Nintendo's Wii U Basic, released last fall, is being recalled by Best Buy starting June 10.
The Japanese electronics company introduced the Wii U, successor to the wildly popular Wii, on November 18, last year. Since then, it has failed to gain traction. As of March 31, only 3.45 million units were shipped around the world - far fewer than the 4 million the company had predicted in January, which itself was significantly less than its initial predictions of 5.5 million. In fact, the older Wii sold more than its newly released counterpart, with about 460,000 sold throughout the last quarter.
Nintendo itself admits that the Wii U console was unable to "maintain the initial sales momentum." The company credits the less than optimal performance to the delayed release of follow up games, which it intends to rectify by releasing "key Nintendo titles" in the latter half of this year.
However, things aren't looking good for Nintendo. Electronics retail chain Best Buy has issued a notice about Wii U Basic (8GB model), stating that "stores should pull all new in box units and send them back." It also says that within the coming weeks, stores will see arrivals of more Wii U Deluxe units.
The Deluxe is essentially the same as the Basic model but comes with pre-packaged game, NintendoLand, and much more storage space - 32GB compared to basic model's 8GB. Those 8GBs are further reduced after installing the Wii U's firmware, and the basic system's internal storage can't even fit some of the games designed for the Wii U system. The Deluxe retails for an extra $50, and, partially because of the minimal price difference, has performed better than the Basic.
Best Buy is the second major retailer to send back its Wii U Basic units. GameStop is planning to discontinue sales of the console as of June 18, also alerting stores that they will "need to return all new/unopened Wii U Basic."
Meanwhile, Nintendo has stated that any rumors of a recall of the Wii U Basic are incorrect, and that the company is "working with its retail partners to simply rebalance the stick of the White 8GB and the Black 32GB models in the market," maintaining that customers looking to purchase the Wii U Basic will continue to find them available.
Many people are speculating that the Wii U Basic will face extinction in the near future, and are expecting to see the Wii U Deluxe fall in price to fill the Basic's place in the market.
