Wii U Basic stock being 'rebalanced,' not discontinued

Nintendo has called a previous report suggesting that US retailer GameStop is recalling the Wii U Basic, possibly to discontinue the model, a "misperception" of the situation.

"There is a current misperception about Wii U hardware," said Nintendo senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta to GameSpot.

Nintendo did not deny that it has recalled some stock of its Wii U units across the major US retailer, but instead says its intentions are to "rebalance" the stock of its Wii U SKU's in the marketplace. "Nintendo is working with its retail partners to simply rebalance the stock of the White 8GB and the Black 32GB Wii U models in the market," explained Scibetta.

"Consumers looking for either model will continue to find them available," concluded Scibetta.

Yesterday's anonymous source said that, as of June 18, all GameStop stores will need to return any remaining stock of Wii U Basic consoles.

When Nintendo launched the Wii U in November 2012 it shipped two models, the 8GB Basic and the 32GB Premium.

Nintendo had sold 3.45 million Wii U units globally as of March 31, 2013, with fewer than 400,000 sold in the first three months of 2013.