Topic: Do you think Nintendo will dump the Wii U for NX

If we don't see or hear of anything new for the Wii U (from Nintendo) beyond the new Zelda game for the rest of this year, I think that may well answer the opening question of this thread.

I mean, the Wii was still 'supported' when the Wii U came out, but that was mostly due to third party games like Just Dance and the latest LEGO game or a movie tie in. Nintendo backed away from the Wii much earlier than I expected and I would not be surprised if the very same thing happens (again) this time round.

We don't even know if the new machine is a home console or a handheld system or both, so speculation is futile.
Nintendo said their priority at the moment was to satisfy WiiU owners, so I expect more games to come out beside the ones already announced and Zelda. There's only a handful of WiiU games already announced but that doesn't worry me because even in 2012, 2013 and 2014 we've always had just a handful of games announced at a time.

They'll dump it as fast as they possibly can. Doesn't matter what they say. They're not going to completely kill off Wii U sales by outright saying it has no future, even if that's what they're thinking.

The Nintendo-developed GBA games to come out after the DS launched are:

Dr Mario and Puzzle League, Mother 3 (which started development in 2003), and Rhythm Tengoku.

Three games, two of them never left Japan and the other a combo pack of NES/SNES ports. I imagine whatever is left to announce is along the lines of the stuff announced at E3. Spin-off games that use engines and assets from stuff already released, probably very heavily multiplayer focused.

Nintendo will dump either the 3DS or the Wii U soon after the NX releases. Depending on what it is. And then soon after that they'll dump the other one when they release whatever comes after the NX.

Prior to E3, both Iwata and Trinen announced that this E3 would focus on 2015 and a liiittle bit on early 2016 titles. At E3, Nintendo did exactly that.
It's quite a stretch to interpret this as having "no future plans", when Iwata also said at the very last shareholder meeting a month ago "As for Wii U, we will continue to make efforts, as it is a priority within the company to think about how we can satisfy the consumers who purchased this system to the maximum extent possible."

To be completely fair, "supporting the Wii U" after the NX launches doesn't necessarily mean games. Supporting it could go as far as licensing any 3rd party games and keeping the online servers up. That still counts as supporting the Wii U, so they technically wouldn't be lying, despite them not releasing any games.

I thought they already dumped the Wii U.

You know, only VERY recently (like the last couple days) have I started to think that MAYBE Nintendo won't completely abandon the Wii U after NX releases. The only reason I started to think this is because of Splatoon and how much of an effect it's had, both with its own sales and with pushing Wii U hardware. It's not like Wii U is suddenly selling by the millions, of course, but it IS within sight of Xbox One numbers....

Bah, I'm probably just kidding myself. Chances are, Nintendo is cutting this puppy free in one year.

I think they will but like @IceClimbers think the online servers being kept running will be their way of "supporting the Wii U" after NX launch. I mean think about it, Splatoon is pretty much a completely dead game if you take out the online.

It's funny that people keep bringing up the Iwata quote of "We need to satisfy existing customers" because by what I'm reading everywhere online, people are so in love with their Wii U's and seem completely happy with what's been put out so far. If I even mention wanting more games I'm attacked for being ungrateful or being a hater (somehow). And yet when people mention the NX suddenly no one is happy with what the Wii U has put out, insisting that it needs 2-3 more years worth of games for some reason.

But those same people are going to be first in line to buy whatever the NX is regardless of what they feel. They could release it next week with an HD remaster of NSMBWii and all of them would be lining up to buy it and defend it to bits.

@Operative: Don't take any offense to that; it's like that for everything. There is always those certain group of people.

@Operative: Yea, don't let it get to you. It's the internet. Everyone is anonymous, so people are free to vascilate and be nonsensical and cruel and overly scrutinizing without any fear of repercussion.

Nobody knows anything.
All you get with questions like this is people saying what they want to hear, confirming their beliefs and spewing nonsense.

@Reznor52: This logic makesno sense to me. Check the link in my signature. Nintendo is gonna be really busy the rest of this year, and even have a decent collection set for next year. Just because Nintendo hasn't released a comprehensive schedule of games coming out in the next two years doesn't mean the U is on its death bed. Now if December rolls around and we still know little more than we do now about early 2016, THEN we can start setting up the funeral arrangements.

Make no mistake: I don't believe the Wii U has three or more years left. I'd be shocked if Nintendo stretched it out, but with Iwata's death on the table and the hindsight now available to us, Nintendo is more of a wild card than ever. At this point, they could drop the U after this year or could try to hold onto it until 2019. I think the bet that it'll br dropping in Winter 2017 is the most stable, but that's not even saying that much.

I think it only seems that way because everyone else did. Nintendo's output on the Wii U actually isn't bad. They've released 3 full sized games on in this year so far, 4 if you live in Europe or Japan, and have a few more coming out the rest of the year. 7-8 games on one platform in one calendar year is pretty decent output for one company.

But yeah, Nintendo is dropping Wii U like hot garbage once NX releases. They won't pull the plug on online services right away though. I'm sure Splatoon, Mario Kart, Smash, and Mario Maker will maintain strong online communities until there's an NX equivalent (or maybe longer in the case of Smash, seeing how people still cling to Melee).

Honestly I don't see the reasons to replace Wii U. The machine seems powerful enough for the kinds of games Nintendo wants to make. It may not be powerful enough for some of the western games that push the envelope. Is it not powerful enough for the Zelda game they want to make? My favorite Wii U games are not anything that I look at and think the graphics would be so much better on a more powerful machine.

The only reason to release a more powerful home console at this point is if they want to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft and go after multi platform releases. I don't think that is a winning strategy either.

I think the best thing they can do is cut the price on the Wii U, do it along side Super Mario Maker bundles. Release some more HD remasters and new true 3D mario.

I still firmly believe it won't be till 2017 that the NX releases. Nintendo said they would announce a new console about half a year before they announced the Wii U in 2011.

They are probably going the same route.

Hell yes. If the nx is a handheld, the 3ds is out already. If the nx is a console level device, the wiiu is out already (e3 made people think nx was more in the console space of things).

They'll work on new business and wii u is old business. Don't enjoy the console less because of business material because it is a gem, but yeah - they'll drop it asap.

@CaviarMeths: 5 for Japan: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Xenoblade X, Splatoon, Yoshi's Woolly World.

@erv: Yea, definitely don't stop enjoying it. I know I'm probably going to buy through all of the remaining major releases. The only thing I MAY not buy for Wii U would be Zelda if it launches on NX, as well.