
[Update #2: 21/04/2021]: Nintendo of America has responded to reports that it has removed the Labo website, stating that the line is still available for purchase.
Speaking to Games Radar, NoA said:
"Nintendo Labo is available at retail locations. We routinely conduct product website maintenance and reorganization. Information on Nintendo Labo can be found at Nintendo.com."
[Update #1: 16/04/2021]: Nintendo insider Emily Rogers seemingly confirms that Labo is about to "ride off into the sunset", but says that we'll get "one more tiny announcement" first. Labo in New Pokémon Snap? Cardboard kazoos to match the piano? We'll just have to wait and see.
https://twitter.com/ArcadeGirl64/status/1382808175221542913
[Original Story: 15/04/2021]: Following a tip from Twitter user @Akfamilyhome, it seems like the North American Nintendo Labo website - formerly labo.nintendo.com - has been taken down, redirecting instead to the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit.
It's a shame, but perhaps not a surprising one. Although Labo sold over one million units in its first year, it doesn't look like that number grew substantially afterwards, despite multiple kits being released onto the market.
Although the taking down of a website is by no means confirmation that a product is being discontinued, it's not a positive outlook for Nintendo's cardboard-based toys. Much like Nintendo experiments of the past (remember Project Giant Robot? The HD rumble promises of 1-2-Switch?), the Labo seems to have failed to launch any significant excitement for the technology beyond what it had at launch.
For now, it looks like it's time to pour one out for the cardboard, and then chuck it in the recycling bin.
Have you touched your Labo sets since you played with them for the first time? Do you still have unfinished sets tucked away in a bookcase somewhere? Let us know in the comments.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 95
Only on a Nintendo-related site would something as inane as this generate a story.
Not gonna lie. Once I got to try PSVR on my PS4 Pro, I gave my Labo VR to a coworker’s kid. We need a real VR device from Nintendo. I also wasn’t crazy about stuff being made from cardboard and rubber bands. I kinda want my Nintendo peripherals to be made sturdier. It just wasn’t as cool as the Super Scope I had when I was little.
I would have liked to grab the cheaper VR set for the cartridge and buy a third-party headset to actually use the thing (as well as the handful of VR-compatible games, especially Breath of the Wild), but I can no longer find either at a reasonable price.
The double-priced VR set (all for some extra sheets of cardboard...) still appears to be available, but I'm not terribly keen on paying that much for it. I'm confident that Nintendo will revisit VR when it is more feasible for them to do so.
Labo as a whole was just too expensive for what it is. If they could have pulled off a similar concept with sturdier materials, then I would have been all in, but I couldn't justify the expense for cardboard that I couldn't feasibly store in the long-term.
It’s a bonkers idea that was kinda magical. And also incredibly silly.
Nooooooo! It’s such a cool idea! Well hopefully that means the other packs will go on clearance. I have a few more to buy.
It was a really cool idea, and a cool product, but there's not much to innovate or iterate from the original ideas. The set that Santa brought for my son a couple years ago was pretty fun to mess around with, but it's definitely geared towards children.
I never even heard of Project Giant Robot before...
Oh! Okay....
(Goes back to not caring about Labo)
Better 3rd party support for the less directly toylike attachment would have helped. The piano in particular had a lot of potential that was never fulfilled.
Well they had ago, but wonder how much money, research and development and programme development time this wasted. When they could have spent that time making a new IP or say a Donkey Kong 3d world game, that probably would have sold and made them millions
I can't use my Labo right now because there's a communication issue between my Switch and all wireless controllers. Nintendo said to fix it they might have to replace my entire Switch, which could mean wiping my games and save data that can't be backed up (Pokémon, etc). So I'm stuck with a bunch of Joy Cons and Labos and Ring Fits that I can't use…
Off subject and potential talk of a very slightly more powerful switch model with some type of 4K up scaling.
I play my switch docked on a top 4K 65” tv.
Now most games are around 1080p I play.
My point my tv does an amazing job of scaling up to the 4K picture and the games look really good. So if new Switch up scaling would probably not make much difference to me at all.
Point what is the point of a slightly more powerful Switch.
If you gonna do it, do a big upgrade so new games like Assassins Creed Valhalla can simply be ported across, even at 1080p with hdr.
I think a silly soft slightly 4K up scaling switch is a waste of time.
I only bought the VR kit and didn't even bother assembling the bazooka. Folding cardboard wasn't as satisfying as I expected.
It's almost a shame, because building Labo is super fun. If only the actual gameplay would be entertaining.
Man... This is sad. It was quite expensive (probably more than it should) but I love weird Nintendo products. I bought the VR one (the one that had more fair price of them all) and I really loved stuff like the whole programming program they included.
Bummer-though I guess not surprising. I have the first 2 sets... though waited until they were on sale. It was a lot of fun building the sets and then showing them off to my kids.
They really tried building hype the first year with all those competitions and stuff. It never grabbed my attention but it was a very Nintendo idea. Kind of hit or miss, though
I've made the steering wheel and pedal and played a bit of mario kart with them for about 10 minutes, now they live in the loft. I also made the piano from the other set which my little girl enjoyed for a while but has been in the wardrobe for months. I still need to make the rest of them. I think they are pretty ingenious the way the fit together and work but they are just a bit too....cumbersome to warrant using on a regular basis.
@Dezzy70 The dev team that made Labo only makes "gimmicky" type of games, so even if they didn't make Labo they wouldn't be making something like Donkey Kong. It's the team that made 1,2,Switch and Ring Fit Adventure.
Bummer. I loved Labo, bought every kit, and have the Labo Switch & jacket. I suspected the VR kit was the last one but I'm still a bit sad.
I bought the VR starter kit for 20 bucks at Walmart and messed around in Breath of the Wild for about 10 minutes before it became unbearably uncomfortable. Now it's sitting on top of a defunct PC tower collecting dust. Ripperoni in pepperoni
I know no one is surprised but the engineering of these was next level! Honestly, if these were priced closed to $45 and the Labo Garage, where you could make your own stuff, was made more user-friendly this could have been the hit they wanted.
The VR goggles were my first experience with VR. It’s such a fun demo to show anyone who hasn’t used it before. The blaster games were awesome. It even led to me buying a PSVR 🤣
Expensive cardboard didn’t really do it for me. A similar range of fun peripherals made out of standard Lego bricks would pique my interest...
I've been on the lookout for price drops on the robot labor, and the car wheel to try on Mario kart 8
@Pokester99 The best summary of Nintendo compared to the competition that I've seen is that Nintendo makes games for adults which look like they're for kids, while other companies make games for kids which look like they're for adults.
I suspect that I'm about to get a laundry list of exceptions from people who don't realize that they are confirming the point.
Man, remember when they took the dedicated ARMS website down? Same vibes here : (
This sucks; I loved Labo despite its obvious flaws. They were so fun and creative, yet so underutilized. Right now my Labo sets are collecting dust in my room; I wish I had legit reasons to use them more often.
Shame. This was nintendo at its most nintendo but the pricing and expectation that consumers would want to build something before playing was its downfall. Also, they should have led with the vehicle kit or made sure all kits were as "gamey" as that one. Vehicle kit was legitimately fun as a game for about 10 to 15 hours.
@Pokester99 You completely misunderstood my comment. I invest my money just fine, and I play all kinds of games. Not just stuff for adults. PSVR has stuff like Moss and Astro Bot. Which is what I enjoyed most from it. Also in my comment I mentioned how much I enjoyed the Super Scope as a kid. Which was on SNES with Yoshi’s Safari. The cardboard gun was a huge step down in quality. So it makes sense the Labo stuff didn’t hold up.
Awww, I guess we're not getting that Pokemon Snap in VR with the labo camera then.
I bought quite a few of the labo sets and loved building them and seeing how the games work. The main reason they're sitting in a corner collecting dust is that the game is not digital and I can't be bother to swap out the cartridge just for 10 minutes of labo.
What a shame, I feel so bad for everyone who worked so incredibly hard on this. It was super imaginative and worth success. I think it’s partially due to the durability of it all. If you could construct something with plastic like lego, I think it could have had a better chance in the market.
This was the biggest joke I’ve seen Nintendo try to market to people. It will not be missed. Actually I long ago forgot it even existed till this article popped up.
Building the Labo kits was actually genuinely fun. They were really fun to show off too to non-gamers. I personally liked Labo more than any other VR experience too since VR usually makes me sick. It’s a shame that it’s shutting down, but not necessarily a surprise. They were overpriced items and a real novelty and once the novelty was gone, they sort of just sat around collecting dust. If Labo would’ve went on discount, I think it may have seen more success. There was a lot of potential that wasn’t realized with it.
I did get the VR kit which I had fun playing around with, but admittedly I haven't touched it in over a year.
The blaster does look pretty cool though, so I have it displayed with my other gaming stuff.
....Remember when Nintendo tried out VR like...twice...and then stopped caring about it?
Regardless of the shutdown, Nintendo convinced a million people that buying cardboard is smart.
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@SpaceKaren
Not to sure what point you making.
Yes they will not look as good being on Switch.
But I think that is my point a small switch upgrade with a bit of upscale is not good enough.
It needs to be a more meaningful bigger upgrade, that delivers higher level of detail and realistic looking environments etc.
@Kanbolara
Got your point, maybe a Wario Ware game or big ring fit dlc or even a new ring fit adventure.
A New Pokemon Snap Labo Camera that launched alongside the game could have actually been a big hit IMO, but sadly that isn't going to happen anymore.
For me, the 3rd set was the best and I had a legit fun time to make it and play it! <3
Shame,the VR googles are great,i use them often for Smash Ultimate and Spice and wolf VR and its sequel
@Kanbolara The dev stumbled on a hit with Ring Fit, though. Labo was an interesting experiment that looks like something that was released too soon after R&D was finished. I don’t understand why they don’t create a Switch Sports, though
I guess Nintendo remebered that they are a video game company not a.cardboard recycling plant.
Imagine in 12 years time, Labo is going on Ebay for 100s of pounds and suddenly becomes popular.
After hearing this I went ahead and bought the VR expansions that I never picked up. I really liked the ingenuity behind these games.
"Remember Project Giant Robot?"
I somehow had Project H.A.M.M.E.R. in my mind when reading this and then realized this one was 16 years ago. God, I feel old.
A rare miss for Switch-era Nintendo.
i only bought the vr kit but the lack of online really killed it for me. i get labo is for the "kids" but games like warioware diy and mario maker already let us share game creations. it really killed what couldve been a bigger online community for it, but instead it silently died out cause its so hard to actually share what youre doing in it
though it does give me hope that nintendo will come back stronger with vr, the same way the wii u was like a prototype switch
Swing and a miss. Oh, well.
I couldn't care less for the first three kits, but the VR set I got were 40 well invested bucks with the ammount of hours of fun I and many of my family and friends got. I even did the "extra" toys not included in that set and came with a cardboard camera and a cardboard elephant.
Hopefully the fact that the VR set is still being promoted on the Nintendo website means that more games could be compatible in the future. A man can only dream.
that's a shame. it would have been great to see Animal Crossing: New Horizons and New Pokemon Snap use labo features.
@IronMan30 Like you said, it's a Nintendo site. If Reggie slipped getting out of the bathtub you can be sure there would be featured story about it complete with terminator references on the front page.
Ah man, that stinks, my godson was just getting into them. And I feel like there were a few pieces they showed off that never even released. The 3 piece vehicle set is fun and Labo VR, while limited, had a fun game w/ that bazooka gun shooting aliens. I was kinda hoping they'd make some Ring Fit - Labo combination to keep things going. Bummer.
If I had unlimited money, and a good sized room dedicated to gaming, then maybe I would get these. I love the idea, I love that Nintendo is creative, but I do have to draw the line somewhere.
I guess paying for cardboard didn't really pan out.
I thought the multi-toy kit looked fantastic. If my daughter were a little older, I'd have bought it for her.
@roboshort
Wouldn't Switch Sports just be like Wii Sports Club but on Switch? Not sure any wacky hardware accessories would be required for that like in Labo or Ring Fit.
Also, I'm not certain how appealing Switch Sports would be nowadays. I kinda feel like that game would sputter into irrelevance like Brain Training on Switch (though maybe I'm wrong and pure nostalgia for a Wii Sports sequel could drive demand).
No problem. Just put it in Smash Bros. because that's how you sell copies of it...
Labo is super cool! I have the first kit and vehicle kit (that I got for 20 bucks at Walmart in Canada in my small town!) But I haven’t opened them. I’m saving the experience to share with my nephews and niece when they’re old enough. Would like to pick up the vr kit eventually too
It's sad that Nintendo didn't push Labo to its fullest potential, especially when it comes to the VR kit. Maybe the Switch isn't powerful enough to handle safe VR like a PS4, but I would've loved to see big games like Skyrim VR and LA Noire VR come to the Switch, given they already received ports for the Switch.
My brother in law has them but they are gathering dust under his TV stand so yeah...I decided not to invest.
Glad I picked up the vehicle kit when I did. I haven't built it yet, but it's the only one I didn't have.
@westman98 1-2 Switch just used the joycons and there is a lot more that can be done with joycons that hasn’t been done. Nintendo may not have the personnel to really make use of them though
They’d have to evolve upon the Sports franchise though or it may go the way of brain training like you say. The difference is mobile is awash with brain training apps. Games like Wii Sports are not easy to recreate on mobile.
Only surprise is it took this long - this was dreadful from Nintendo. They can afford to try things and make mistakes though with the success of the switch.
Lol, people expecting ray tracing ultra extreme high graphics setting on a lol powered handheld 🤣🤣
Come one guys serious.
Everything nintendo related is family friendly.
So dont expect high quality VR. They where never interested in VR.
Rest in peace, long forgotten soldier.
Well the good thing about Nintendo is that they're not afraid to try stuff like this. If an idea doesnt take off but then they go and try and something else wacky anyway then great. That's how innovation works - if you only try stuff you know will work then nothing ever moves forwards.
There's no point saying that they should never have done this unless you're happy that we never have things like Splatoon, Ring Fit, Wii Sports, Tetris 99... Hell even rumble control, analog sticks, a hybrid console... Sure you might not like all of these but if you like any of them then you have to accept the try and fail mentality.
I thought Labo was ingenious but I agree it's not something that many people would spend hours and hours on.
What if, now hear me out here, but what if they are discontinuing them because the "Joycons" as we know them today are going extinct and a new Joycon2 is being released that DOESN'T FIT THIS KIT? Basically, they were discontinued because the switch v2 has larger joycons and/or don't have the IR sensor anymore so it breaks Labo. I can see then why they would discontinue the product since it doesn't work on a Lite and it won't work on a v2 so how can they support it if it is only for launch NS? I think it's entirely possible a Labo v2 could get released, but that depends on demand for VR on the OLED display.
@Grim you and I are the same. I bought all 4 of the Labo sets for $20 a piece during sales last year during quarantine summer. Truthfully I haven’t assembled the cardboards or played any of them (besides just earning MyNintendo coins for them) but as a Nintendo nerd I’m happy that I have them and feel pretty good that I only spent a total of $80 on them versus the $300+ they cost msrp. I can very much see them being a rainy weekend activity in the future with my partner and kid. And if nothing else they’re a little bit of quirky Nintendo history.
@Mince I got sets 1 and 2 as a gift, because my brother bought them for himself when they were on sale, but realized he didn't really want them. I haven't used them since I built them, but building them was pretty fun. I bought set 4 because I had enough games that supported Labo VR (Captain Toad was probably my favorite out of the bunch), and I bought set 3 mostly because I had the game cases for sets 1, 2 and 4, and it was on sale.
Oh, and I don't remember how much I spent on the Labo sets I did buy, but overall, it must've been $60 or less.
@SpaceKaren Banned twice for coming to a Nintendo site and doing nothing but complaining about Nintendo? No way...how did that happen?
(reads update) I'm hoping for one more tiny thank you gift for fans, but yeah.
@xmkbest The blaster is the bit that made the VR kit worthwhile, all of our family that tried it loved it.
All of the Labo kits were hideously overpriced for what they were. I'd much rather have just bought an off the shelf gun tbh, or at least a plastic slot/glue together one. My grandkids like it, but the blaster has taken a beating in just a few uses from them.
I was boping for new sets to come the idea is just great and so creative and unexceptional i feel sad that nintendo is giving up :/
@IronMan30 Yeah, not impressed with the articles by the author lately. Her Switch is cracked? A website shut down? Perhaps it's what she's assigned but I'd love to see her on some more thoughtful pieces because she's got solid ability and her writing style is easy to read.
Now they can just focus on the Switch and just make new and good games. Enough gimmicks I know it's Nintendo but folding cardboard ain't all that fun. Less gimmicky stuff and more proper games.
Typical Nintendo making crap that only lasts so long then gives up on the idea.
@Bondi_Surfer This is such a dumb take. People are far too fixated on things being sturdy. Similar sized objects made with LEGO are going to be extremely heavy, and supremely uncomfortable to put up close to your face.
@Folkloner why do you have to put it up to your face? A steering wheel plus accelerator, or a keyboard, or a fishing reel, or whatever? Or is your dumb take that we’re only talking about a VR headset? In which case, I’d use a machine actually capable of VR, and not a Switch. But thanks for your comment...
@jrb363 I'm more saying on the macro level, but I guess you do have a point.
People didn't want to spend 30-50$ for cardboard? shocking
Surprise! That's the last announcement!
@tha_whole_9 Wait a minute, isn't it against the site's rules to make alt accounts?
Emily Rogers is wrong 99% of the time so take whatever she says with a grain of salt. Too many 'insiders' get credit for just being 'guessers'.
Grabbed the three Labo sets (not the VR one) for $20 each and that helped my kids when schools were closed during lockdown last Spring. They were awesome and I love that Nintendo just did this. I hope for more weirdness in the future.
Labo is Nintendo's most useless and absurd idea since the Virtual Boy.
It was great for the kids and for anyone who wants to try something new in gaming for a change but the idea kinda worn off its welcome and people move on to better things. At least the VR kits was kinda cool, it's only downfall was the lack of a head strap otherwise it could had been a good Virtual Boy revisit for Switch.
Not gonna lie, I completely forgot about Labo.
I'd buy New Pokemon Snap if it worked with Labo VR. I'd be tempted if it worked with the camera but wait for a sale.
I bet the new tiny announcement will likely be that Labo VR is compatible with New Pokémon Snap, that is what I am predicting.
I saw one kit at a bookstore and thought it was pretty expensive but looked very cool. I saw 0 advertisement. I never bothered going back to tge bookstore for the kit, I forgot about it until now.
Labo was a gimmick-mistake. Cardboard for that price? Really?!?
I think they made it for the marketing "See us, we care about your kids! Give us your money!"
It was a failure. The money for developing this could be spent on something meaningful like supporting their 1st party titles.
@Zuljaras It's been INCREDIBLY effective in teaching kids programming. It was a verified success, not a gimmick-mistake.
I just bought the VR kit...
Well i built the little bug thing that came with the first kit, then promptly shelved the rest of the pack. May get back to it one day...
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