Is the Wii U dead?

Ever since the release of the switch console and Breath of the Wild for both platforms, there has been some online debate regarding the status of the Wii U.

The same console that people were loud about Nintendo flopping and how they should abandon ship is now often talked around on how Nintendo better not pull the plug on it just yet or how by comparison the Switch doesn't offer much to jump on it.

Nintendo has ceased production of the console, however there are a few games still being cross released for it, but it feels like Nintendo has decided to focus
their efforts on the Switch and 3DS. The Wii U is on its way out, but at what point will you consider it dead? Is it when the switch was released? Is it when iy stops beimg manufacyured? Will it be after the last game (even ports) being released for it?

Some people feel like the Wii U, despite its low-comings was given a fair timeframe and it is a good thing to move on while other people feel unfairly left behind just when the console was passing the struggles and getting the good stuff - like :BotW:, the game that many Wii U owners waited through the years and compelled more than a few of them to adopt the system early on.

So who decides when a console is dead: the fans or the company?

How do you feel about this situation?

I still use the Wii U (I even use it to play Wii games!) but I do think that for marketing purposes the Wii U cycle has concluded. Nintendo is not making more games nor consoles, so it is pretty clear they have moved on and Switch is their main goal, with 3DS right behind. To be honest, with the whole hybrid concept I am surprised they are going so strong with the 3DS. I mean, those few games released recently are original and pretty interesting.

Gotta agree with Link that using it to stream Netflix is highly convenient. I actually enjoy having them both, Wii U and switch on because I can use the main screen for one and the portable for the other. The wii U did alright. The Zelda remakes were pretty neat and it saw interesting games and concepts. I know I am in the minority but I enjoyed a lot Star Fox Zero.

That game right there was Nintendo taking risks but people complained simultaneously about the things that were the same as the past games and the 'unnecessary' changes so by the end of the cycle Nintendo was playing it safe with simple games to boost sales, like doing crossover with Zelda iconic stuff in Sonic, Yoshi, Mario Kart, Dynasty Warriors ... made uninspired and underwhelming games to give people with Amiibos something to do with them and overall felt like a misdirected cannonball with game ideas that on their own might be interested but instead were shoehorned into well known ones, such as Metroid with that federation Force game. The 3DS had a lot more to keep it going but Wii U, unfortunately, didn't fare as lucky without that third-party support. At least they learned from it by trying to make the switch easy to develop and port games for.

Under producing seem to be a movement Nintendo seems to be a tad too fond of. Just yesterday I was reading that Nintendo has ceased the production of the mini NES and SNES, so one they are sold out this holiday season, that's it.

The online service was fine while it was free, however as a paid service they can get stuffed. They are making people pay for a service when most of the games as P2P connections. One of their perks is NES online, which is almost unplayable even with high speeds if you happen to have latency. So for someone like me, living in Australia playing with someone from the US regardless of both having "fast internet" have a mess so lagging that getting pass a level in SMB3 is a frigging pain. And this is supposed to be a perk? it's like Nintendo still doesn't get that people connects with people all over the world, not just your neighborhood or state.

I had to laugh when you made the comparison of Nintendo's Voice chat to MSN service. How is it possible we don't have a proper friend list that lets us text and send invites to our friends to join our gaming sessions? How is it possible than in all this time I have basically only one game (Splatoon 2) using it for something else that just the voice chat?

the fact that, as you mentioned, the service from the competition launched almost twenty years ago is better than this is, frankly, embarrassing. Before the service was out I was trying to defend it, because I felt some complains were a bit petty but seeing that people got more disconnection problems, that you can't really play online NES games with others when frigging emulators have been able to do a better job of it for decades that they won't let you do cloud saves for some of the games (although discussing this with a friend their explanation kind of makes sense) and that they just seem to be doing the absolute minimal effort with it. Rather not bother including anything that will over complicate things even though they are expecting people to pay them. If hosting servers, as far as I understand though I could be wrong, are basically non-existent, what are we exactly paying them for? In the end our own internet is maintaining the online plays since the players connect to another directly to act as the hosting server.

Quote from Link

Just an update, me and my son still play the Wii U because Nintendo has yet to release Wind Waker or Twilight Princess on the Switch.

Some years ago, I'd think those games were coming but if they don't say anything in February, I doubt we will have them.

I didn't like the limited editions and yet, I know that if they offer me those games for the switch, even limites editions I'll go buy them. I'm part of the problem.

We still got the Wii U connected and it'll be for a while, even if I don't use it as much, all the Zelda games HD and virtual shop you can play there plus Skyward Sword through its wii player makes it pretty good for Zelda fans.

Quote from Link

I am just tired of having 3 consoles hooked up just to get to play what I want.

It occurs to me that, save for Link's Awakening, you probably don't need to have the switch hooked up for Zelda needs right now and that's a sad thought.