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Apparently, all the Wii Us were recalled at my local Best Buy

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We all laughed at her

If she loaded up on NES classics and limited edition NEW 3DS systems she would make all her money back and more
 
Seems like Nintendo is making sure that there will be no more Wii U's to buy anywhere when they release the Switch.

This, along with the following, leads me to believe that the better version of Zelda BotW is on the WIi U.

1. Nintendo is using the Wii U in all demos of BotW. If the Switch version was superior, why didn't they use that instead?

2. Based on rumors, Zelda U will be released a month after the Switch version. Nintendo will want to make sure that the Switch version gets amazing reviews instead of getting unfavorable comparisons with the superior U version. The solution is to delay the U version (or even cancel it altogether).

3. Nintendo wants consumers to pick up the Switch if they want to play Zelda. Forget about the other console. LOL


1: they didn't want to reveal the switch at E3. They have a pr plan in place. They just showed it running live on a switch on television a couple weeks ago.

2: they are releasing the wiiU version later so people have more reason to buy the switch. I know a guy who's planning on buying a wii u just to play zelda. He says he will buy a switch after he "sees what games it gets." Nintendo is trying to curb these morons.

3. No shit theyou want people to forget about there failure. How is this a negative point against Zelda or the switch? Sony wants people to forget about the Playstation tv. Xbox wants people to forget about kinect. PC wants people to forget about games working at launch (jk) so what's your point.
 
My local Target hasn't had even one in stock over the past few weeks, and I have been in there almost daily, unfortunately.

Yea I dropped by my local Target to get some light bulbs, and dropped by the gaming section. I asked the dude what the hell happened with the Nintendo section, and he said they're all sold out of Wii Us and 3DSs, and that to his knowledge "we're not sure if we're gonna restock those again."

Not dropping the price from $300 retail was... Silly. I would have grabbed a back up Wii U if it had been cheaper.
 

Felensis

Banned
Nintendo responds: "Eat shit, and pay what we say. And buy an NES Mini while you're at it to tide yourself over until we shove the Switch down your throat, fuckface."

But that's just my opinion of what Nintendo thinks of its customers.

Thanks, YMMD :D

Oh and BTW: full ack
 

Iorv3th

Member
They have done a recall before but on the 8gb units I think and they re bundled them and shipped them back out. Think they became skylanders bundles.
 

Mak

Member
It's the holiday season and as Christmas is coming up the Wii U and 3DS have sold out and stores haven't received new shipments. Wii U has said to have stopped production and stores haven't received new shipments after selling out their current stock unlike PS4 and Xbox 1.

Pokémon Sun and Moon have pushed 3DS sales following Pokémon Go, and the sold out NES Classic and Super Mario Run on iOS has driven interest in Nintendo products.

Kids are interested in Nintendo products including Wii U asking their parents for it, and it still fills a need in the video game space that you don't get from PS4 and Xbox 1 (games like Mario Kart, Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, etc)

(Not a recall, stock isn't being replenished after its out of stock)
 

GamerJM

Banned
What about the Saturn? Did it do better than Wii U comparatively?

Wii U did better. The difference is that Sega basically killed the Saturn a year before the DreamCast even came out in the US, so they had a long time to get rid of excess stock so recalling was unnecessary.
 

AgeEighty

Member
(Not a recall, stock isn't being replenished after its out of stock)

If you read the OP, that doesn't really seem to be the case here. His store had a big stack of them one day and then none a few days later. And he was told by an associate that they were recalled.
 
Why is Nintendo so stubborn with Wii U pricing? It's as if they don't want the console to sell.

More consoles in people's homes = more software sales

Nobody's going to buy that shit for a premium price at this point.

They don't, they just sold us a "switch prototype" to lower their stock price and buy back some shares before going mobile... but hey they gave a few really good games for us so I'm not complaining :)
 

DevilFox

Member
Are some of you really thinking that if Nintendo left the Wii U out in stores that they'll sell? The system has been out for four years now and is generally more expensive than a PS4 or Xbox One. No one is going to want to buy one. If they did then they would've bought one a long time ago. There aren't any games (aside from BOTW) coming out for it at all that can be deemed as "system-sellers." Nintendo did the right thing by recalling all remaining stock.

I think yes, if retailers applied a discount to get rid of the units, which is something they were probably going to do.
 

opoth

Banned
Not after they absorb all the returns....

What returns? What stores are people going to that have stacks and stacks of Wii U in the year of our lord 2016? (aside from the OP apparently) Again, they have still been manufacturing them up until recently, it's not like manufacture stopped a year ago and stores have been sitting on a pile of stock that wasn't moving at all.

We all know too well that Nintendo isn't currently in the business of making any more hardware than they need to, so they would have stopped making them a long time ago if stores weren't ordering more stock. Figure in the recent breakthroughs on the homebrew front that roughly coincided with the Switch announcement as well and the remaining systems are legitimately moving out the door by people looking for a nice Retroarch box or something that's easy to pirate software on - I don't agree with the latter, but it is what it is. I know 2 people who finally bought a Wii U because of these developments.

Around here for the past year or so, multiple Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy stores seem to rotate between having no stock at all or 2 or 3 units and back to none again, and this included all the various iterations of bundles that have come and gone, they're not all coming from some giant pile in the back of the warehouse that's been sitting there for 2 years. It certainly wasn't difficult to find one up until recently but they weren't just sitting around either for extended periods. I can promise there's no ET landfill situation here - I'm certain that whatever stock is left out there wasn't excessive and will be sold as refurbs or replacements.

Between their desire to move on to the Switch and the compromise of the Wii U security, it's just a matter of low remaining stock being recalled if anything.
 

opoth

Banned
I've had my Wii U on Craigslist for $200 for two weeks, no interest. Yesterday and today I've had 6 people ask about it.

It's a perfect storm of "yeah I'll get one eventually on clearance", word getting around about the system's recently expanded unofficial capabilities, manufacturing stopping a month or two ago and internet hype leading to scarcity at retail. People want what they can't have.

It makes me wonder how much a price drop and earlier compromise in security (well, mainstream compromise) would have led to better sales if those things had happened earlier while the system was still being manufactured.

I guess I should order a spare extended life battery and another Pro controller while they're still available. eh?
 

M-PG71C

Member
Guess it is a good time as any to go on and try to get the few remaining Wii U games I need before it all disappears.
 

drspeedy

Member
It's a perfect storm of "yeah I'll get one eventually on clearance", word getting around about the system's recently expanded unofficial capabilities, manufacturing stopping a month or two ago and internet hype leading to scarcity at retail. People want what they can't have.

It makes me wonder how much a price drop and earlier compromise in security (well, mainstream compromise) would have led to better sales if those things had happened earlier while the system was still being manufactured.

I guess I should order a spare extended life battery and another Pro controller while they're still available. eh?


hey... Ninty's given up on WiiU, that's obvious, but if there's truly no more updates coming then the homebrew scene is about to go all in.


But this is just sales and finance planning for logistical purposes, folks.
Nintendo is working to clear shelves because of 1) knowledge that retailers are sitting on high inventory levels of slow moving WiiU's and 2) doing the buybacks now means negative charges hit their Q3 FY earnings, rather than after 12/31/16 when it would impact their Q4 earnings. Switch launches in March, that's the last period of Q4 for Ninty and they're betting that the console will be a huge hit and drive a positive result when they report to investors.



And, as many have said, they also need these off the shelf when Switch drops to avoid confusion or issues with a $299 older console still out there when the new one is around (or less than) that price. They can resell them online as 'refurbished' themselves or even relaunch them at a later date as budget-priced bundles much like GCN or what Sega did with Dreamcast. The shortage is temporary, IMO. These will come back for a lower price in 2017, it's a drspeedy guarantee!
 

kswiston

Member
Going back to a conversation on the first page: I have no idea why Nintendo decided to make 800 Animal Crossing Amiibos. Who asked for those? 2-3 characters would have been plenty from Animal Crossing.


As for the Wii U, Nintendo didn't even try this holiday. Retailers responded in turn by doing nothing with the Wii U. At least last year had $259 sales and bundles in Canada.
 
You'd think they might wait until after Christmas to pull stock. Surely pulling them on the 30th would have been better than the 18th, right? Guess they didnt give a shit about any last minute christmas buys or kids looking for ways to spend their christmas money.

Or maybe they suddenly realized that people who buy WiiUs in December probably wont buy a Switch in March so they just wanted to can that shit ASAP.
 

drspeedy

Member
You'd think they might wait until after Christmas to pull stock. Surely pulling them on the 30th would have been better than the 18th, right? Guess they didnt give a shit about any last minute christmas buys or kids looking for ways to spend their christmas money.

Or maybe they suddenly realized that people who buy WiiUs in December probably wont buy a Switch in March so they just wanted to can that shit ASAP.

I'd guess that a few units will still be found out in the wild, but getting ANYTHING shipped in the next two weeks is problematic at best, let alone when you're trying to relocate a (probably) large number of units like this, and spread out all over place.

The holidays are always a tough time to ship; snowy weather, lots of vacations, seasonal overtime costs, high warehouse activity and low trailer availability all add up to complexity that could be minimized by starting a couple weeks beforehand.
 
No Wii Us at any of the Best Buys or Walmarts in the Pittsburgh area.

Target as well, just checked.

Can confirm. Live in the same area. Nothin' at big box stores. I'm still blown away by this so close to a holiday where I can walk into the same stores and buy a PS4 or Xbox One with zero hassle.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
The timing is shocking with less than a week to go until Christmas. Even if they need old units to gut/refurb/repackage, is their timeline for doing so so tight they need to pull their product off the shelves this week of all weeks?

Or maybe they suddenly realized that people who buy WiiUs in December probably wont buy a Switch in March so they just wanted to can that shit ASAP.

I am now just coming to a sudden realisation myself.
 

Brhoom

Banned
Wii U box has a huge picture of the controller and it somewhat resembles the Switch.

Gotta get that shit out of stores to avoid another Wii confusion fiasco with casuals thinking Switch is another Wii accessory or Wii U is an alternate Switch model.
.
 

Chitown B

Member
Can confirm. Live in the same area. Nothin' at big box stores. I'm still blown away by this so close to a holiday where I can walk into the same stores and buy a PS4 or Xbox One with zero hassle.

I would imagine that they are taking the hit now rather than bad publicity and lengthier support calls for the Wii U later, when those who got shiny new Wii U's for Xmas realize it's obsolete in 3 months.
 

LoveCake

Member
It seems strange that they would be recalled, why not sell them at a discount, better to have something 'Nintendo' to show other than nothing at all.

My local Game store has a small Nintendo section and they have a poster for the Switch saying coming in March 2017 and to ask at the counter for more details, they still have WiiU's and 3DS's for sale as I was asking about 3DS's the weekend just gone.
 

brad-t

Member
Nintendo is trying to clear mindshare. They're currently promoting New 3DS, Switch, NES Classic, and a ton of other stuff. Wii U doesn't fit in at all and very few are going to be sold anyway; it makes sense Nintendo would rather clear the decks now.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Nintendo has been selling "refurb" systems for basically $200-220 for over a year now. Anyone who wants one can usually grab them online and they get back in stock if they are out fairly quickly. My guess is all these boxes are going to go to Nintendo's refurb store, so they are not going to lose much.

https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/brow...cat570935&pageSize=6&p=1&sort=price:ascending

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Wii-U...169726?hash=item1a21db4c3e:g:IUMAAOSwa~BYUZ53 (this is Nintendo direct sales)

It's really not that hard, people. Personally, the $215 bundle from Nintendo store is a pretty good deal. I only got Wii U Mario Kart bundle last year and paid that much I think and probably would have gone for this bundle this year instead.

Edit: Oh, and kids love both Mario Land and Nintendo Land.
 
Wow this thing has disappeared.

On Amazon all I see is used ones being resold for $280 at the cheapest.

This is ridiculous. The Wii U can't be found for cheaper than a PS4 with UC4 bundled in!

What a terrible value. I doubt I'll ever get one now. It's not worth more than $200 to me, and the games I wanted most for are either on 3DS or will be on Switch.
 
You'd think they might wait until after Christmas to pull stock. Surely pulling them on the 30th would have been better than the 18th, right? Guess they didnt give a shit about any last minute christmas buys or kids looking for ways to spend their christmas money.

Or maybe they suddenly realized that people who buy WiiUs in December probably wont buy a Switch in March so they just wanted to can that shit ASAP.

I wondered about and concluded the same thing. They don't want to lose any potential Switch sales to late Wii U buyers (kids with Christmas money).
 

StereoVsn

Member
Wow this thing has disappeared.

On Amazon all I see is used ones being resold for $280 at the cheapest.

This is ridiculous. The Wii U can't be found for cheaper than a PS4 with UC4 bundled in!

What a terrible value. I doubt I'll ever get one now. It's not worth more than $200 to me, and the games I wanted most for are either on 3DS or will be on Switch.

If you read my post just 2 posts above you can buy one for $200. Nintendo refurb is basically new with full warranty.
 
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