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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last first-party game to launch on the Wii U, Nintendo has confirmed. Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime broke the news while speaking to Polygon during the Switch reveal event last 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.”
Fils-Aime added that Wii U titles will still continue to be sold at retail, however, and that its online services, including its digital eShop storefront, will continue to receive support.
From our standpoint, sunsetting is quite some time into the future," he said. "The ongoing activity from an online standpoint on [Mario]KartandSplatoonis significant. We’re going to continue to support that.”
This still leaves the door open for more digital titles to make their way onto the Wii U, but with the Nintendo Switch fast approaching on March 3rd, it seems unlikely that developers and publishers will continue to give it much thought when there’s a newer console just around the corner.
Fils-Aime also reiterated that Nintendo had learned some valuable lessons over the life of the Wii U and that it would not make the same mistake again with the Switch.
Even today when I ask people, ‘so what was Wii U all about?’" he stated. "I get a wide variety of responses. In managing the business, that’s just not good.”
As of September 2016, the Wii U has sold just 13.36m units worldwide after four years on the market. Software sales stand at 92.35m units. The Wii, by comparison, has shifted a total of 101.63m units, along with 916.15m software units.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launches on March 3rd for both the Switch and Wii U. Read our hands on impressions of the Switch right here.
