Nintendo plans continued support for Wii

As Nintendo turns the page over to the Wii U, the company has offered explanation on what it has in mind for the Wii going forward.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told investors after the Nintendo Direct Wii U Conference today (via Engadget) that the Wii has sold around 40m units in the US alone, and that the company plans on continuing support for the console moving forward.

"We will continue to sell the Wii," Fils-Aime said. "As we sit here today, in the US the Wii has sold about 40 million units. We believe that there continues to be an opportunity with Wii. Yes, these are late, late adopters. And yes, price points are important. But we do believe there’s still opportunity for the Wii, and we will continue to sell Wii side-by-side for some period of time."

The future appears more rosy than many would expect for the aging hardware at this particular time. Many Wii games and all Wii accessories are backward-compatible with the Wii U, and Fils-Aime added that opportunities outside the US were still available as well.

"I’m responsible for Canada and Latin America as well," Fils-Aime said. "We think there’s opportunity in both of those markets, especially Latin America. You can reach price points, you can reach consumers that candidly we won’t be able to reach with the Wii U. That’s gonna continue to be an opportunity.

"Lastly, on the global base, certainly there are markets in Eastern Europe. There are a number of other markets where if Wii has an attractive price point, it’ll do well. So, we will continue to be in the Wii business for quite some time."