Stardew Valley Cancelled For Wii U

Stardew Valley, a farming sim in the vain of Harvest Moon, was supposed to come out next month on the Wii U. Yesterday, the developer announced that they canceled the game for the system. They will be moving the game to the Nintendo Switch. We have the announcement and my thoughts on it below.

Stardew Valley was a game that Nintendo promoted awhile back in a big Wii U Indie video. The game looked very much like a retro Harvest Moon, with the graphics being a bit better than they were back in the SNES/GBA days. I thought the game had promise and I know at least one member of my family was very excited to get this game. Yesterday, those hopes were dashed though when the developer announced that Stardew Valley was cancelled for the Wii U.

Here’s the announcement from the official website:

” Stardew Valley will not be coming to the Wii U, however. Looking at Wii U and the current gaming landscape, we made the difficult choice to shift our development efforts to creating a version for Nintendo Switch.  I am really looking forward to the Switch, and I believe that the Switch’s unique capabilities could create some exciting opportunities for Stardew Valley. I do want to emphasize that I am absolutely committed to seeing Stardew Valley on Nintendo platforms, and I really do appreciate your support and understanding in this.”

I find this news very disappointing. I haven’t had the heart to tell my family member that the game has been cancelled yet. She was looking forward to it so much. This news is pretty lame overall. I was told by someone on twitter that it should be understandable. Who wants to support a lost cause like the Wii U?

First of all, this behavior is not understandable. The game should have been in development for awhile now on Wii U. It was scheduled to come out this December. Did the developer lie about the game being worked on for Wii U or did they just abandon a near complete version of the game? Either way, you are wasting the customers time by lying or wasting your own time by working on something you don’t plan to bring out.

Second of all, the Wii U isn’t dead yet. Despite how some indies and even Nintendo act, there are still people buying games for the system. The Wii U isn’t a lost cause. I refuse to believe that. Call me delusional if you want.

But more than just the lost cause thing, what really bugs me about this cancelation is how Nintendo themselves promoted this game and how the developer waited so long to tell us the game was canceled.

People can do whatever they want, but I refuse to support any developer who acts like this. I won’t be buying Stardew Valley on the Nintendo Switch.

What do you think about this cancelation? Were you looking forward to Stardew Valley on the Wii U?