Amazon have announced that from September 26, 2019, they will no longer be supporting their Prime Video app on the Nintendo Wii U. Those who frequently used the app appear to have been sent an email offering them a $25 credit towards a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Cube for the inconvenience.
While many Amazon Video viewers may be indifferent to the change, there are a number who still frequently use the Wii U, especially those with children. Netflix, YouTube, Hulu and Crunchyroll are all still said to be supported by the discontinued Nintendo console.
The real kick in the teeth for Nintendo fans is that, both the current and previous generation consoles are supported for Sony or Microsoft fans, while Nintendo lovers are left with nothing.
The list of game console s supporting the app will now comprise of Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. You’ll notice that this list does not include the Nintendo Switch, meaning the move is actually withdrawing all Nintendo console support.
There is currently no information available regarding whether Amazon is also intending to withdraw the Playstaion 3 and Xbox 360 support any time soon.
The Nintendo Wii U was released in 2012 and had a short life span. It was discontinued in January of 2017, just before the launch of the Switch in March of the same year. It sold only 13.56 million units in its lifetime, a tiny fraction of the 101.63 million sold by its predecessor, the Wii.
While the Wii U has some very loyal fans mostly due to its gamepad technology, wide range of family friendly games and backwards compatibility with the Wii, the low sales figures make it somewhat understandable for Amazon to pull their support.
What is less understandable is that the Nintendo Switch still does not have any app support, despite being over 2 years old. The Switch was launched on March 3 2017 and has sold over 34.74 million units, closing in on almost 3 times those sold by the Wii U in its lifetime.
Many fans are hoping that the withdrawal of Wii U support will be followed by the addition of Switch support. Currently neither Amazon Video or streaming giant Netflix have apps on the console, something which is reported to be due to Nintendo wanting to produce a “gaming focused platform.”