The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will indeed be the final first-party title to come to the system. This was confirmed by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who spoke to Polygon following the Switch launch event in New York City Friday.
“From a first-party standpoint, there’s no new development coming after the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” he said. “We really are at the end of life for Wii U.” Fils-Aime said that Wii U titles will continue to be sold at retail and on the Nintendo eShop, and the company had not yet begun to discuss getting rid of any online services for the console.
“From our standpoint, sunsetting is quite some time into the future. The ongoing activity from an online standpoint on [Mario] Kart and Splatoon is significant. We’re going to continue to support that.”
Fils-Aime said that the company has taken lessons from the Wii U’s lifespan in its launch of Switch. “Even today when I ask people, ‘so what was Wii U all about?,’ I get a wide variety of responses,” he said. “In managing the business, that’s just not good.”
For the upcoming Nintendo Switch, Fils-Aime feels much more confident in the messaging: “a home console you can take with you.”
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will come to Wii U and Nintendo Switch on March 3rd.
