Late last year, reports claimed that Nintendo was planning to soon stop production of the Wii U, which is largely seen as a failure especially considering the relative success of its predecessor, the Wii.
Nintendo then denied the reports, but only a week after, the Wii U was labeled with the text "production is scheduled to end soon," followed by "within Japan" in the company's official website.
It now looks like Nintendo has finally shut down production for the Wii U, with the company to try to move on from the failure by focusing on making the Nintendo Switch a success.
Nintendo Ends Wii U Production
In Nintendo's official website, the two remaining versions of the Wii U have been tagged to have ended production within Japan.
The term "within Japan" could confuse players into thinking that outside of the country, production for the console is still ongoing. However, this is not the case, as Nintendo of America said in the context of the reports from last year that the Wii U units that will be made available in the North American market were already shipped to retail partners then.
As such, the updated status for the Wii U means that there will be no more units of the console that will be produced for any market worldwide. This was confirmed by a Nintendo spokesperson, who said that production for the Wii U has ended globally, and supported by the news that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be the last game for the Wii U.
Nintendo To Shift Focus To Nintendo Switch
The news on the end of production for the Wii U means that the focus will shift to the Nintendo Switch, the company's new hybrid console that will have a global launch date of March 3.
According to Takashi Mochizuki of the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said that the company will be increasing production for the Nintendo Switch, with the preorder status for the hybrid console said to be "so far good."
That seems to be an understatement from Kimishima, as demand for the Nintendo Switch has actually been enormous. Preorders for the hybrid console were almost instantly filled up across GameStop and all other retail partners in the United States, causing gamers to become concerned that the Nintendo Switch will suffer from the same supply shortage that has plagued Nintendo's retro console, the NES Classic Edition.
The stated increased production for the Nintendo Switch should alleviate the expected shortage in supply for the hybrid console, which is said to have only 2 million units available upon its launch. It should also help reach the outlook of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who said that the Nintendo Switch will not replicate the failure of the Wii U.
Fils-Aime said that the Nintendo Switch has a much clearer selling proposition compared to the Wii U, with reactions to the hybrid console ever since it was revealed mostly positive.
We do not yet know for sure if the Nintendo Switch launch will be a massive success or another failure for Nintendo, but we will find out in about a month's time.
