The Claim
An article on the website Hard-Drive and Hard Times, creates gaming satire about, as they note on their webpage, “their favorite stuff.” They also just launched a new podcast called “Hard World News,” “where they read and rewrite the news.” They also are a part of Patreon, where creators can build fandoms.
On their websites as well as their social media sites. they posted the following article on March 4, 2022 Nintendo Announced All Still-Functioning Wiis Will Self Destruct in 2023. There are a number of sources that reported this is true information… is it?
This is how I fact-checked it.
Who is behind this?
The author of the Nintendo article about Wii’s self-destruction is Mark Rosebuck who is the co-founder of Hard Drive and editor-in-chief of the website.
Do Some lateral reading
As I did some more research and lateral reading, I searched other websites with the handle of Mark Roebuck. All of their articles posted on Hard Drive are satire. Their tag line also makes the reader aware of the satirical bent of their material. However, many people only saw the headline and then reposted the article and then the misinformation began to spread and people owning old Nintendo wii were suddenly fearful that they would soon self-destruct.
Look into evidence
Next, I checked out the evidence. I searched “Nintendo Self-Destruct” and several sources came up supporting the claim with random individuals reposting the claim as fact without knowing that the website was satirical.
Next stop, I decided to go to the source: Nintendo’s website. It turns out that Nintendo did put out a discontinuation of the Wii’s that was going to happen in 2023 and then discontinued them in 2024. The announcement reads: “Thank you very much for supporting our products. At 5 pm PDT on April 8, 2024, online play and other functionality that uses online communication was discontinued for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, including software exclusive to New Nintendo 3DS. This also includes online cooperative play, internet rankings, and data distribution. You can find more information about badges for decorating the Nintendo 3DS HOME Menu using Nintendo Badge Arcade here. We sincerely thank players for using the online services of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software over a long period of time and apologize for any inconvenience.”
Although Nintendo never made an actual statement about the discontinuation of wiis, Snopes, a member of IFCN (International Fact Checking Network) debunked the statement. Nintendo Life is a news magazine devoted to the news and reviews of Nintendo. They also debunked the rumor.
Our Rating
This information is NOT LEGIT. The article is satire and does not purport the truth… Be careful before spreading false information that could scare or potentially hurt others. There have been no claims of Wii’s blowing up because of discontinuation in the last 3 years.