More Thoughts From Me #55: The Life And Death of the Wii U

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t regret buying a Wii U. There are a ton of great games on the Wii U. I own most of them. I also really love the Wii U gamepad. It is, currently, my favorite video game controller. That said, I’m not happy at all with how Nintendo has treated the system, especially near the end of its life. Let’s take a look back at the Life and Death of the Wii U.

I still remember hearing the name Wii U for the first time. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and shook my head. Wii U? Come on. I still don’t like the name even now. I’ve gotten use to the name, sure, but I still don’t like it. Though, the name of the system wasn’t the only problem it had from the start.

Nintendo did not make it clear to everyone what the Wii U was. There were many people who thought the system was just an accessory to the Wii U at first because Nintendo didn’t want to show the actual system. I’m sure there are casuals to this day who believe the gamepad is an accessory even. That is, of course, if they even know about the Wii U.

Right away, Nintendo failed to advertise the Wii U. I saw one ad for the system early on and thats about it. If the Wii U was advertised at all, it was shown on the Cartoon Network or Disney Channel just like the 3DS. Nintendo managed to save the 3DS, but they never even tried to save the Wii U.

We didn’t see an early price drop for Wii U like the 3DS. I get that Nintendo didn’t want to start a trend with the ambassadors thing but Nintendo could have tried something to save the system. Instead, they just brought out game after game after game and Nintendo didn’t advertise the system and when they did a price drop, they didn’t push the marketing or try to generate interest in other ways. Nothing was tried. Its like Nintendo gave up on the system. In fact, thats pretty much what Nintendo did.

Last year, Nintendo said that their new system, NX at the time (now Switch), would live along side the Wii U and 3DS. And then we found out they were stopping production of the Wii U. Then this year we found out that Breath of the Wild would be their last game for the system. Nintendo acts like the Wii U is important to them but I don’t think it is. I think early on Nintendo realized that Wii U would not be a hit and so they just gave up on the system. They had invested too much in it and the games not to release the system. However, they knew they had to start working on a new system right away.

The Wii U deserved better than it ever got. Sure, the games on the Wii U are excellent but the support it got from Nintendo was horrible. We should have seen ads for the Wii U everywhere. Nintendo should have lowered the price of the system even more to get people to latch onto the system. And yes, I do believe Nintendo should continue to support the Wii U even with Switch around. As a Wii U owner, I’m not happy at all with how the Wii U is ending.

I seem to be in the minority though. It seems like a lot of gamers are ready for the Wii U to go away and to buy the new Switch. I guess they all have more money than me. I can’t just go out and buy whatever system I want. I need to save up money and really invest in a console. I have a lot invested in the Wii U. Too much invested. I won’t be trading the system in. I’m keeping my Wii U. I will, hopefully, get a Switch for Christmas but I’m in no rush for a new system…

R.I.P Wii U. Here’s hoping years from now people will realize what a cool system you were.

What do you think about the Wii U? Did you buy one? Will you buy the Switch? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Next week: My thoughts on….Animal Crossing…mobile. Yuck. Even saying it makes me want to throw up. Could you just cancel this “game” Nintendo? Seriously. The Animal Crossing series deserves better than to be made into a cheap mobile game!!

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. Now I’m going to go play some Wii U games.