Nintendo Ends Wii U Repair Support - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 July 2024 / 3,438 Views

Nintendo announced that as of July 3, 2024 it has ended the repair support program for Wii U consoles and peripherals. This is due to Nintendo running out of parts.

"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 consoles and peripherals," said Nintendo.

Nintendo shut down online services for the Wii U and 3DS on April 8 of this year. It is still possible "for the foreseeable future" to download update and redownload purchased software and DLC from the Nintendo eShop.

修理に必要な部品の在庫がなくなりましたので、2024年7月3日をもって、Wii U本体および周辺機器の修理受付を終了いたしました。 https://t.co/pmexAcLr4J
— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) July 4, 2024

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

38 Comments

Wman1996 (on 04 July 2024)

I'm amazed it took this long. I don't think Nintendo is embarrassed more by any of their platforms save maybe Virtual Boy.

Hardstuck-Platinum Wman1996 (on 04 July 2024)

Sogreblute Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

Microsoft and Sony would kill to have that kind of attach rate for their 1st party games.

Hardstuck-Platinum Sogreblute (on 04 July 2024)

Incredibly. Mario kart 8 itself sold half of what the Wii U did !!

-1

Pinkie_pie Sogreblute (on 04 July 2024)

Nah Microsoft and Sony would rather sell 100m console and have 10% attach rate. That's 10m it's more than any wii u 1st party games

JWeinCom Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

I love my Wii U, but let's not be silly here. It was an unmitigated failure. It bled money. Trying to defend it on a commercial level is just embarassing.

Wman1996 JWeinCom (on 04 July 2024)

The wild thing is that Wii U was sold at a loss for portions of its life, all while never reaching a permanent price below $300 USD. That darn GamePad and the bizarre architecture really ramped up the cost despite the thing being a potato compared to PS4 and Xbox One.
The fact that Wii U was sold at a loss at times and simply did not sell software to the extent Nintendo wanted did mean it bled money.
IIRC, 3DS and Wii U were the only Nintendo platforms in history to be sold at a loss. I don't even think GameCube with its massive price cut in early 2003 down to $100 USD was losing money while Xbox was bleeding money.

Pemalite Wman1996 (on 05 July 2024)

Nintendo's mistake was using ESRAM instead of boosting the DRAM.

They could have had a smaller SoC otherwise.

I did enjoy the tablet feature, it was a good taste into a hybrid console.

Hardstuck-Platinum JWeinCom (on 04 July 2024)

I'm not defending it as a commercially successful product as it obviously wasn't. What I'm saying is that it had a first party game that sold 7.5 million copies (Mario kart 8) which is waaaaayy better than what some other consoles have achieved (xbox one and XBS) consoles for example

-6

JWeinCom Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

Well, you're saying it's a "more successful platform", then mentioning sales of games to justify that, so that's pretty clearly trying to defend it commercially.

Attach rate of first party software is a pretty arbitrary way to define success. I'm not sure what XBox has to do with this, but Xbox One/SX clearly trounce the Wii U in terms of commercial success. Love the Wii U, but facts are facts.

Hardstuck-Platinum JWeinCom (on 04 July 2024)

My point was simple and clear. That "in terms of first party game sales" Wii U is not the biggest failure of a console because it had a game that sold 7.5 million copies + many more million sellers. Sales of first party games are extremely important and the Wii U was not the weakest console in this regard.

-9

JWeinCom Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

That's like a team in the NFL finishing 0-17 and their fans saying "well yeah, but they had more sacks than another team that was also pretty bad."

I mean, I guess if you're trying to argue that the Wii U didn't perform the worst in every single way... congrats I guess? But it's a dumb point that was irrelevant to the comment you were replying to.

Hardstuck-Platinum JWeinCom (on 05 July 2024)

It was not irrelevant at all. The OP suggested that Nintendo was embarrassed of the Wii U. I'm simply saying that there is nothing embarrassing about a platform that had that had games as successful as Wii U had.

-5

JWeinCom Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 July 2024)

You have acknowledged it was a failure. If I made a product that was a failure, then I would probably feel a bit embarrassed about that.

Pemalite Hardstuck-Platinum (on 05 July 2024)

End of the day, it was a failure of a console.
Nintendo did not make back their investment.

No one is arguing it didn't have good games though... In-fact, majority of 1st party titles on the WiiU ended up being some of the best selling and highest rated games in all of gaming history... I.E. Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 etc'.

The console was still a commercial failure.

Hardstuck-Platinum Pemalite (on 05 July 2024)

Not denying it was a failure. I'm saying that there's many consoles that I think are bigger failures. The XBS consoles for example. Wii U was a failure with first party games selling well, and XBone and Xbox series consoles are failures with first party games selling badly.

-4

Pemalite Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 July 2024)

Xbox One was not a failure as it still sold 60~ million hardware units... And was thus ultimately profitable.
Remember Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo garner profit from all games released on their platform that end up being sold.

We need to get out of the stupid mindset that unless you are the number 1 hardware seller, that your platform is a failure.
The PSP sold 80~ million hardware units, which is less than the DS, but it was still a successful platform.
The 3DS sold less than the DS, Switch and other platforms, but it's still a successful platform.
If you can turn a profit and have a healthy games library, even if they are 2nd and 3rd party mostly... Then the platform was a success.

Xbox Series hasn't concluded yet, so to assert it's a failure is a bit of a false equivalency.

Microsoft's business model is also different to Nintendo anyway.
PC helps shift software sales... And Microsoft has shifted to a subscription based business model.

pikashoe Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

Dude you are obsessed with xbox. Did Phil Spencer run over your dog or something

Azzanation Hardstuck-Platinum (on 04 July 2024)

Except the fact the WiiU lost money and the XB1+ made money.
You don't seem to understand the meaning of what successful is.

Wman1996 Azzanation (on 05 July 2024)

Yeah. Xbox One hardware bled at first, and possibly for almost all the life of the console. The subscriptions, game sales, and accessories made up for that.

Hardstuck-Platinum Wman1996 (on 05 July 2024)

The failure of Xbox One and introduction of Gamepass is exactly why the XBS consoles are where they are today.

-6

Lukas85 Hardstuck-Platinum (on 05 July 2024)

It was, mario kart 8, super mario 3d world, super smash bros for wiiu, mario maker, splatoon, sold more than every xbox game. People here just dont want to accept it

-4

Hardstuck-Platinum Lukas85 (on 05 July 2024)

Thank you for seeing my point. You need your first party games to sell well to create a successful platform. I thought that was a basic fact we all understood on here. Wii U was a failure with first party games selling well, and XBone and Xbox series consoles are failures with first party games selling badly. I believe that makes Xbone and XBS more of a failure than Wii U

-3

Chris Hu Lukas85 (on 06 July 2024)

Yeah, you don't know what you are talking about talking about the majority of Xbox games are now sold digitally so you don't know the true numbers of any Xbox games. Forza Horizion 5 easily sold over 10 million copies and is closing in on 40 million total players which is much higher than anything on the Wii U.

Chris Hu Hardstuck-Platinum (on 06 July 2024)

Absolutely not true and a complete rubbish statement all X consoles have a very high attachment ratio when it comes to software sales you just don't know the real numbers since a lot more games have been bought digitally starting with the 360 already.

Jumpin (on 04 July 2024)

As a note, it seems this effects Japan, all versions of the Wii U are still listed for repair in the Americas

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8261/~/set-up-a-repair-for-a-nintendo-product

But I'm pretty sure I recall them halting repairs in Europe years ago.

Pemalite Jumpin (on 05 July 2024)

At the moment WiiU consoles are starting to fail en-masse as people don't realize that NAND memory is extremely crap at retaining data long-term... And Nintendo used the cheapest NAND memory they could get which compounded the problem.

These consoles are going to be extremely rare in 10 years time, should be interesting to see their resale value at that point.

Jumpin (on 04 July 2024)

My issue is I have my Wii account locked to my Wii U.
Honestly, biggest mistake I ever made. It seemed like a great idea at the time...
The main games I still return to the console to is Chrono Trigger (Wii VC), which for some reason Square has refused to publish on modern hardware despite putting Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross up.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is also stuck on Wii U.

Lukas85 (on 05 July 2024)

Wiiu was a great console, i dont know what people- who dont own one by the way- say. So many awesome games, xenoblade chronicles x, pokken tournament, hyrule warriors, bayonetta 2, rayman legends, super smash bros for wiiu, super mario 3d world, yoshis wolly world, zombi u, captain toad, pikmin 3, dkc tropical freeze, super mario maker, the wonderful 101, mario kart 8. I have 2 wiius and 35 games. And i dont regret having spend money on them i enjoyed them a lot.

curl-6 (on 04 July 2024)

I'm amazed it lasted this long, 7 years after the system's replacement

Wman1996 curl-6 (on 04 July 2024)

With its replacement's replacement well in development and an unveiling in less than a year from now.

Bumblaster (on 05 July 2024)

Considering the price it cost Xbox to recall tens of millions of red ring 360's, I am almost certain it cost Microsoft more than the WiiU cost Nintendo.

-1

tslog (on 04 July 2024)

JWeinCom tslog (on 04 July 2024)

I'm not sure it would be feasible to get more parts. For example, the Wii U's CPU is made by IBM, and the GPU by AMD. Neither is actively making those chips anymore, and Nintendo may contractually be prevented from looking for chips outside NVidia. Even if Nintendo could go to IBM for new chips (it's likely impossible to get them anywhere else due to patents) they likely wouldn't have the equipment on hand to make more, and likely would not particularly want to go through the effort.

I guess if Nintendo wanted to pay enough money, they could get whatever parts they may need, but there's probably not enough demand to justify that. As someone who just played their Wii U yesterday, I don't feel especailly abandoned. I never anticipated Nintendo would repair it forever.

So yeah, they had the parts to do the repairs. They said they ran out of parts, which is probably true. If I say I ran out of weed, it doesn't mean I can never get more, it means I don't have any right now. Running out of parts is the reason why they have stopped doing repairs at this particular point in time. Assuming they don't have Wii U parts left, that's a perfectly accurate statement. It's like saying, I'm not high right now because I ran out of weed.

I suppose the Wii U's failure provides context to that, but addressing that seems grossly unnecessary to the simple message they want to send about Wii U repairs. It is really weird that you would expect something like that or be upset about them not saying it.

Pemalite JWeinCom (on 05 July 2024)

The biggest hardware failure points for the WiiU are actually the NAND and PSU.
I would assume both are easy to be sourced.

JWeinCom Pemalite (on 06 July 2024)

"For example"

SecondWar tslog (on 04 July 2024)

I highly doubt it’s a lie that they ran out of parts.
Plus given the low sales and likely even lower number of people still actively using Wii U, it makes no logical sense for them to get more given the low active user base.
Besides, 12 years of support for for a console that was as unsuccessful as the Wii U is still relatively good.
You have often shown you have quite an anti-corporate viewpoint, and whilst there are instances where many may well agree with you this likely isn’t one of them. Continuing support for the Wii U just isn’t practical.

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