One retailer somehow managed to sell a single unit of Nintendo’s eighth-generation home console, the Wii U, in 2023.

According to a recent sales report, Nintendo managed to sell one new Wii U console in the US earlier this year. That’s surprising, as Nintendo has been phasing out the Wii U since the release of the Nintendo Switch in 2017 and the Wii U’s discontinuation that same year. The hybrid console has been a huge success since its release, with the Switch managing to become the best-selling Nintendo home console of all time, in addition to being the third best-selling console in history. The same cannot be said for the Wii U, which was released to a mixed reception.

Released in 2012, the Wii U was a console that was criticized for a number of reasons, including a poor launch game lineup, limited third-party support, and poor marketing that didn’t do enough to communicate that it was a new console and not a sequel to the previous one. Despite all of this, the Wii U had plenty of unique and fun games, many of which have been ported to the Switch over the years. Apparently, according to industry analyst Mat Piscatella, there is still a new Wii U console out there somewhere.

Piscatella revealed that Nintendo was able to sell a new Wii U in the United States in early September, the first one sold since May 2022. This is based on data from the retail tracking service Circana (formerly known as The NPD Group). Piscatella compares this to when three units of Sony’s discontinued PS Vita were sold in November 2021. The accuracy of the data is based on Piscatella obtaining and processing retailers’ individual store sales data for each SKU (stock keeping unit, the number assigned to products to track internal inventory) that collectively make up the hardware market.

When asked how you can still find a new Wii U in stores since Nintendo bought back all retail inventory of the Wii Us after it stopped production, Piscatella jokingly asked, “So you never lost your keys or misplaced a sock? This likely means that some retailers didn’t return Wii U consoles to Nintendo, with some theories suggesting that a local chain or Walmart still had the system.

Although the Wii U’s online services are being phased out, the console still has a fan base. There have been fan-made servers to support games like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8, while an active homebrew community works to preserve games. There are also games that have yet to be ported to the Switch, such as Xenoblade Chronicles X. Regardless, there is still some love for the Wii U eleven years after its mixed launch.

Source : GameRant