Update: A Nintendo spokesperson has denied the report that Wii U production is ending, telling Japanese site IT Media (via Kotaku) "there is no change to our continuing [Wii U] production." However, as Kotaku points out, Nintendo has previously denied reports that have later turned out to be accurate, such as refuting rumors of a larger incarnation of the Nintendo 3DS months before the debut of the 3DS XL.
If you want to get your hands on Nintendo’s Wii U, you’ll want to do it ASAP: Nintendo has closed the casket on its current-gen console. According to a report from Eurogamer, Nintendo will shut down production of the Wii U this Friday, relegating their little-loved and misunderstood console to the shining halls of rare and vintage secondhand gaming stores.
As of Sept. 30, Nintendo had shipped 13.36 million Wii U consoles compared to the GameCube’s 21 million, the Nintendo 64’s 32 million and the Wii’s 101 million.
Only a small number of additional orders were placed, meaning that whatever retail stores have stocked is all that’s left of the Wii U. With Black Friday approaching, it seems to be an appropriate time to mark down the console and clear up inventory, especially with the Nintendo Switch on the horizon.
The Eurogamer report matches another report from Nikkei, which stated that the Wii U would cease production by the end of 2016. This makes the Wii U Nintendo’s shortest-lived console compared to the Wii’s seven years and the original Famicom system’s 20 years.
At least it’s not worse: hold your lighters up for Sega’s Dreamcast, which didn’t even make it to age two.
When asked for comment by Engadget, Nintendo simply said, "We have nothing to announce on this topic." Nintendo will reveal more Switch details on Jan. 13 at a special Nintendo Switch event.
Hopefully the Switch will feature some backwards compatibility, because despite its bad reputation, there are still some great games on the Wii U, including Splatoon, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess remaster, the Wind Waker remaster, Mario Party and Mario Kart, Super Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Wooly World and more. I’d expect the console to develop a cult following on the secondhand market for sure.
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