October 19, 2023, 12:42 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
Every few years, Nintendo releases a new gaming console and phases out the previous model. However, in the U.S., a buyer managed to find a console that had been removed from retail six years ago.
Imagine this: It’s 2023, in a small electronics shop in any small U.S. town. The aisles are narrow, and the boxes in the window are faded. A dedicated Nintendo fan enters the store, perhaps having already visited dozens of others. So far, in vain. Because what he’s looking for has been missing from most retail stores since 2017: a brand-new, still factory-sealed Wii U. But on this September day, he finally finds it and buys the said Wii U–the first and only one in 2023.
The Life and Death of the Wii U
That’s how it might have happened. Because sometimes, you have to admit that an astonishing report raises more questions than facts. So, from the beginning: What we know for sure is that the Wii U is almost a legendary flop among Nintendo consoles. Released in November 2012 and discontinued in 2017, it sold just 13.56 million units. For comparison: The immediate predecessor, the Nintendo Wii, sold about 25.95 million units in its most successful fiscal year, 2008/09–almost twice as many as the Wii U in total. Not even the more than ten-year-old GameCube (2001) has such a dismal sales record, as Nintendo (via Statista) illustrates in a chart.
With the success of the Switch, Nintendo discontinued the production and sale of the Wii U in 2017, and market forces banished it from retailers’ shelves. But in September of this year, the seemingly dead Wii U showed a single sign of life. The report of the sale didn’t come from the hopefully happy buyer but from a certain Mat Piscatella. As an analyst at the U.S. market research firm Circana, he has access to individual sales from most retail companies in the U.S. Whether the solitary purchase of the Wii U caught his attention out of curiosity or profession is unknown. “Sales fun facts”–as Piscatella writes in his post on X.
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The Sale of Old New Consoles
While it’s rare, it’s not unheard of for discontinued consoles to be sold years after their official end. The first time a Wii U found a new owner in new condition after 2017 was in May 2022. A certain record was set by the PlayStation Vita Unit (end of life 2019), which was sold three times in the U.S. in November 2021. Apparently, some collectors’ hearts beat strongly enough to embark on a long search and expensive purchase despite relatively low performance.
But as with these earlier cases, nothing is known about the specific circumstances of the Wii U sale. Why was it still in stock? Did it slip behind a shelf due to messy store management and only reappear years later? Or was it deliberately held back in hopes of a higher collector’s value in the future? Or was there some simple inventory mix-up? The lack of facts opens the door to speculation.
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How Useful Is the Wii U Still?
Also unknown are the model, sales location, and buyer. Perhaps it really is a passionate Nintendo fan who finally hit the jackpot. Or maybe a–let’s say savvy–seller saw a good business opportunity and is already offering the retro console on eBay at a much higher price for collectors. A completely unused gaming console remains a rarity, no matter how much the model flopped during its lifetime.
Whether the Wii U was sold at its original price, Mat Piscatella doesn’t reveal. The basic white version with an 8 GB flash memory and Wii U GamePad originally cost $300, while the premium package was $350. Current eBay listings for used Wii Us range from 40 to 150 euros, depending on the accessories included.
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Whether the purchase was a solid investment or simply a passion project, only the buyer can know. But the active use of the Wii U is unfortunately quite limited. On one hand, Nintendo already closed the online shop for Wii U games in March 2023, so now the classic discs are in demand. These also only allow single-player mode. On the other hand, Nintendo plans to shut down the online multiplayer modes in April 2024. So anyone who actually wants to play with the Wii U will have to fully embrace a retro gaming experience. But for the new owner of the factory-sealed Wii U, that might not even be an issue.