Nintendo Announces End Of Wii U Production In Japan
The end is near.
Sad news for some fans, but it felt like it was only a matter of time, as Nintendo Japan has announced that production on the Wii U will be ending soon.
Kotaku has reported that on the official Nintendo Japanese website it says "production is scheduled to end soon... within Japan." You can likely assume this will apply to other countries in the near future as well.
It's a bit interesting that the company denied plans that they were ending production just last week, only to now confirm the longstanding rumors. But with the announcement of the Nintendo Switch console a couple weeks ago, it was clear that the long-struggling Wii U would be phased out soon.
Nintendo's latest console entry only shipped 13.36 million units worldwide, compared to 40 million Playstation 4s sold and 19 million Xbox Ones (as of Jan., which is likely a much higher figure now).
Nintendo was never able to capture anywhere near the success of the original Wii with their follow-up, as casual gamers largely ignored the system entirely. Luckily, things are looking much more positive for the Switch, with third party support set to be much stronger in the future.
If you're still wanting to get a Wii U, Black Friday will probably have some great deals for the endangered system; otherwise it may be best to save your money for a Switch.
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Overall, what did you make of the Wii U's lifespan? Let us know in the comments!