Nintendo to cease Wii U production soon

Pictured above is the white Wii U 32GB “Premium Set” console, which is the only item listed on the Wii U hardware page. Image Screengrabbed from Nintendo

After a rollercoaster run, Nintendo is finally ending its production of the Wii U gaming console soon.

The announcement came directly from Nintendo’s official Japanese site, reports Kotaku.

In a statement to Kotaku, Nintendo of America also said, “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.”

There is currently only one version of the Wii U listed on Nintendo’s Japanese website with other versions already listed as “no longer in production.” The 8GB Wii U was axed by Nintendo last year.

Past hardware discontinuations were also announced on its official website in a similar fashion.

Coincidentally, Eurogamer reported last week that based on multiple sources, the final Wii U will roll off the production line in November. At the time, Nintendo denied this news saying, “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,” Nintendo’s spokesperson said.

With the Switch looming over the horizon, the announcement seems rather timely if anything. When exactly Nintendo plans to halt all production is yet to be announced.  Alfred Bayle