{"id":651159,"date":"2026-03-30T07:44:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:44:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:44:23","slug":"heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>Low sales of the Wii U weren&#8217;t the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was also due to a general lack of suitable games to actually make its implementation worthwhile, former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aim&eacute; has said.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2clGGJ5m_G8&amp;feature=youtu.be\">MinnMax<\/a>, Fils-Aim&eacute; stated: <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What was interesting is that with the Wii U, there was a full development plan for all of the interesting interactions and all of the interesting capabilities that the system could do, and so in that case, technically could multiple gamepads communicate with a Wii U? Answer was &#8216;yes&#8217;, but the install base never got large enough that that type of implementation made sense.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Low sales of the Wii U weren&#8217;t the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was also due to a general lack of suitable games to actually make its implementation worthwhile, former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aim&eacute; has said. Speaking to MinnMax, Fils-Aim&eacute; stated: &#8220;What was interesting is that with the Wii U, there was a full development plan for all of the interesting interactions and all of the interesting capabilities that the system could do, and so in that case, technically could multiple gamepads communicate with a Wii U? Answer was &#8216;yes&#8217;, but the install base never got large enough that that type of implementation made sense.&#8221; Read more Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":651160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[13,21,1739,1000],"class_list":["post-651159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-nintendo","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-nintendo-wii-u","tag-reggie-fils-aime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Here&#039;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Low sales of the Wii U weren&#039;t the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here&#039;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Low sales of the Wii U weren&#039;t the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Here&#8217;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":137,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nintendo\",\"Nintendo Switch\",\"nintendo wii u\",\"Reggie Fils-Aime\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/\",\"name\":\"Here's why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Low sales of the Wii U weren't the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":270,\"caption\":\"Here\u2019s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Here&#8217;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Here's why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News","description":"Low sales of the Wii U weren't the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Here's why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News","og_description":"Low sales of the Wii U weren't the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":270,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Here&#8217;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U","datePublished":"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/"},"wordCount":137,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg","keywords":["Nintendo","Nintendo Switch","nintendo wii u","Reggie Fils-Aime"],"articleSection":["Eurogamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/","name":"Here's why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-30T07:44:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"Low sales of the Wii U weren't the only reason Nintendo decided to not offer dual GamePad support on its somewhat underwhelming console. The decision was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u.jpg","width":480,"height":270,"caption":"Here\u2019s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/heres-why-nintendo-never-utilised-dual-gamepad-support-on-wii-u\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Here&#8217;s why Nintendo never utilised dual GamePad support on Wii U"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1291136,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651159\/revisions\/1291136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}