It feels like just yesterday, the Wii U had just come out. Well, it may not have been yesterday, but it was just 4.5 years. Which makes it sort of shocking that Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last first party game on the Wii U.
Reggie Fils-Aime (President, Nintendo of America) told Polygon following the Switch Launch in New York on Friday.
“From a first-party standpoint, there's no new development coming after the launch of the legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” he said. “We really are at the end of life for Wii U.”
He said that Wii U titles will continue to be sold in retail and online via the Nintendo eShop, but that the company is pulling the curtains closed for new first party games. Online support, however, isn't going anywhere.
"“From our standpoint, sunsetting is quite some time into the future. The ongoing activity from an online standpoint on [Mario] Kart and Splatoon is significant. We're going to continue to support that.”"
At E3 2014, a game code named "Project Giant Robot" was being produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. The project was expected to be on the Wii U but this news contradicts this, leaving the project's status unknown. What was known about the game was its use of the Wii U GamePad, but that does sound like something the Switch can do easily.
Reggie does admit to the unclear direction of the Wii U and has stated that knowing what your product is exactly and what players think it is are both two crucial details they will keep in mind in the future. “Even today when I ask people, ‘so what was Wii U all about?,’ I get a wide variety of responses,” he said. “In managing the business, that's just not good.”
While the Wii U could have been handled better than it was, it should be remembered as a half-step above the Wii. It was the first HD Nintendo console and brought us games such as Hyrule Warriors, Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3 and of course Splatoon.
