Nintendo Wii U OS Update 5.5.2 News: Miiverse Rumored To Be Phased Out Soon

By Jilianne Arbonida, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, July 20, 2017

After keeping the Wii U in the sidelines for almost a year, Nintendo has released a new operating system update for its home video game console.

According to Video Gamer, update 5.5.2 is currently available to download for Wii U users. Although the patch does not solve the problem in speed that the Wii U console has as well as some issues in switching tasks, it does address the browser exploit that has made homebrew possible.

What worries the users, though, is the message that was datamined from the update that seemed to reveal Nintendo's future plans for the console's unique social network, Miiverse.

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"The Miiverse service has ended. Miiverse and any software features that make use of Miiverse are now unavailable," the enigmatic message read.

Many gamers feel that this was a warning from Nintendo that Miiverse will be removed soon. At the moment, the network is still very much available. Polygon reported that a representative from Nintendo declined to comment further on the issue and only stated that they have "nothing to announce on this topic."

Speculations are rife that Miiverse will likely be taken down within the year. For a while now, Nintendo's focus has been in the promotion of the Switch console. The recent release of the new Nintendo 2DS (and XL variant) also hinted of the path the company is planning to take in the future.

For years, Miiverse has served as a platform for users to share their art works, commentaries and game tips. The service has been extremely popular with gamers of "Super Smash Bros." and "Splatoon." Its eventual "death" seems to have been foreshadowed by Nintendo's gradual lack of support as it cut off several online services for the Wii for the past few years. Miiverse was not even mentioned when Nintendo launched Switch in March. Fans of the social network fear the day it will no longer be available on the Wii U.