It's been over a decade since the release of the Nintendo Wii, with two newer home consoles succeeding it in the 12 years since its debut. While the Wii's relevancy may have faded, a small population of users out there still keep their system hooked up, for the purpose of easily streaming on-demand TV and movies. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Crunchyroll are still capable of streaming 480p video for those that managed to grab the respective applications prior to the closure of the Wii Shop Channel. Back in the day, there was a definite market thanks to the massive popularity of the Wii, and streaming companies commonly encouraged customers to use game consoles in order to watch content. Netflix even offered a disc by mail that would allow Wii systems to use the service. However, those days are coming to an end after eight years, with Netflix revealing that Nintendo will be suspending all video streaming services on the platform by January 31, 2019.

Source

 

[Deleted User]

Press A+B to pay respects.

 

[Chary]

It may be sluggish, it might only be 480p, it might crash 80% of the time, but hey, at least the Wii had Netflix.

Wii > Switch confirmed, finally.

 

[White90000]

AB

 

[Bladexdsl]

took them long enough

 

[kuwanger]

Can a PC from 2006 play Hulu, Netflix, etc at 480p? Is there some specific reason they're dropping support for the Wii? *sigh* "But you got to buy the latest Android TV!" Literally one can still use a TV from the 90s with an HDMI box (with the right adapter). Good thing I bought my sister/brother-in-law a box after Youtube broke on the Wii. I wonder how long they will ordain to keep that working.

 

[Ericthegreat]

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It's been over a decade since the release of the Nintendo Wii, with two newer home consoles succeeding it in the 12 years since its debut. While the Wii's relevancy may have faded, a small population of users out there still keep their system hooked up, for the purpose of easily streaming on-demand TV and movies. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Crunchyroll are still capable of streaming 480p video for those that managed to grab the respective applications prior to the closure of the Wii Shop Channel. Back in the day, there was a definite market thanks to the massive popularity of the Wii, and streaming companies commonly encouraged customers to use game consoles in order to watch content. Netflix even offered a disc by mail that would allow Wii systems to use the service. However, those days are coming to an end after eight years, with Netflix revealing that Nintendo will be suspending all video streaming services on the platform by January 31, 2019.

Source

Lol I never had one but Netflix came on this weird circle thing you put in your wii.

 

[Justinde75]

I'd love to see how many people used this in 2018

 

[Xzi]

It may be sluggish, it might only be 480p, it might crash 80% of the time, but hey, at least the Wii had Netflix.

Wii > Switch confirmed, finally.

I think you forgot the /s. Video streaming was a much bigger factor for consoles last gen, but now you've got $20-$30 HDMI sticks that do the same thing. If anybody is buying $250+ video game consoles specifically to stream Netflix, they're doing life wrong.

 

[SuperrSonic]

Spoiler

Interestingly you can also watch it on the Netflix channel with a higher resolution and bitrate... but it doesn't last 5 hours.

 

[Deleted User]

Didn’t even know this was a thing. Then again Australia only got Netflix in 2015.

 

[radicalwookie]

Press A+B to pay respects.

You mean ''shake your wiimote violently like you are having a seizure'' to pay respects?

 

[Deleted User]

And nothing of value has been lost

 

[Bedel]

Hope this means they are planning to add them to Switch. Youtube did nothing for me, but Netflix is other story.

 

[Lucifer666]

I don't understand why. I mean, sure, the Wii is defunct and nobody watches Netflix on it etc. etc., but does it actually cost Nintendo anything to keep it going? It's fetching data off of Netflix's servers...

 

[LightyKD]

(A) + |B|

Damn... I get that the Wii is fairly old but I kinda feel bad. It's like putting flowers on a grave. -oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

 

[krueger96]

Makes sense after all this time, but i have to say the wii netflix app is really good, if you don't care about hd.

 

[Arras]

I don't understand why. I mean, sure, the Wii is defunct and nobody watches Netflix on it etc. etc., but does it actually cost Nintendo anything to keep it going? It's fetching data off of Netflix's servers...

Can a PC from 2006 play Hulu, Netflix, etc at 480p? Is there some specific reason they're dropping support for the Wii? *sigh* "But you got to buy the latest Android TV!" Literally one can still use a TV from the 90s with an HDMI box (with the right adapter). Good thing I bought my sister/brother-in-law a box after Youtube broke on the Wii. I wonder how long they will ordain to keep that working.

I would assume it's because Netflix has to keep their services working for the Wii, so they need to test stuff for that, maybe add specific exceptions here and there because the Wii is kinda garbage, things like that.

 

[Cyan]

oh
My parent still use the Wii to watch netflix.
I guess I'll have to give them my WiiU in two months...

is it a nintendo decision or netflix wanting to stop 480p?
What I understand is it's caused by nintendo stopping their network service, I suppose it had to connect to nintendo first.

It may be sluggish, it might only be 480p, it might crash 80% of the time, but hey, at least the Wii had Netflix.

Wii > Switch confirmed, finally.

It never crashed.
And I don't know why a lot of people think netflix on switch is useless, while they are fine having it on other consoles. Not everybody has a phone or tablet, or like to watch things on the go on small screens, and the console is the only way to watch netflix on TV.
the switch could do it too. Never understood the angst against netflix on switch from some users here but no problem with it on PS4. (not including you, just talking based on a lot of comments I saw on gbatemp from users against the idea to get netflix on switch)

 

[MaxiBash]

Yeah, understandable.
You can get a used Wii for $40 and get composite with 420p, or you can buy a Chromecast for $30 which can go up to 1080p.