Nintendo Announces the End of Wii U Production in Japan

It’s official: Nintendo announced on its Japanese site that production of the Wii U will cease. In a statement issued to Kotaku: “We can confirm that as of today, 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. We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability.”

The remaining choices left are a base white Wii U console and a Splatoon-bundled option. Kotaku translates: “The text reads, 近日生産終了予定 (kinjitsu seisan shuuryou yotei), which means, “Production is scheduled to end soon.” then it reads, “within Japan” (日本国内 or Nihon kokunai).” Still, its unclear whether the systems will roll out in other regions.

As die-hard gamers already know, Switch is slated to release in March 2017. The end of the Wii U could mean making more room to properly market the Switch to a wider audience.