The Wii U was first released on November 18, 2012 in North America; November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan. Dozens of Wii titles are also compatible with the controller to allow for a more traditional control scheme.

He suggested that Nintendo may have wanted to release the Wii Remote with a new system, instead of onto the GameCube, as "[the] Revolution addresses one of the GameCube's biggest drawbacks, which is that it was/is perceived as a toy. The Wii U was aimed to draw the core audience back in with more advanced features atop the basic Wii technology. The infrared detectors are used to track emissions from LEDs in the included Sensor Bar, which is placed just above or below the television display, as to track the relative orientation of the Wii Remote towards the screen. In September 2010, rumors were circulating of a Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus already built in after the box art for the upcoming FlingSmash revealed it to be bundled with "Wii Remote Plus". The Wii RGB Cable links your Wii console to your TV, allowing you to view and enjoy your games with an enhanced image display.Using these acceleration sensors (acting as tilt sensors), the Wii Remote can also control rotation of a cursor or other objects.

The position and motion tracking of the Wii Remote allows the player to mimic actual game actions, such as swinging a sword or aiming a gun, instead of simply pressing buttons.In developing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed the company to avoid competing with Microsoft and Sony on computational graphics and power and instead to target a broader demographic of players through novel gameplay. Although Nintendo had planned on incorporating this feature into later revisions of the Wii, the demand for the console meant a delay in their schedule, until the feature lost interest.

Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, the Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. For example, it will pulse blue when the system is communicating with the WiiConnect24 service or when reading a disc after being inserted. In the years that followed, Nintendo released more Wii Remote Plus color schemes based on its first-party game franchises. The WiimoteProject forum became the discussion, support and sharing site for Lee's Wii Remote projects and other newer developments. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Box Art, Bundle Revealed Archived September 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.

The Wii Remote has a wrist strap attached to the bottom to prevent it from flying away during game action if not held securely.