Nintendo confirms that Wii U production IS ending

Having denied it just days ago, Nintendo has now conceded that the end has come for Wii U.

Just last week a report claimed that production was due to end last Friday (November 4th). Nintendo at the time denied this, but has now confirmed that yes, manufacturing is coming to a close.

Kotaku reports that the console’s Japanese website now confirms that production is scheduled to end soon… in Japan”.

Furthermore, Nintendo of America has also confirmed that 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”. In other words, there ain’t no more on the way.

Added the company: We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability.”

That means Wii U reaches the end of its life with total global sales of 13.6m units. How does that compare to other Nintendo hardware? Very badly, sadly.

Its predecessor, the Wii, sold an incredible 101.63m units in its lifetime, although Nintendo’s machines had been trending downwards before that. The NES sold 61.91m, the SNES 49.10m, the N64 32.93m and the GameCube 21.74m.

The Virtual Boy will remain the only Nintendo console to have ever sold less than the Wii U.

There’s every chance retail may finally discount the machine to clear out stock this Christmas, so keep your eyes open.