The Wii U is going to lose its digital store in just a year, and while you can hear the "Wii U Wii U Wii U" ambulance approaching, it was apparently supposed to get here a lot earlier--or at least that's what Nintendo reportedly wanted.
According to a Nintendo Life report, an anonymous Nintendo of America employee said Nintendo has wanted to shutter the Wii U eShop for several years, but was concerned of class-action suits if it were done within a decade of the system's launch. The company didn't directly respond to Nintendo Life's request for comment.
"Internally, [Nintendo] has been waiting for that day since 2014 based on sales," the source said. "Nintendo looks at the first two years as the indicator of when to start packing it in with a console."
Of course, it's extremely unlikely Nintendo would have shuttered the store then, as the Switch was still three years away in 2014 and we got Wii U exclusives in the few years that followed. However, the gap between the Wii U and Switch was one of the smallest in Nintendo's history. The GameCube, which was itself a disappointment for Nintendo's bottom line, lasted five years before the Wii arrived. The Wii U lasted just over four, and it was one of Nintendo's biggest failures. In contrast, the Nintendo Switch is now the best-selling Nintendo home console ever.
The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops are both shutting down by March 2023. If you need some games to buy before then, check out our list.