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Nintendo Officially Cancels TVii Support For Wii U In Europe
Nintendo's frequently pushed back support for TVii service on Wii U in Europe has officially been delayed into oblivion. Nintendo made the announcement on its website. You can read the full statement here, or below.
At Nintendo of Europe, we continue to challenge ourselves to develop a range of entertaining experiences for all to enjoy. Due to the extremely complex nature of localising multiple television services across a diverse range of countries with varied licensing systems, regrettably we have taken the decision not to launch the Nintendo TVii service within the European region. Although on this occasion we did not anticipate such challenges, we will always strive to develop a range of entertaining experiences for all our users to enjoy.
Originally planned for launch in Europe in 2013, the service was continually pushed back. Early last year, Nintendo offered an apology for Europe's TVii delay, though at the time it did not offer an adjusted launch date, or even a reason for the continued delay of service. When TVii was initially announced for Wii U, it was only confirmed for North America. The promise of European support came later.
Coupled with the announcement of TVii's cancellation, Nintendo announced a new on-demand anime service for Wii U.
With this in mind, Nintendo of Europe has launched the Nintendo Anime Channel, a new video-on-demand service on Nintendo 3DS which offers users the chance to stream anime series from the likes of Pokémon, Kirby, and Inazuma Eleven. New content will be added regularly and access to this service is granted simply by downloading a free application from Nintendo eShop.
It's unclear if this channel will be making its way to North America at some point in the future.
[Source: Nintendo.uk, via mynintendonews]
Our Take
This is disappointing, but not surprising. Frankly, I had completely forgotten about TVii, and I'm sure many in Europe did as well. While initially highlighted strongly alongside the Wii U, TVii has become a severe afterthought. I was actually quite excited about TVii after the launch of the Wii U and made an effort to use it, but a lack of support or continued updates for the service forced me to abandon it unceremoniously. Now it is just a completely unused button on the corner of the Wii U GamePad.
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