Wii U Basic Pulled From GameStop

Wii U Basic is being pulled from GameStop shelves.

Following significantly disappointing sales of Wii U, used game retailer GameStop is pulling Wii U Basic off their shelves. Even in spite of Xbox One’s equally disappointing reveal unleashing a legion of gamers on an unsuspecting Nintendo to boost the sales of the failing console, Wii U just isn’t selling according to expectations. Nintendo figurehead Shigeru Miyamoto has told us to just give it time and see what happens, but GameStop isn’t so optimistic.

Speculation says that GameStop, which has been in danger of fading from existence over the DRM scare of next generation consoles, is pulling the 8GB Wii U Basic from their shelves due to the discontinuation of the low-end console.

GameStop stores have reportedly been sent the following message from the head office:

“Nintendo Wii U Basic Recall – Two Week Preparation On Tuesday, 6/18, all stories will need to return all new/unopened Wii U Basic (020359). … Stores that have 10 or more in stock will receive shipping cartons from the [distribution center]. … All other stores will need to save shipping cartons for this recall.”

GameStop has not commented on the recall, and Nintendo has stated that it does not interfere with its retailers’ business practices. What we can gather from this is that Nintendo itself is not behind the recall and is still attempting to make sales on the Wii U Basic package.

From the get-go, Nintendo has experienced not only a shortage of demand for the console, but also an unanticipated level of sales across the console packages, with Premium and Deluxe packages failing to meet demand as the Wii U Basic continues to sit mostly untouched.

Several other retailers are still hoping to move the Wii U Basic console package, with price cuts at Target and Asda leading the pack.

Nintendo could still pull out of this with their dignity intact if sales expectations for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 continue to fall and gamers start looking for an alternative that won’t cost as much or be as restrictive.

What do you think of GameStop pulling the Wii U Basic from the shelves?