This is sad news from Eurogamer, but according to multiple sources, production of the Wii U console will come to an end this Friday.
The Wii U launched in November 2012 with brisk initial sales, but failed to truly take off. Last official numbers from Nintendo show 13.36 million Wii U consoles were shipped. To put things in perspective, the GameCube sold 21 million, the N64 sold 32 million, and Wii sold a staggering 101 million units.
The Wii U is dead. Long live the Switch.
[UPDATED]
Nintendo is denying these reports, according to Kotaku and IT Media.
“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.”
This is not the first time Nintendo has denied a report that eventually turned out to be true. According to Kotaku, Nintendo denied a 2012 report from the Nikkei that stated the 3DS was getting a larger screen. Months later, the 3DS XL launched.