Nintendo to end Wii U production in Japan this month

Nintendo can be a funny company at times. We have known about Nintendo's plans to release a new home console for quite some time now, which has periodically prompted rumours of the Wii U ceasing production. In fact, just last week Nintendo denied reports that Wii U production would be ending this year. However, today, the company officially confirmed that it would cease making Wii U's- in Japan at least.

Nintendo made a post on its official Japanese website today that says “Production is scheduled to end soon”. However, this announcement applies to Japan only for now, so it looks like Nintendo wants to shift a few more consoles over the holiday season before the Switch takes over in 2017.

Just last week, a report from Eurogamer claimed that sources have confirmed that the Wii U would be out of production by the end of November. Nintendo did deny this report in the Japanese press but it looks like that denial may just apply to countries outside of Japan.

KitGuru Says: The Japanese market has largely moved away from home consoles in recent years, so it makes sense for Nintendo to pull the Wii U from Japan first. However, it may still be able to squeeze out a few more sales in Europe and America before the Switch launches in March, so production of units for those countries may only end in 2017.

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