Nintendo Wii U expected to launch late 2012

If you were looking forward to getting your hands on the Nintendo Wii U next year, the good news is that it appears to still be on track for a 2012 release, but if you were hoping to get it in the earlier part of the year then you’ll be in for a disappointment. It looks like the Nintendo Wii U is poised for a release only in late 2012.

This was “confirmed” by Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata during an investor discussion. According to Iwata, the finished version of Nintendo’s new console would only be ready and be up for show during E3 2012, and since it’s rare that Nintendo actual ships their products during E3 itself, we’re most probably looking at a release somewhere towards the end of the year, which is just in time for the holiday season.

The reason that Nintendo is taking their time with the Wii U is because of the “bitter lesson” that they learnt with the Nintendo 3DS, which saw relatively poor sales until they slashed its price drastically. They felt that the 3DS’ poor software lineup caused it to give a less than stellar performance, which is why they’re making sure that developers have more time to create games and polish them for the Wii U.

While we’re sure that this later-than-expected launch will disappoint some fans, it’s good to hear that Nintendo will be making sure they come up with a more polished product this time round.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: delay, e3 2012, Nintendo, Wii U