No Blu-ray, DVD support for Wii U

Nintendo reveals new console details and 3DS concerns

Nintendo has made the decision to omit DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities from the Wii U to save on manufacturing costs.

The information came from a Q&A session for investors.

"We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray," explained Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, "in such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies."

The report also addressed the disappointing sales of the handheld 3DS, with Iwata admitting they "have not met our expectations."

"What we have analysed up to this point is that the initial move by the early adopters has not translated into broader movement by the broader market in the ways that we had expected."

He was quick to reassure investors that this is expected change as new services become available. "I think that we'll be able to show you that as Nintendo eShop and 3D video services come online, and a number of key software titles become available, we'll be able to regain momentum for this hardware."

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Latest comments (8)

Rick Lopez Illustrator, Graphic Designer 8 years ago

I think Nintendo's statement is fair enough.

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Jim Webb Executive Editor/Community Director, E-mpire Ltd. Co.8 years ago

Agreed. I have enough DVD players already and I wanted a Blu-ray player, I'd prefer a dedicated player anyway. That and the inclusion of Netflix makes up a lot.

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Morgan Owen Studying Electronic engineering, University of Nottingham8 years ago

It's really no wonder they're trying to save on costs after the reaction to the 3ds's price. I'd expect they'll be throwing out any extra or unnecessary hardware to try and deliver the cheapest retail price possible.

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Kingman Cheng Illustrator and Animator 8 years ago

My stance as always is I buy a games console to play games, so doesn't really bother me on a personal level.

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Andrew Goodchild Studying development, Train2Game8 years ago

@Morgan. Nintendo sell hardware at a much higher profit margin than their rivals, and could have sold the 3DS cheaper had they wanted to without cutting costs, so it's not a case of getting it out cheaper, it's that they want to maximise profits selling it at the target price. Also, the fact you can buy a DVD player for £30 suggests that the licencing isn't too high.
That said, adding DVD playback would be pointless, as everyone has DVD playback, ass Wii doesn't have it, when people upgrade it won't cost this feature. It would only be worth including DVD if they were also including Blueray.
It will be different for Xbox, the 360 is a lot of people's DVD player, so anyone upgrading will want DVD playback so they can make a clean switch without buying a new device.

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Joe Winkler trained retail salesman, Expert8 years ago

A DVD feature in a console is always a good thing to do, I think. Especially the Wii could have used this feature well. A lot of children have a Wii in their Childs room and the parents could easily overwatch the DVDs they are looking at, without the need to look those on the living room television. A lot of custumers asked for the media features of the Wii, when it was released and -of course- have been dissapointed by the lack of features.

But it's the "normal" thing for nintendo to release a "game-only" console. The movie support for the 3ds is still pending, isn't it? After the poor (sry for being harsh) sales of the console I wouldn't be surprised if they would cut the feature once and for all.

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Jim Webb Executive Editor/Community Director, E-mpire Ltd. Co.8 years ago

Joe, the video feature for 3DS and Netflix are both still coming. Should be out within a month or two.

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Craig Burkey Software Engineer 8 years ago

Its a shame I don't have a Wii or a Blu Ray player but my Gamecube is dying. This would have been a day 1 purchase for me if we had Gamecube and Blu Ray compatability.

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