According to Eurogamer, Nintendo will discontinue the Wii U this week. Multiple sources also say the Asian company will end production of the Wii U this Friday to make room for the upcoming Nintendo Switch.
A Nintendo spokesperson said the company had not released that information and that it did not have an official statement regarding the topic.
Back in March, similar rumors about Wii U production ending surfaced. In response, Nintendo told investors in April the Japanese company could continue to ship the console even until 2018. However, Nintendo has apparently changed its mind.
The company gave retailers an October 31 deadline to place Wii U orders. There were a small number of orders, which will be the last new shipments sent to stores. The Wii U did not have the commercial success Nintendo expected.
The Wii U would be the first 8th generation console to fall
Released in November 2012, the Wii U became the first eighth-generation video game console.
However, hitting stores one year before Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One did not help. Many people think the console was not successful because of the slow development of games.
Many studios picked up the pace and started releasing games for the Wii U, but it was already too late. The PS4 and Xbox One arrived with top notch specs and a catalog full of great games.
According to reports, the Wii U has sold barely 13 million units worldwide. In comparison, the GameCube sold 21 million, and the N64 sold 32 million.
Meanwhile, the the original Wii sold an impressive 101 million units, becoming Nintendo’s all-time best-selling home game console.
Nintendo bets everything on the Nintendo Switch
Wii U sales should rise to 14 million units sold, however. That is if Nintendo manages to sell the last Wii Us of course. The company predicted it would ship 800k Wii U units between March 2016 and March 2017.
Nintendo had already sent 560k of those last units by the end of September, and the remaining 240k should be ready. In any case, the Wii U will be the first eighth-generation console to say goodbye. The PS4 and the Xbox One are still going strong.
Unveiled this month, the Nintendo Switch is the future of Nintendo. The company’s upcoming hybrid console is just four months away from launch. Nintendo said it would not reveal more details about the handheld/home console until the January 13 event.
Source: Eurogamer