Nintendo to Cease Wii U Production in Japan “Soon”

The embattled Wii U has been rumoured to be in Nintendo’s firing line for some time. A console they expected (naively) would shift 100 million units has only managed a tenth of that and has been almost forgotten, especially since the Switch announcement.

Stories recently started circulating that Wii U production will cease altogether, though a Nintendo spokesperson quickly denied that. However, according to a statement on the official site: “近日生産終了予定 (kinjitsu seisan shuuryou yotei)”, which confirms the production is coming to an end.

Or maybe not. Things are lost in translation easily, so perhaps it’s a bit wide of the mark. It would be a surprise if it isn’t the inevitable confirmation, though – the Wii U has been on life support for a while, despite offering plenty to interest gamers.

Speaking at the time to Eurogamer, the aforementioned spokesperson said:

“There is no change to our continuing [Wii U] production.

“Even though the Nintendo Switch is slated to go on sale, [Wii U] production is scheduled to continue.”

This website announcement goes against the claims of Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima, who not too long ago said that the Wii U would be supported until well into 2018.

“Killing” the console at this point just makes simple sense. It’s never going to reach the sales heights Nintendo wants and definitely nowhere the astonishing total the Wii managed. That console was lightning in a bottle, going on to capture a casual audience and brand fans while also introducing a few classic games. Trying to replicate that was never going to be easy, especially with the relative lack of buzz surrounding the Wii U during launch – I wasn’t even aware it was out until weeks after.

Looking forward to the future, Nintendo will be releasing the Switch in March next year and having a special event to showcase it in January. It has a lot of buzz surrounding it, but there are enough reasons to not get swept up by the hype.

[source]