Netflix Says Heads-Up, Streaming On Nintendo Wii Ends January

With the Nintendo Switch being out for a while now and racking up big sales numbers, the Nintendo Wii gets almost no love. Odds are that Nintendo fans that had a Wii, and skipped the disappointing Wii U, probably already have a Nintendo Switch they are enjoying right about now. This likely means that a number of those Wii consoles out there have been relegated to a kids room or guest room to use as a video streaming device. Nintendo announced last year that it would be closing its Wii Shop in January 2019 and now we're hearing further end of life news.

nintendo wii

What some might not have considered is that the closing of the Wii Shop means that existing video streaming apps will cease to function. That means that after January 31, 2019, the Wii will no longer function as a video streaming device. This end of Wii support for Netflix service was confirmed by the company recently when it sent out an email to its users saying that the video streaming services for the Wii would end on January 31, 2019.

Note that this isn't just Netflix, all Wii streaming services will come to an end on that date. That would mean that Amazon Prime and Hulu won't be available on the console after January.

The Wii gained support for Netflix in the spring of 2010 when Netflix and the Wii itself were young. The rub, for now, is that the Switch doesn't stream Netflix, it does support Hulu and YouTube with the latter landing last week.

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Shane McGlaun

Shane has been into tech since his dad brought home a Pong game when he was a toddler. A passion for gaming led to a passion for PC tech and hardware. That passion was eventually turned into a career writing about cool gadgets, computers, and automotive technology for some of the biggest publications online and in print. Shane also has a passion for the outdoors and when not writing about tech can be found hiking the trails of Colorado whilst keeping an eye open for nefarious rattlesnakes and bears.

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