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Nintendo discontinued the Wii U in 2017, and will shut down all online connectivity for the console by the end of this year. Despite it all, unopened units are apparently still out there on shelves: According to Circana industry analyst Mat Piscatella, Nintendo sold a single new Wii U in the United States in 2023. It’s reportedly the first new Wii U sold since May 2022.
Piscatella said on X, formerly Twitter, that Circana tracks sales data for consoles across “most retailers,” which make up 97% of U.S. hardware retail sales. The Wii U purchased from a retailer this year wasn’t a refurbished or used console, which there’s certainly a more active market for. It was a brand-new Wii U sold in the year 2023.
The Wii U was not exactly a popular console. Some would even call it a flop, as it sold just 9.2 million units in the three years after its launch in 2012.
I hope September’s Wii U buyer has access to physical Wii U discs, because Nintendo shut off the console’s digital storefront in March.
So how does this happen? It’s pretty unusual for a retailer to have stock this old at any point; manufacturers would eventually ask for the consoles back. This rare, new Wii U console must have gotten stuffed away for a while before the miraculous sale last month. Piscatella told Polygon that information for where the Wii U was sold isn’t available. He added that one-off sales like this — for other consoles and games — happen “fairly regularly,” likely when the dust is brushed off something buried in the back of a store. There’s not much to the data other than that, just “fun peculiarities,” he added.
Piscatella said on X, formerly Twitter, that Circana tracks sales data for consoles across “most retailers,” which make up 97% of U.S. hardware retail sales. The Wii U purchased from a retailer this year wasn’t a refurbished or used console, which there’s certainly a more active market for. It was a brand-new Wii U sold in the year 2023.
The Wii U was not exactly a popular console. Some would even call it a flop, as it sold just 9.2 million units in the three years after its launch in 2012.
I hope September’s Wii U buyer has access to physical Wii U discs, because Nintendo shut off the console’s digital storefront in March.
So how does this happen? It’s pretty unusual for a retailer to have stock this old at any point; manufacturers would eventually ask for the consoles back. This rare, new Wii U console must have gotten stuffed away for a while before the miraculous sale last month. Piscatella told Polygon that information for where the Wii U was sold isn’t available. He added that one-off sales like this — for other consoles and games — happen “fairly regularly,” likely when the dust is brushed off something buried in the back of a store. There’s not much to the data other than that, just “fun peculiarities,” he added.
Nintendo sold a single new Wii U in the US this year
The console’s been discontinued for years
www.polygon.com