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[Update] Nintendo Addresses Report That It Is Ending Wii U Production In 2016
Update: We continue to wait for an official statement from Nintendo of America. However, the company's Japanese arm has issued a comment addressing a report that Wii U production will cease in 2016.
Kotaku has surfaced a comment given to Japan's IT Media. Nintendo reportedly suggests that the Nikkei story from yesterday is "not an announcement from the Company" and that it intends to produce the Wii U into the next fiscal year.
That begins on April 1, 2016. And while some are considering the Nintendo comment as a flat denial, the original Nikkei report simply said that Nintendo would end production in 2016. It is possible that both of the statements are true.
Original Story (March 22, 2016 @ 12:51 p.m. Central):
A new report out of Japan suggests big changes on the hardware front. Nintendo may be set to cease production of the Wii U.
According to Nikkei the company be looking to deplete its existing stock. The publication suggests that some accessories have already ended their production runs, though no specifics have been indicated.
Nintendo has promised it would share more information on its next hardware, NX, in 2016. Whether that will be at E3 or a standalone event during the year is unclear.
The company has also not yet committed to a launch window for the hardware, and the Nikkei report doesn’t suggest that a Wii U wind-down necessarily means an NX release in 2016.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment. We’ll update should we received a response.
[Source: Nikkei via Dr. Serkan Toto on Twitter]
Our Take
A reveal and release in the same year isn’t out of the question at all, but this report doesn’t guarantee that’s what’s happening. I’m eager to learn more about the NX, but more importantly I’m disappointed that the Wii U never lived up to its potential.
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