This is a list of cancelled Wii U video games. The Wii U was a video game console by Nintendo. While Nintendo found success in its Wii in the 2000s, its successor, the Wii U, was launched in 2012, but was a commercial failure. Its concept and usage of the Wii U GamePad confused consumers, and its hardware, while comparable to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, was significantly weaker than the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched a year after the Wii U. As a result, sales stalled, leading to a small userbase, and third party developers struggled with getting multiplatform games running on it. This, and its short lifespan due to the Nintendo Switch replacing it in a short 5 years later, lead to game cancellations.[1][2] This list documents all known games that were confirmed for release for the Wii U at some point, but did not end up being released for it.
| Title(s) | Notes | Developer | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aliens: Colonial Marines | Originally released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows in February 2013, the Wii U version was cancelled 2 months later. While no official reason was given, the released versions reviewed negative reviews, and the status of the Wii U version's release had been an uncertainty for some period prior.[3] | Demiurge Studios | Sega |
| Ashes Cricket 2013 | Originally released on PC to scathing reviews, the game was shortly after pulled from Steam, and all console version - Wii U, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, were cancelled.[4][5] | Trickstar Games | 505 Games |
| Avengers | A first-person brawler video game set to be released in 2012, to coincide with the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) 2012 film of the same name announced for many platforms, Wii U included. However, THQ's financial difficulties at the time slowed down or cancelled many games, and with this project being tied to the timing of the film's release, it was ultimately cancelled and not released on any platforms.[6][7][8] | Blue Tongue Entertainment | THQ |
| Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | After the game's successful 2015 Kickstarter campaign, a Wii U version of the multiplatform game was planned. However, the game's development time outlasted the lifespan of the Wii U, and so it was cancelled in favor of a Nintendo Switch version, which launched in June 2019, a week after the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows version.[9] | ArtPlay, DICO | |
| Bizerta: Silent Evil | Development on the game started on PlayStation Vita before realizing the hardware was not powerful enough to fulfill the game's vision. Development was moved to Wii, and was reportedly in development for multiple years, but never released in any capacity.[10] | Edrox Interactive | |
| Crysis 3 | Originally released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows, developer Crytek had a version of the game up and running on the Wii U too, but it was never released due to publisher Electronic Arts loss of interest in publishing Wii U games, Crytek's lack of license to self-publish, and Nintendo not stepping in to help. Crysis 3 Remastered would later be published by Crytek on the Nintendo Switch in 2021.[11] | Crytek | Electronic Arts |
| Eternal Darkness 2 | In 2012, Kotaku reported that Eternal Darkness developer Silicon Knights had been working on a sequel in the years prior while concurrently developing X-Men: Destiny. However, development reportedly struggled, with much of the staff being inexperienced and not from the original development team. The limited work done on the title was described as being in rough shape, and after Silicon Knights legal battles with Epic Games and subsequent closure, the title was cancelled.[12][13][14] | Silicon Knights | |
| Human Element | Starting development in 2012 and being announced at The Game Awards in 2014, the game was an ambious first person shooter by Robert Bowling, who had previously worked on Call of Duty titles. Announced for the Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC platforms, development was put on hiatus, and later cancelled in early 2015, due to the closer of developer Robotoki, and then game was not released in any capacity.[15][16] | Robotoki | Robomodo |
| Hollow Knight | Originally announced in 2014 for a 2015 release, the Wii U was one of many planned platforms for the game. A build of the game was up and running on the Wii U, though delays caused development to expand beyond its lifespan, and it was cancelled in favor of a Nintendo Switch release in 2018, the same years as other versions.[17] | Team Cherry | Team Cherry |
| Hyper Light Drifter | Originally announced for Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and PC platforms, the Wii U and Vita version were later cancelled due to the developers struggling to get it running on their respective hardware, and health issues that were also taking their toll. Other versions released in 2016, and a handheld version finally released on the Nintendo Switch in 2018.[18][19] | Heart Machine | Heart Machine |
| Kerbal Space Program | Originally released for PC platforms in 2015, many home console ports were announced in the coming years, including the Wii U. While ports for PlayStation and Xbox platforms released over the year, the Wii U version was cancelled in 2017 due to it being replaced by the Nintendo Switch that year, though no Switch version was made either.[20] | Flying Tiger Entertainment | |
| Metro: Last Light | Originally announced for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U, the Wii U version was cancelled early on due to technical limitations with its hardware, and the development team being already pushed to their limits porting the PS3 version.[21] | 4A Games | Deep Silver |
| The Next Penelope | A 2015 release that mixed the gameplay of Rock n' Roll Racing with the story of The Odyssey. The Wii U version was in development for years, but issues arose in trying to relay its HTML5 language to the Wii U, and was later cancelled outright upon Nintendo's announcement of the discontinuation of the Wii U.[22] | Aurelien Regard | |
| Pac-Man Museum | Originally announced for Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC platforms, when the game was delayed in 2014, the Wii U and 3DS versions were cancelled.[23] | Bandai Namco | Bandai Namco |
| Poi | Originally announced as a game in development for Wii U and PC, development spanned longer than the Wii U's lifecycle, and the game cancelled in favor of 2017 releases on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.[24] | PolyKid | PolyKid |
| Project CARS | Originally announced for the Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows, when PS3 and 360 versions were cancelled in favor of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, the development team began having trouble getting the game running on Wii U hardware. Notably, they could only get the frame rate up to 23 frames per second, when their publisher demanded it hit 30 frames per second to be released. It was deemed potentially possible, but too much work, to get it running at 30, and was cancelled. Despite showing interest in a Nintendo Switch version, it was announced it would not release there either.[25][26][27] | Slightly Mad Studios | Bandai Namco |
| Project Giant Robot | Announced by Nintendo at E3 2014 alongside Project Guard, the game involved using the motion controls of the Wii U GamePad maintain the balance of fighting done through a robot on a TV screen, with attacks being done with moving joysticks. While Guard was used to create Star Fox Guard, Giant Robot was cancelled in 2017, as the game was strongly tied to Wii U hardware, and Nintendo began focusing on the then-upcoming Nintendo Switch hardware instead.[28] | Nintendo | Nintendo |
| Putty Squad remake | A remake of the original 1992 Putty Squad was announced for a variety of platforms, including Wii U. However, the Wii U version never released, though a Nintendo Switch version released instead in 2017.[29][30][31] | System 3 | System 3 |
| Rive | Originally announced in 2014 for the Wii U, PlayStation 4, and Windows, the game's delay into 2016 lead to the cancellation of the Wii U version in favor of a Nintendo Switch release in 2017.[32] | Two Tribes | Two Tribes |
| Road Redemption | Originally in development for PC platforms, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U after it successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, the game featured an extended development period, with particularly difficult development on the Wii U due to it being the weakest of the hardware being developed for. Despite assurances that it was still in development as of 2016, in the years following, they announced it had been cancelled in favor of a Nintendo Switch version, where it release with other platforms across 2017 and 2018.[33][34] | Pixel Dash Studios | Tripwire Interactive |
| Sadness | Announced in 2006 for the Wii, very little info or footage was released afterwards, and it was cancelled in 2010 when developer Nibris went bankrupt. Developers HullBreach Studios and Cthulhi Games teamed up to buy the rights and restart development for the Wii U in 2014, with a 2016 release target, but the game never materialized.[35][36][37] | Nibris | |
| Sacrilegium | Originally announced as a survival horror game coming to the Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms, the game never released in any capacity.[38] | Reality Pump Studios | TopWare Interactive |
| Stardew Valley | A Wii U version of the multi-platform game was announced at E3 2016, but later cancelled in favor of a Nintendo Switch version due to the poor shape of the Wii U userbase.[39] | ConcernedApe | |
| Star Fox Armada | After successfully rebooting Metroid (Metroid Prime) and Donkey Kong Country (Donkey Kong Country Returns), developer Retro Studios aimed to reboot the Star Fox series. They proposed a new entry involving characters with a puppet visual aesthetic, and an emphasis on multiplayer, but it was not greenlit by Nintendo.[40] | Retro Studios | Nintendo |
| Untitled Star Wars game (codenamed Damage internally) | A proposed Star Wars title that would have involved exploring Darth Maul's origin story and using Wii Remote's motion control capability to simulate the use of a light saber for the Wii. Discussions between LucasArts and Nintendo would have had Red Fly Studio, the company responsible for porting The Force Unleashed to the Wii, developing the title. However, Nintendo declined to fund the game as a first party game development project. While it was briefly pursued as a multiplatform project, LucasArts eventually lost faith in the project and cancelled it. Years later, the developers attempted to revive it for the Wii U, but this never materialized either.[41][42] | Red Fly Studio | LucasArts |
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms | Originally announced as Ghost Recon Online for the Wii U and PC platforms, the team halted worked on the Wii U game to focus on launching the PC version. While the team left the possibility open to returning to the Wii U version, the PC version was taken offline in December 2016, and the game was never revisited for Wii U.[43] | Ubisoft | Ubisoft |
| Yooka-Laylee | After its successful 2015 Kickstarter campaign, a Wii U version of the multiplatform game was in development. However, by late 2016, developer Playtonic Games announced that technical issues were preventing the game from launching on the platform.A Nintendo Switch version was announced and released in late 2017 instead, six months after the other versions of the game.[44] | Playtonic Games | Team17 |
| Young Justice: Legacy | The game's publisher cancelled the Wii and Wii U versions of the game citing "quality issues" and "lack of interest at retail", though versions of the game still released in 2013 for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows.[45] | Little Orbit | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |