Wii U GamePads also region locked

Looks like the Wii U’s software is not the only thing that’s been region locked by Nintendo.

NintendoEverything reports that Wii U GamePads across different territories are not working on other regions. Japanese blogs linked in the report at Nintendo Everything are reporting that the GamePads bought from other regions (Europe, Australia, North America, etc.) are not working in Japan, and presumably  vice versa.

GamePads contain region codes in their model numbers, so that seems to be the only way to make sure just which territories the GamePads you have are from.

It seems like a pretty strange and unneeded move for Nintendo. Region locking for software itself seems unneeded and irrelevant now, but doing it for a freaking controller seems downright bizarre. I have to say, Nintendo has been making some baffling decisions lately.

What do you think of all this? Tell us in your comments.