David Farnor | On 14, Nov 2018

Netflix will no longer be available on the Nintendo Wii next year.

The Wii was a huge hit when it first launched 12 years ago, and marked the point at which games consoles embraced casual gamers as well as hardcore enthusiasts. Part of that open-armed success involved the addition of streaming services to its line-up of apps, as the Wii became a staple of living rooms during an era when the entertainment world shifted towards online video.

In 2013, though, as Nintendo moved on to new products, the Wii began to phase out channels, and now, Nintendo is preparing to shut up shop for the console altogether.

Nintendo has confirmed that it will close the Wii Shop Channel on the Nintendo Wii on 30th January 2019, which will see all video streaming services on Wii, including the Netflix Channel, stop being available. The news means that the console from 2006 will now be a primarily offline games hub, while newer devices will be able to cater to your Netflix console needs – indeed, the Nintendo Wii U offers Netflix, and users of that console are not affected by the Wii shop’s closure.

The Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, has just added YouTube to its app line-up, which suggests that Netflix may soon be available on the handheld/TV gaming machine soon as well.

 

BBC iPlayer leaves Nintendo Wii U

23rd January 2017

BBC iPlayer has been removed from the Nintendo Wii U.

As a gaming company that prides itself on games first and everything else second, the tech giant has not raced to embrace the current trend of consoles being used as multimedia entertainment hubs for living rooms: the Nintendo Switch, notably, launched without any support for the Nintendo Switch.

iPlayer, meanwhile, has made a quiet departure from the Wii’s successor, the Wii U. As of 16th January, BBC iPlayer was fully discontinued from Wii U consoles, due to “an end in the license agreement between the BBC and Nintendo”. The app is no longer available from the Nintendo eShop and is no longer be available to download.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for enjoying the BBC iPlayer application on Wii U,” added Nintendo in an official statement.

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