The Slow, Painful Death of the Nintendo Wii Hallie Frederick | usagoldmines.com

When the brand new Wii U was introduced in 2011, the writing was on the wall for the Wii. Even earlier than the Wii U was introduced, third-party assist for the Wii had already dwindled to the purpose the place it seemed like a dying product. Nintendo acted like a dutiful dad or mum, saying it might proceed to assist the console for years to come back, nevertheless it was clear the corporate was prepared to drag the plug, which it did in 2013.

2011 Early Warning: Third Events Abandon the Wii Video games

When recreation publishers got here to New York to point out off their upcoming vacation wares in 2011, the Wii was virtually absent. Some firms comparable to Capcom pretended that the Wii not existed, whereas others tossed a recreation or two its method. Activision put out a couple of Wii video games, as did Digital Arts. Sega put out one, together with Atari and different small and mid-sized publishers. Ubisoft was the one third-party writer that launched extra than a few Wii video games.

The Wii was clearly dying, which was perplexing. In spite of everything, 2010 was one of the best yr ever for the Wii. After years of pumping out low cost mini-game collections, publishers lastly gave the impression to be placing some actual effort into the console, with main titles comparable to Call of Duty Black Ops, Sonic Colours, GoldenEye 007, Donkey Kong Nation Returns, and far more. A few of these video games have been profitable, so it appeared that publishers have been lastly beginning to make what Wii players had lengthy been asking for: good video games.

As an alternative, the Wii obtained fewer video games in 2011 when it comes to amount, high quality, and PR push. Publishers didn’t wish to ignore the massive market of Wii homeowners solely, however their hearts have been elsewhere.

Nintendo printed solely three titles for the 2011 vacation season, however no less than the standard was excessive, they usually have been all exclusives. 

2012: A Slight Rally Earlier than the Finish

Issues have been wanting grim for 2012, however the Wii briefly perked up. It wasn’t an enormous yr, nevertheless it did embrace two of the Wii’s all-time nice video games, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Final Story.

2013: Useless Wii Strolling

There was one last large recreation for the Wii in 2013, Pandora’s Tower, which was the final of three video games a lobbying group had pressured Nintendo into releasing. Outdoors of that, Nintendo put all its power into its different consoles, leaving the Wii to subsist on casual-focused multiplatform video games.

Some consoles, just like the PlayStation 2, have sufficient momentum to maintain going even when their successor arrives, however the Wii was so weakened by years of third-party neglect and shovelware that the momentum was gone. Nintendo turned its again on what had as soon as been a money-making golden baby and walked away. 

The Wii, a console whose unbelievable gross sales have been solely matched by its important antipathy, was completed.