When it comes to the console wars, Nintendo used to be the leader in sales back when the Wii was in stores, but when the Wii U came out, sales have not been as impressive. This has led to a rise to the belief that perhaps the Wii U has ceased production as of this year. Assuming that this is true, and it might not be, it could be that the Wii U is being phased out for the Nintendo NX, the next generation of Nintendo system that will hopefully be a huge hit.
A report from CNET states that Nintendo to end Wii U production this year, and this report comes from a Japanese newspaper Nikkei. Then another report from CBC News stated that Nintendo denied the report that they are discontinuing their Wii U production. Nintendo responded by telling Japanese site IT Media: "this isn't an announcement from our company...from the next quarter and thereafter as well, production [of the Wii U] is schedule to continue".
So, it is possible that this is just some kind of odd rumor that somehow got itself based in fact. As it stands, the Nintendo Wii U has sold about 12.6 million Wii U consoles worldwide. That might sound like a lot, but the original Wii sold more than 101 million units. It isn't really good that your successor sells 90 percent less than its predecessor, and the competition of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sold at 35 million and 19 million units respectively.
So yes, the Wii U is at third place in the console war. The Wii U was unveiled in 2012, and there has been a talk of the next generation of Nintendo console with the Nintendo NX. According to Popular Science, it is possible for Nintendo to release their NX console this year.
Nintendo has even said that they will be sharing more about the Nintendo NX in 2016. If that is the case, then it is possible that the NX could be announced at E3 2016. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is a big video game convention that takes place at the Los Angeles Convention Center during the summer.
Nintendo has done their unveiling of their next-gen system before when they announced the Wii U at E3 2011, but it didn't get released until fall of 2012. It was during E3 2012 where they showed it off, and it is possible that they could repeat the same pattern, which would mean that there would be no actual Wii U until 2017.
So, it is possible that Nintendo has ceased production of the Wii U, because they might have plenty of Wii U built up, expecting a high demand. As The Geek Church reports, Nintendo might have a lot of Wii U in the warehouse, and so they might have ended construction of the Wii U because they already have enough in stock. Either way, Nintendo is surely working on Nintendo NX now.
