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Nintendo Blames Delayed Games for Wii U Flop, Highlights Switch Surge

5/6/2026

Summary

Story summary

Reggie Fils-Aimé, former Nintendo of America president, said the Wii U failed because of delayed Smash Bros., Mario Kart and Splatoon releases and competition from Xbox and PlayStation.
Nintendo discontinued the low-memory white Wii U SKU after selling only 13.56 million units in just over four years.
Nintendo launched micro-NES and micro-SNES consoles as holiday drivers, with the Switch family reaching 155.37 million units and Switch 2 adding 17.37 million in its first seven months.

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Story summary

Reggie Fils-Aimé, former Nintendo of America president, said the Wii U failed because of delayed Smash Bros., Mario Kart and Splatoon releases and competition from Xbox and PlayStation.
Nintendo discontinued the low-memory white Wii U SKU after selling only 13.56 million units in just over four years.
Nintendo launched micro-NES and micro-SNES consoles as holiday drivers, with the Switch family reaching 155.37 million units and Switch 2 adding 17.37 million in its first seven months.