Wii U production to end this week as Nintendo switches focus to its new console

Update (10 November): Nintendo has confirmed that production of the Wii U will end "soon" after text (translated by Kotaku) appeared on its website.

Original story: Nintendo will end production of the Wii U this week according to reports. The news comes a few weeks after the gaming giant announced its new console, the Nintendo Switch, which is set for release in March 2017.

Multiple sources confirmed to Eurogamer that the Wii U's Japanese production line will shut down after the final deadline for orders passed on 31 October. Very few orders were reportedly placed by the deadline.

Following the announcement of its latest financial results, Nintendo updated the sales tallies for hardware and software, revealing that as of 30 September 2016 the Wii U sold 13.36 million units worldwide.

This makes it by far Nintendo's worst performing home console to date, sitting behind the GameCube which amassed 21.74 million sales worldwide.

The Wii U was an obvious and undeniable failure. The console's muddled reveal event and confusing name created problems from the start, and Nintendo was never able to correct the course. Despite this however, the Wii U has enjoyed some stellar titles.

Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros U are considered by many to be the finest game in their respective series. Nintendo Land, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario Maker, Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker were all warmly-received by fans and critics as well.

The biggest success of the Wii U era however, was Splatoon: a brand new IP that became an instant favourite, and which came to be held in a high enough regard to have been featured heavily in the Nintendo Switch's reveal trailer.

Nintendo's focus is now (give or take a few Nintendo 3DS releases) on the Switch as it gears up for a huge live event in January, at which it will detail the console in full and reveal its release date and launch lineup.

For all the latest video game news follow us on Twitter @IBTGamesUK