As previously rumored, Nintendo will be ending production of the beleaguered Wii U “soon.” The news comes from a note on the company’s Japanese site, as spotted by Kotaku, which states that “production is scheduled to end soon.” Previous reports pegged the productionhalt as of this year, while others reported it would go on well into 2018.
The news should come as no surprise. With less than 14 million units sold worldwide, the Wii U was a commercial failure, despite a series of strong and original games from Nintendo. It’s the company’s worst-selling console, sitting behind the 21 million-selling GameCube.
Of course, the future isn’t exactly dire for Nintendo. The company recently unveiled its much-rumored Switch device, a portable tablet that can also work with a television like a console. Nintendo will be revealing the Switch’s release date and price in January.
As for this year, this week sees the launch of a surprise piece of hardware from the company, in the form of the miniature NES Classic Edition on November 11th.