Nintendo Leaves Owners Of Broken Wii U Consoles In The Lurch Ahead Of Switch 2 Launch
Perhaps there is a cautionary tale somewhere in the conception, release, and lukewarm reception (to put it nicely) of Nintendo's Wii U console. It didn't come close to rivaling the mighty Wii in console sales, and instead ranks as Nintendo's worst-selling console of all time. However, if you did end up buying one and still play games on it, be advised that you're now on your own if the system happens to break.
In a translated statement posted to X/Twitter, Nintendo's customer support account stated, "We have run out of parts necessary for repairs, so as of July 3, 2024, we will no longer be accepting repairs for Wii U console and peripherals."
This doesn't come at a complete shock. Nintendo put Wii U owners on notice in May that once its "current stock of parts is depleted, repair services will end." Now nine months later, that day has finally come, officially putting an end to an era.
Not that the era was all that notable, at least in a favorable way. Nintendo only sold 13.56 million Wii U consoles during its lifetime, compared to 101.63 million Wii consoles. Nintendo's best-selling console of all time is the DS with 154.02 million units sold, followed by the Switch, which sits near the top at 141.32 million units sold to date.
The Switch has a legitimate shot of claiming the top spot before all is said and done. And if looking at software sales, the Switch is unrivaled among Nintendo's consoles, with over 1.2 billion units sold. In comparison, the Wii U only mustered 103.6 million software units, which seems like a lot but like the hardware figure for the Wii U, it ranks dead last.
Clearly, not all follow-up acts are successful. That's notable because Nintendo is expected to release a Switch 2 or Switch Pro sometime between now and March 2025. While details are still under lock and key, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed in May that a "successor" to the Switch would be announced during the company's current fiscal year, which runs from July 2024 to March 2025.
More recently (last week), Furukawa once again referenced the upcoming console, saying that he believes Nintendo will be able to supply enough units to avoid a shortage. He also said that Nintendo is looking into any legal tactics that may exist to prevent scalpers from gobbling up the initial supply and selling units at inflated prices.
The Switch has been such a monumental hit spawning several iterations (the latest of which sports an OLED display) that it's hard to imagine a Switch 2/Pro flopping. Of course, the same could have been said about the eventual Wii U during the Wii's heyday, so we'll see how it shakes out.
