Nintendo is the end of all Wii U

Earlier this year, Nintendo announced that it would shut down all Wii U servers, ending multiplayer platforms, co-ops and other services. Now, the company has announced that it has ended Wii U updates, thus bringing this unpopular console to an end.

Back in May, Nintendo previously announced that Wii U repairs would end. “The spare parts retention period specified in the repair service regulations has expired, so repair services will also end when current parts stocks are exhausted,” the company’s service notice stated. Since the Wii U is now end-of-life, it is listed as non-repairable on the service page, just as Nintendo previously stated.

The Wii U was released in late 2012 as the successor to the Wii, but it failed to gain much traction among consumers and only 13.56 million units were sold. The Switch, which was released after that, reached ten times more sales with 141.3 million units sold.

The standout feature of the Wii U was that it was Nintendo’s first Gamepad with a 6.2-inch touchscreen. In this way, it could be played either completely handheld or connected to a television, which was a new feature at that time. Another major selling point is Splatoon, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U were platform games produced specifically for Nintendo, such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World. These games offered local multiplayer action you couldn’t find anywhere else.

The Wii U was a console that was at once strange, strange and fun, and “it has found its way into the hearts of many gamers, myself included,” one famous news editor wrote in 2015. Nintendo plans to announce the Switch’s successor before March 2025, but if you’re still playing Wii U, you’ll need to take extra care as repairs will now be more difficult.