Four years after its original release, Nintendo's Wii U console is reaching the end of its run. There is no denying that since its release, the console has been a disappointment despite the fact that it follows up on the success of its predecessor, the Nintendo Wii. This confirmation comes after months of denial from the Japanese game maker.

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The Wii U has sold over 13 million units worldwide, which is far from the 100 million units sold by the very popular Wii. When the Wii U was announced in 2011, it had a lot to offer gamers such as its "asymmetrical gameplay" with its dual-screen option. This drew the attention of major game developers like Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft.

The Wii U's failure to create a lasting impression on gamers could be attributed to the advertising surrounding its release. The Japanese company failed to understand that gamers would like to play their video games on the biggest HD television possible. Proper communication to its customers was also a failure because the company did not express that the Wii U was a new console on its own, and not an extension of the Wii.

The hardware within the Wii U itself proved to be worrisome as the Gamepad controller that came with the unit had a bad battery life. This is despite the fact the wireless connection between the controller and the console proved to be impressive. The result is the pad became an underused aspect of the Wii U, not just by Nintendo but developers as well.

All this boils down to the fact that Nintendo failed to capitalize on the uniqueness of the Wii U, especially since the company is home to well-known and beloved games such as Super Mario, and Mario Kart. In hindsight, the Wii U could be considered an HD version of the Wii, and it could have done away with the gamepad because second-screen gaming is considered a dead-end. Regardless of what happened, and what was to blame for the console's failure, we must all come to terms with the fact that the Wii U will be gone to make way for the Nintendo Switch next year.