It's another nail in the coffin for the Wii U. Nintendo Everything reports that two video apps for the console — YouTube and Crunchyroll — will be ending support later this year.
Anime subscription platform Crunchyroll will be discontinued on the Wii U from 29th August — with emails being sent out about the end of the service last week. YouTube will last a little bit longer, with the app ending support in October, as mentioned in a statement on Google Support.
You might be thinking "who watches YouTube and Crunchyroll on the Wii U in 2022?", but the Wii U app for Crunchyroll was known to be ad-free for a time.
Both YouTube and Crunchyroll are available on the Switch, at least! But the end for the Wii U is really coming up very quickly now, and announcements like this — while not surprising — are at least hammering that home. The Wii U and 3DS eShops will be closing on 28th March 2023, and you already can't add funds to your account with a credit card. Time to start preparing that goodbye, then.
- Further reading - 3DS And Wii U eShops Approach Endgame As Nintendo Provides Closure Date
Did you use either of these apps on your Wii U? Or do you still use them today? Let us know!
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 33
I actually thought YouTube support ended the same time as the 3DS version.
Crunchyroll already didn't work on my system anymore anyway, the app opened but the shows wouldn't play. So no loss for me. And I have both on the Switch now anyway.
Wii U was definitely a great entertainment platform.
Didn't Youtube on WiiU end a long time ago?
I used to love watching videos on the gamepad while I played on the 3DS in bed.
@Yosher worked for me a week ago and reason why Crunchyroll ending on Wii U is probably cause that version showed no ads at all so they were losing money
I still love the WiiU.
@CodyMKW Lol yeah when it still worked for me I do recall it not really showing many ads at all.
First nail in the coffin for the great wii u! Wonder what is next.
"You might be thinking 'who watches YouTube and Crunchyroll on the Wii U in 2022?', but the Wii U app for Crunchyroll was known to be add-free for a time."
(note #1: a suggestion for checking this part of this article)
(note #2: a suggestion for not using an article similar to this one in the future to guess a thought)
You might be thinking "who watches YouTube and Crunchyroll on the Wii U in 2022?"
Yes. That is exactly what I was thinking.
Youtube on my WiiU wouldn't leave the launch screen when I tried to access it for years..
Damn. I was watching Crunchyroll literally this morning, thinking it was great it still works on Wii U with no ads.
Eh, the Wii U's browser was better for youtube than the app, anyway. It often let you avoid ads, too.
Yeah I used to use the browser on Wii U for YouTube, support for that was ended ages ago. I'd never even considered using the actual App as the Wii U had more than enough power to simply run YouTube as it was first intended.
The Wii U was really solid on the internet side back in it's day. It put Xbox and playstation to shame, then Ninty gimped it. Still not sure why they don't let you watch Nintendo Directs on it anymore, even via eshop.
Good night, Wii U, we hardly knew ye. Well I hardly knew ye anyway, I hardly played ye at all!
Oh man I watched like all of JJBA on there with no ads l
I've been buying up used Wii U games lately. I can't image they'll be as pricey as DS and some 3DS games in the near future, but I just wanted to flesh out my collection a little more. Just in case.
What's Cruchyroll?
@AlanaHagues *Crunchyroll in the title, and “…Crunchyroll was known to be *ad-free for a time”.
Not surprised.... moving on
The YouTube app's performance was so much worse on the Wii U when I compared it to the Switch. The browser was the way to watch back then.
Meh already got these apps on my 4K smart TV which my NES, Super NES, N64, Wii U, PS2, PS4, EverCade VS, GameCube, Analogue Mega Sg, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and Nintendo Switch are all plug into anyways so those won't be miss.
Crunchyroll is less than $10/month and is so worth it if you like anime. Not all of their catalog is available for free.
Don’t really impact me regardless even if the Switch app shut down. CR translations are bad as well along with Funi
@Anachronism
Indeed, i used the Browser, worked soooo much better
I've had my Wii U since 2013 and I didn't even know it had Crunchyroll. I don't like using my Switch systems or any gaming consoles to watch content anyway (YouTube, Hulu, ect) because I'd rather play games on them. But I recently upgraded to a few LG C1 OLED tv's and use the browser on those to watch Crunchyroll now. So much more convenient, and I don't have to use my phone or tablet to watch Crunchyroll all the time anymore 😁
Bad news for South America.
I used Wii U’s internet browser for YouTube WAY more than the actual YouTube app. Great tablet to watch from when the TV was in use, and the curtain gimmick button was lots of fun to mess with when watching something with friends.
Bought the Wii U at launch and not once did I use these.
I actually use Youtube on my Wii U sometimes, it's pretty nice to go from watching a video on the TV to grabbing the GamePad and seamlessly continuing to watch the video when I go to the bathroom (layout of my house is close enough to allow for this, which can be especially useful when I have friends or the like over and we're watching youtube videos and one has to leave the room for a minute and doesn't want to miss a second of the videos nor pause it for the others.
@Acein210
I thought the first nail was the a majority of it's first party exclusives have been ported to the Nintendo Switch
@duffmmann
Most adults have a smartphone and a smart tv. We just have to open our streaming video app of choice and cast it to our tvs. So the Wii U serves no purpose, my S22 ultra has a bigger screen and better stylus
I just realised it's gonna be an endless firestorm on Nintendo when March 27th arrives and I'm terrified for it.
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