Standalone Wii U GamePad Will Not Be Sold at Launch

by David Sanchez on September 15, 2012 @ 2:27 am

While Nintendo previously mentioned that the Wii U can support dual GamePad play, it doesn’t look like that’s a feature we’ll be seeing at launch. Hell, you won’t even be able to purchase a standalone GamePad when the Wii U first hits the scene.

“None of the launch window titles support dual GamePad play,” said Nintendo Product Marketing Manager Bill Trinen in a statement to Polygon. “As a result we won’t be selling the GamePad as a separate accessory. It will be released once the content is there to support it. Our anticipation is that there will be (games that support it) some time next year.”

Until games that actually require two separate GamePads are revealed, we won’t even know how much the controller costs on its own. To be quite honest, I don’t think developers will be making many games that require two GamePads. That’s just me being a cynic, though. I’m certain it could happen, and there may be a few games that do it, but I think, for the most part, we’ll see titles rely on a single GamePad.

Follow this author on .

Read more: EA Has No Active Wii U Titles in Development, Have You Downloaded the Latest Wii U System Update?, Indie Devs No Longer Need Office to Make Games for Nintendo Platforms, Ace Attorney 5 Female Lead Can Read Emotions, Shigeru Miyamoto Confident in the Success of Wii U’s ‘Long Future’

Comments
cory1492 says:

Oh goody, so if the kid happens to break it you have to buy a whole 'nother console to get another... that, is retarded.

hush404 says:

That was my thinking, what if the thing breaks? :S Also, you can be guaranteed that developers will shy away from developing games that require you buy more hardware... they never seem keen on that as it tends to cut their audience in half. That said, I think it's one of the strangest decisions EVER to have a NINTENDO system skimp on the amount of controllers it has for it's system. Nintendo has ALWAYS been about couch multiplayer... the likes of which gets kind of limited in this move (yes, even if you can use Wii-mote setups as a multiplayer alternative).

MenaceInc says:

If it breaks, get it repaired and not just go out to buy a new one.

slicer4ever says:

i'm sure a kid somewhere well figure out a way to break it so it's unrepairable.

eldiablov says:

I'm pretty confident that Nintendo will offer a replacement service.

you say:

Login with your username and password below. New User?