Oh Son of a B@tch – Batman: Arkham Origins Wii U single player DLC cancelled

Batman: Arkham Origins has been out for a few months and players on the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U have spent hours trudging through the world of Gotham earning trophies and unlocking character skins. The Wii U version of Arkham Origins was already lacking the multiplayer modes present in the other versions of the game. Today WB dealt another slow-motion punch to the face of Wii U owners by announcing that the upcoming single-player DLC will not be coming to Nintendo’s home console.

Third-Party support for the Wii U is dying off at a breakneck pace and this is just another small step toward the typical Nintendo console cycle where you only buy Nintendo consoles to play Nintendo’s games. The situation with Arkham Origins has been interesting all along. The Wii U launched with a special edition of Batman: Arkham City with all of the DLC and character skins bundled with it. The game also included some new control mechanics exclusive to the Wii U. Batman: Arkham Origins on the Wii U was almost never shown publicly prior to its launch and the omission of the multiplayer content was only made apparent a few weeks before the game came out. To WB’s credit, they did release Arkham Origins at a discounted rate on the Wii U.

The best part of this news story is that Nintendo is refunding all users who purchased the season pass for Arkham Origins on the Wii U, even though part of the content in the season pass has already been released to season pass holders. Overall, none of this news comes as a real shock. But, the speed at which the Wii U is losing third-party support is striking. At this rate, the Wii U will be on an island unto itself in short order. But, at least Wii U owners might have the opportunity to miss out on poor shovel-ware and mini-game compilations that plagued the mid-period of the original Wii’s lifespan.