Iwata confirms that the Wii U doesn’t play DVD’s or Blu-ray discs

Iwata found the time to meet up with his investors even through the E3 craze, and Nintendo have posted a transcript of the meeting online. In it, Iwata confirmed that the Wii U will feature neither DVD nor Blu-ray playback because you probably already have something that plays them.

Wii U does not have DVD or Blu-ray playback capabilities.

The reason for that is that we feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn’t warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies.

So there you go. The Wii U will almost certainly still be able to play movies via Netflix, seeing its penetration into almost every platform under the sun, so I doubt it’ll remain entirely movie-less. But let’s face it: you’re not gonna be buying a pricey high-end gaming console with one of the most complex controllers the industry has ever seen just to watch movies, right?

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. Jesus… it can’t even play DVDs?? I completely understand it not having Blu-Ray support, but COME ON NINTENDO!!!

  2. aznhomieboi1689

    DVD players are non expensive at all. If you google it, over 80% of U.S. households own a DVD player (2006). By now, that percentage probably increased. I see no point of having to drive up the cost of the console by including DVD playback and Blu Ray support.

  3. wiiu play

    it can play dvds and most likely 99% of the disk formats out there IT JUST DOESNT as nintendo wont pay bluray or dvd royaltys so its basically switched of EVERYONE KNOWS THIS RIGHT!!!!!

    plus nintendo will push media entertainment streaming and downloading HDMI has a fee/royalty also it did make me wonder if nintendo would go HDMI but its kinda hard not to its HDTV standard

    • F0

      Well, we don’t actually know if the drive is based on Blu-ray technology. If it is, someone might produce a hack that lets it play Blu-rays, but I wouldn’t count on it. This console’s all about streaming. 😛

      As for HDMI, I don’t think Nintendo really had a choice.

  4. FL767

    Man, what are we ever going to do on our powerful, touch-screen controlled Nintendo gaming platform without DVD support?

    Play games?

  5. Jmaster720

    seems like the wii u is getting worse and even more worse

    • Adam

      It’s not getting worse, its just that you believed in the rumors to much.

  6. George Tirebiter

    I honestly don’t care, given that we live in the age of Netflix.

    Besides, I don’t believe the lack of playback capabilities (yes, even Blu-Ray) will result in a significant cut from their potential sales. As far as standard DVDs go, pretty much everyone has a player now. Who cares if it’s cheap enough to include?

    If Blu-Ray playback jacks up the price, I don’t want it.

  7. hawthorneluke

    Yeah, I’d hate to be forced to pay more for additions that I won’t be buying the console for.

  8. ridgeback

    nor did we but can be unlocked…point taken on bluray also,,,,,a hacked bluray or HD dvd or some weird unknown format that nintendo got there hands on

    whatever format i garentee it kills ps3/x360 at load/stream speed probably faster than ps3 and x360 conbined nintendo use custom drives and disc reading for class leading load times

    cough ps1 cough ps2 cough ps3 cough psp slowwwwww sony

  9. Manuel

    Who is using DVD nowadays and how many people buys bluerays when havng NETFLIX, HULU and all this streaming resources. As long as Netflix is on wiiU and the system can read MKV, AVI and all the video formats, it will be enough.