Wii U version of Yooka Laylee cancelled at the last minute

The latest trailer for Yooka-Laylee—and the first not to feature the Wii U logo at the end...

When the Banjo Kazooie-inspired Yooka-Laylee was busy racking up over £2 million on Kickstarter back in early 2015, the game was promised for "Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U." Today, the team behind the game locked down an April 11, 2017 release date for all of those versions of the game... except the one on Wii U, which has been summarily cancelled.

A Kickstarter update for the game cites "unforeseen technical issues that unfortunately mean it will be impossible for us to release the game on Wii U as initially planned." In an accompanying FAQ, the developers at Playtonic (which include many former Rare employees) said they "worked tirelessly over many months in attempt to solve our technical issues," and stressed that "the Playtonic team wanted to explore every possible avenue before making the very difficult decision to transfer development from the Wii U."

The Wii U version's cancellation is particularly poignant for long-time Nintendo fans, since Yooka-Laylee's direct inspiration, the Banjo Kazooie series, is a well-remembered staple from the Nintendo 64 (and later, the Xbox 360). Kickstarter backers will be able to transfer their Wii U order to another platform at no charge, or they can e-mail the developers to request a full refund. They will also be able to wait for a newly announced Nintendo Switch version of the game, the details of which will be announced in 2017.

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