Back on November 1, Eurogamer posted a report that Nintendo was ending Wii U production on Friday, November 4, but Nintendo denied the report a day later. Now, in an official statement sent to Game Informer, Nintendo has confirmed that Wii U production is ending in Japan:
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.
In North America, the final Wii U shipment this fiscal year (ending March 31, 2017) was sent out to retailers. “We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability,” Nintendo added.
As of September 30, Nintendo had shipped 13.36 million Wii U consoles. Since they expect to move another 240,000 this fiscal year, expect the final number once it’s all said and done to be 13.6 million. For comparison, GameCube sold 21 million units, Nintendo 64 sold 32 million units, and Wii sold 101 million units.
Wii U launched in November 2012 – a year ahead of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In Sony’s latest financial results, they revealed that PS4 shipments are at 47.4 million.
In March 2017, Nintendo will release Nintendo Switch.
Are you surprised to see Wii U production end after just four years?
[Source: Nintendo, Game Informer, Eurogamer]
