Wii U Production to End on November 4, Says New Report

Nintendo will end Wii U production on November 4, a new report has suggested. Citing "multiple sources," Eurogamer reports that the deadline for the final batch of Wii U consoles was October 31, and the Japanese production line will shut down once these have been fulfilled.

The Wii U launched in November 2012 and, as of September 30, it has sold 13.36 million units. This is considerably less than the 100 million figure Nintendo internally projected the console would sell. Although Nintendo is yet to officially announce Wii U production is ending, the timing makes sense.

The company's next platform, Nintendo Switch, is scheduled to launch in March 2017. The console/handheld hybrid was officially unveiled on October 20 and Nintendo has said it will announce the Switch's price, launch lineup, and specs on January 12. There will be no further information on the Switch until then.

Nintendo expects to ship 2 million Switch consoles during its launch month of March 2017. The only launch game that has confirmed for Switch is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which will also be available for the Wii U. However, during its Switch reveal video there were a number of other games briefly shown, including new or updated versions Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon.

There was also a mysterious 3D Mario game, as well as Bethesda's Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Nintendo cautioned that the announcement trailer only showed "short glimpses of representative gameplay to demonstrate the liberating nature of the Nintendo Switch home gaming system." For its part, Bethesda said although Skyrim hasn't been confirmed for Switch, it will support the console.