Nintendo cancels WiiU European “TVii” service as the world shrugs its shoulders

Nintendo has finally admitted that it won’t be launching the WiiU’s TV service in Europe – three years after the US and Japanese launch.

The premise of TVii sounds pretty clever: Basically it combines on-demand services (like Netflix) with an electronic programme guide for live TV and an a remote infra-red blaster so it can control your TV too. So the WiiU can control your TV – and you can even watch (on demand) stuff on your WiiU tablet.

Unfortunately though, as spotted by Bit-Tech, the service won’t be making its way to Europe.

In an official statement, Nintendo blames “the extremely complex nature of localising multiple television services across a diverse range of countries with varied licensing systems” – which makes sense given that whilst the US is one market, TV-wise Europe is still (depending on how you count) 50 different countries.

We can’t imagine anyone is too upset given the poor sales of the WiiU – especially in the smaller countries. Unless there’s like, one guy in Slovenia kicking himself at the news.