the console's owners. Without realizing it, Nintendo has held firm because this decision was made in 2020 for the United States. The manufacturer no longer has much interest in making more efforts anyway since production of the machine ended in 2017, and it was a flop. It only sold 13.56 million units. This is a long way from the 101.63 million of the Wii, or the Nintendo Switch which exceeded 141.3 million in March 2024. RIP Wii U, little angel gone too early or too late, depending on your point of view.