In 2016, just 10 Wii U games were released at retail. Of those, two were Lego games, one was Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and the other was downright terrible (not to mention cross platform). Of the three Nintendo-made games released, only Twilight Princess HD—a slick port of 10-year-old game—impressed. That left just Atlus' crossover RPG Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE to pick up the slack. And while it's an excellent game, it's also only of niche appeal to Atlus fans and Nintendo collectors that can spot a limited end-of-life pressing a mile off.
Which is all to say that the Wii U didn't have a great year in 2016—and sadly, neither did Nintendo.
Losses, once unthinkable at a company that practically printed money with the colossal success of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, became common in 2016, kicking off with a £37 million first-quarter loss in July. For those that took a leap of faith with the Wii U (myself included), the lack of games and Nintendo's increasingly shaky financial situation raised questions about its future. Alongside it all, of course, was the impending release of the hybrid handheld/home console Nintendo NX—now known as the Nintendo Switch—which promised to wash away the failures of the Wii U (and to a lesser extent, the slowing sales of the 3DS) with appealing hardware and a stellar lineup of new games.
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| Nintendo Switch |
Which is all to say that the Wii U didn't have a great year in 2016—and sadly, neither did Nintendo.
Losses, once unthinkable at a company that practically printed money with the colossal success of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, became common in 2016, kicking off with a £37 million first-quarter loss in July. For those that took a leap of faith with the Wii U (myself included), the lack of games and Nintendo's increasingly shaky financial situation raised questions about its future. Alongside it all, of course, was the impending release of the hybrid handheld/home console Nintendo NX—now known as the Nintendo Switch—which promised to wash away the failures of the Wii U (and to a lesser extent, the slowing sales of the 3DS) with appealing hardware and a stellar lineup of new games.
