Nintendo drops TVii

Game console provider Nintendo is to drop its Nintendo TVii second screen app on August 11 after three years.

The service was launched with the Wii U console in 2012 with a dedicated button on the device’s gamepad. TVii allowed uers to search through streaming video services and access a TV guide from the gamepad. It also included personal recommendations and the ability to discuss and rate content.

“After almost three years of finding, watching and engaging with Nintendo TVii, we will be ending the service on August 11, 2015. We are deeply thankful for all of the engagement and excitement our users have generated and enjoyed while using the service,” said Nintendo is a statement. The company said that it planned to “focus our resources on other projects”.

After TVii is withddrawn, a system update will remove the Nintendo TVii icon from the Wii U Menu and the Wii U GamePad controller’s Home Button Menu. Nintendo said that users will be able to “continue to watch…favorite shows and movies through the multiple Video on Demand applications on the Wii U console”.

Nintendo will continue to make content from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube and Crunchyroll available on its devices, while the dedicated button the Wii U can be sued to launch the remote control functionality for TVs.