The Nintendo Wii U is facing mounting problems as supermarket giant Asda has confirmed it has dropped the ailing consoles after £100 price cuts failed to shift units.
Having been plagued by poor sales figures since launch, the Nintendo Wii U has been stripped for the shelves of Asda stores, although the leading retailer has confirmed it will continue to offer shoppers Wii U games “on a title by title merit basis.”
With Asda having introduced its latest round of Wii U price cuts just two weeks ago – slashing £100 from both the Basic and Premium models – the retailer has seemingly grown tired of the little adopted console taking up prime shelf space, confirming it will no longer host the console in its physical form.
Having repeatedly petitioned Nintendo to lower the Wii U price, Asda repeatedly enforced its own price cuts, making the Wii U Premium and Basic models just £199.99 and £149.99 respectively. It has been suggested that even these sizeable price cuts have failed to entice gamers.
“Asda continues to offer customers a selection of Wii U games and accessories through Asda Direct, but these ranges are currently not on offer in Asda shops,” an official spokesperson for the supermarket chain told gaming blog CVG.
They added: "Asda will stock [Wii U] games on a title by title merit basis as they come along through Asda Direct. We will continue to support Nintendo as a format holder partner."
Remaining adamant that the Wii U is on the verge of greatness, an official Nintendo spokesperson commented: "Nintendo UK does not comment on specific business practices with individual retailers. However, as we have seen with Nintendo 3DS, software sells hardware, and with titles such as Wonderful 101, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Super Mario 3D World already announced for this year as well as the recently released Pikmin 3 and New Super Luigi U having reached number 2 and number 6 in this week's chart respectively, we are looking forward to the year ahead on Wii U."
The latest black mark again the Wii U’s name follows a challenging first year on sale for the touchscreen controller hosting console. Earlier this year EA confirmed that it was no longer developing any Wii U games and analysts have suggested this could soon be a common theme amongst leading publishers.
“If the Wii U’s popularity does not improve by the end of the year, many third-party publishers may pass on producing games for the console,” Wedbush Securities analyst, Michael Pachter said in a recent note to investors.
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