Nintendo Confirms Wii U Ceasing Production
The Nintendo Wii U will forever be a cautionary tale when it comes to how to make a console. Trying to bank off the successful name of a previous console won’t always work, and a gimmick that isn’t fully supported will no doubt lead to a console that doesn’t get unique enough games.
Rumors have been swirling since the reveal of the Nintendo Switch about Nintendo shutting down production of the Wii U. Now, it has been confirmed by Nintendo itself. Originally, the Wii U Japan site announced it, but there were some mistranslations about what was going on, so Nintendo sent a more refined statement to IGN, which stated:
“As recently posted by Nintendo on the Wii U website in Japan, Wii U production will end in the near future for the Japanese domestic market. We have nothing to announce in terms of exact timing. We can confirm that as of today, all Wii U hardware that will be made available in the North American market for this fiscal year has already been shipped to our retail partners. We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability.”
While its likely production won’t truly shut down until next year, it’s not a surprise that Nintendo is in full support of the new console, the Nintendo Switch, and is wanting to be ready when it launches in March of next year.