Wii U Basic being pulled from GameStop - rumour

Rumour has it GameStop will no longer sell the Wii U Basic - the white console with an 8GB HDD - from mid-June. However, the console is still available for the foreseeable future in the UK.

The rumour comes via Kotaku, which cites anonymous sources for word of an internal memo informing staff that the Basic console bundles are to be returned to Nintendo.

The change goes into effect on June 18, one week after Nintendo's E3 event.

Naturally, neither Nintendo nor GameStop have commented on the matter, making it impossible to determine the cause of the alleged returns.

Nintendo UK has told GI International it has no plans to pull the sku from UK retailers, stating that whatever the case may be in the US, it's "definitely not something that's happening in the UK."

No other retailers seem to have dropped support for the Basic bundle, although it's probably worth remembering that it has enjoyed a couple of price drops, and that Nintendo Japan recently announced a white Premium bundle.

It's not hard to envision a future in which Premium bundles are standard, and these unopened Basic bundles are recycled with upgraded hard drives - but that would, of course, be pure speculation.