Report - Nintendo to Halt Wii U Production by 2017 - UPDATED

[Steven Bogos]

Report - Nintendo to Halt Wii U Production by 2017 - UPDATED

UPDATE: Japanese website IT Media NetLab [http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1603/23/news081.html] spoke with Nintendo about the report. The company stated that the report cited in the article did not come from Nintendo. It also stated that it would be announcing yearly sales estimates for all its systems in its fiscal year earnings release on April 27.

While this doesn't necessarily mean the Nikkei report is inaccurate, especially as Nintendo stopped short of confirming that the Wii U would still be produced in 2017, it does cast some doubt on it. The best course is likely to wait and see what happens.



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ORIGINAL STORY: A report from Japanese business newspaper The Nikkei suggests Nintendo will wrap up Wii U production by year's end.

I've got a report here that is either bad news (if you're still enjoying your Wii U) or good news (if you're looking forward to the NX). According to reputable Japanese business newspaper The Nikkei [http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO98745680T20C16A3TI5000/], Nintendo is planning to halt all Wii U production by the end of the year. That means that no new Wii Us will be made in 2017, presumably to free up all that factory space for NX production.

The report (as translated by Dr Serkan Toto [https://twitter.com/serkantoto]) claims that a number of Wii U accessories have already had their production halted, and that Nintendo plans to deplete it's entire inventory this year. While it stopped short of confirming that the NX would release this year, it did state that Nintendo plans to reveal the console in 2016.

It certainly seems like Nintendo is ready to distance itself from the ailing console, which raises concerns about its one remaining flagship title: The Legend of Zelda: Wii U [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/zelda%20wii%20u]. Will we see the game delayed and compltely reworked for the NX, or will we get a Twilight Princess-type situation where it is released for both consoles at once?

We still don't have a solid release date for the game, which makes us worry about the former being the case...

Source: Dr. Serkan Toto [http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO98745680T20C16A3TI5000/])

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[Worgen]

Have we even locked down what the NX is yet? As far as I remember hearing we aren't even certain if its actually a console.

 

[Roxas1359]

Have we even locked down what the NX is yet? As far as I remember hearing we aren't even certain if its actually a console.

The only thing so far that seems to be the widely accepted thing about the NX is that it'll be a console-handheld hybrid. Other than that everything else is just speculation.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Have we even locked down what the NX is yet? As far as I remember hearing we aren't even certain if its actually a console.

Iwata, when he was alive, confirmed it was a dedicated gaming platform, IE a Console. He didn't specify what it was, however.

OT: Nintendo is denying this [http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-denies-report-of-wii-u-ceasing-production-this-year/], so this is a non-story.

 

[Fox12]

Meanwhile, the PS4 and Xbone are only just beginning to hit their stride. A year ago we were all complaining about the drought of games. Now we have more then we know what to do with. Nintendo really thinks it can break into the market now? Console releases partially succeed off a shared sense of hype. It's not just one company pouring into the marketing, it's the entire medium. Furthermore the sense of competition pushes all of the consumers to talk about the different consoles. Nintendo doesn't have that. What they will have is an army of loyal fans who feel betrayed.

Have we even locked down what the NX is yet? As far as I remember hearing we aren't even certain if its actually a console.

And here's the biggest problem. Nintendo's atrocious marketing. They may have the worst marketing of any gaming company I've ever seen. It's all way too confusing. Now they're going to try and rush this out the door, and they'll go on to make all of the same old mistakes. This is following in the footsteps of another famous console:

Spoiler

 

[thewatergamer]

Ouch...I know that it was coming, but still...*sigh* oh well I guess the Wii U was nice while it lasted...I can't say that I'm too interested in an NX, I mean I bought a Wii U already Nintendo, and then you fucked up by marketing it terribly, and now you expect me to just buy the new console? Real shame since I believe the Wii U is better than both the Xbone and the PS4, but of course Nintendo fucked up and now they are trying to distance themselves, real shame but I guess it was inevitable

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Uh, you guys are

A) Extremely late to the party

And B) Nintendo themselves killed the rumor about an hour ago:

http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-denies-report-of-wii-u-ceasing-production-this-year/

The full quote is "That report never came from us" and "Nintendo will continue making hardware into the next quarter and beyond." This is not only not a report but a rumor, but a debunked rumor. File it under "Whelp, that happened. People sure are bored, aren't they?"

 

[Zontar]

I'll believe it when I see an official statement given how many rumours about Nintendo have popped up in the past 3 months and how every single one of them has been debunked, refuted, or otherwise turned out to be false.

I will say this though: there's a sad irony in the WiiU being the worst performing console of the current generation. For all the love of a meritocratic system gamers want, when you get right down to it a mediocre system that's built as a home entertainment system for Netflix first, gaming console second will do much better then a dedicated gaming system. Unless you want Halo there's no reason to get an Xbox One, and when it comes to the exclusives game the WiiU has the PS4 beat. Honestly unless you absolutely do not want to own an off the shelf computer or laptop in this day and age there's no reason why both more expensive, DRM heavy entertainment systems did better then the gaming console in the mix. In theory the WiiU should have left the PS4 and Xbox One in the dust.

Though then again, in theory there's also no reason why a disparity should exist between the PS4 and Xbox One, yet the PS4 has outperformed the Xbox One due to issues with no connection to the systems themselves. Now granted the Xbox One has only outsold the WiiU by 6 million units, but for being so much more expensive and the WiiU having a year's advantage on it, that's still a pretty big gap.

Here's to the NX and the 9th generation, or maybe 8.5 given how the console makers are getting too out of synch this time around. Let us hope that your online continues to be free, your stupid region locking removed, your localization team replaced with competences, marketing team getting a clue, and third parties not being allergic to money.

 

[Sampler]

I hope we do get Zelda, it's the only reason I picked up the console, and will make it the first console to not get it's own Zelda game (I think?)

I mean, I've enjoyed the windwaker re-release, mario kart 8 and mario u but, Zelda's what I want

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I just wish they'd tell us what the NX IS already. I just got the New 3DS last year and finally got all the controllers I need to play just about any Wii U multiplayer game... I'd like to find out soon which one I wasted money on.

If the NX is a console, Nintendo could continue to produce Wii U units into 2019 for all it matters - Nintendo is pretty quick to pull it's support from it's previous console like they're yanking the goddamned rug out from under people. But don't worry! There's that massive plethora of third-party developers that will surely keep supporting... oh... right. Never mind.

 

[gigastar]

I just wish they'd tell us what the NX IS already.

Gotta wait for the E3 wankfest just like everyone else.

 

[Writr]

And here's the biggest problem. Nintendo's atrocious marketing. They may have the worst marketing of any gaming company I've ever seen. It's all way too confusing. Now they're going to try and rush this out the door, and they'll go on to make all of the same old mistakes.

Nintendo's marketing problem has only been with the WiiU, I think mostly just because they don't care about it as much as they did the Wii or the DS. I mean, they freakin' won awards for their advertising for the Wii, it was so innovative and successful.

OT: Every other news source I've seen is saying that Nintendo is denying this entirely, so I very much doubt that this is actually happening.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Nintendos problem with releasing a new console is that its 3 years too late/early. Xbone and ps4 are in their prime and most aren't ready to "move up" to a new console. Theres also no way when ps5 xbox one2 comes out in 3 years+- that it would be powerful enough to be relevant again for 3rd party gaming.

 

[Something Amyss]

This is not only not a report but a rumor, but a debunked rumor.

"Debunked" only in the sense of a rather vague soundbyte that needs some generous interpretation in order to say that. The article you chose to link to should be quite telling as even it knows to not directly quote something its source doesn't say.

Probably not a good idea to count as a reliable source any article that is written with a defense of Nintendo built into it.

Have we even locked down what the NX is yet? As far as I remember hearing we aren't even certain if its actually a console.

They have called it a console.

What that entails is not clear. Nor when it's coming out. Nor if/what it replaces.

It's like they want to create market confusion.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Nintendo's marketing problem has only been with the WiiU, I think mostly just because they don't care about it as much as they did the Wii or the DS. I mean, they freakin' won awards for their advertising for the Wii, it was so innovative and successful.

OT: Every other news source I've seen is saying that Nintendo is denying this entirely, so I very much doubt that this is actually happening.

I just find it funny how people are trying to do damage control for the rumor itself after Nintendo's statement and are playing semantics with it to try and keep it going. It is bizarre behavior to see in action to say the least.

 

[Something Amyss]

I just find it funny how people are trying to do damage control for the rumor itself after Nintendo's statement and are playing semantics with it to try and keep it going. It is bizarre behavior to see in action to say the least.

It's not semantics to point out your quotes are false.

 

[Naldan]

Squabblers, please.

It feels like Nintendo was fighting smoke with fog. "Oh, there is a rumour. Let's spread vague information and through this, confusion."

And that they had no clue how to handle publicity and marketing at all. Like, regarding everything.

Like if they were really rich Ouya people who had no clue how PR works in this industry.

 

[flying_whimsy]

It's a shame that the wii u has so much negativity associated with it; as someone else said it's everything gamers want in a console but it's losing to drm-riddled competitors.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the nikkei report is actually true: it's not like nintendo would actually come out and say 'yeah, we're abandoning the console. Sorry if you bought one.' They wouldn't be able to sell anymore from that point on. I mean hell, from the moment the NX was first leaked I've seen a lot of people say they wouldn't buy a wii u.

If Nintendo's marketing or public relations were better, or if they had more than one game announced for the system, I might be more inclined to believe them when they say the report is false. But then I look at my dusty old wii, and I remember what happened the last time I waited for nintendo to come out with more games...

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Squabblers, please.

It feels like Nintendo was fighting smoke with fog. "Oh, there is a rumour. Let's spread vague information and through this, confusion."

And that they had no clue how to handle publicity and marketing at all. Like, regarding everything.

Like if they were really rich Ouya people who had no clue how PR works in this industry.

Except they flat out said "No, we're still making Wii U hardware for the foreseeable future." That is pretty cut and dry. Which is why it's funny to see people act pedantic over a statement with zero wiggle room.