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It’s the end of an era. Nintendo is officially ending production of the Wii console in Japan. Kotaku noticed Tuesday that the Wii webpage on Nintendo’s Japanese site indicated that “Manufacturing is scheduled to end soon” on the console. No further details were available, but today a Nintendo of Japan representative spoke with AFP and confirmed that Wii production is ending in Japan.
“Our new generation Wii U console is already on the market and allows users to play software originally designed for the Wii. So this is part of the transition of our products to new models,” said the representative. However, there are no plans to end production of the Wii in other countries. Nintendo plans to support Wii and Wii Mini in other markets for the foreseeable future.
The Wii has sold 100.04 million consoles around the world to date, and about 12.7 million of these sales came from Japan. Wii launched in the region December 2, 2006. This is an interesting move, considering that Nintendo has supported many of its platforms the longest in Japan in the past. This still puts the Wii ahead of the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, each of which had 6 years of support in their home country.
In the meantime, Wii games and consoles are still being made in other regions. However, in 2013 most Wii support has been aimed at a younger audiences, with the biggest releases being games like Disney Infinity and Skylanders: Swap Force. Wii U is also backwards compatible with Wii software, so it’s no wonder Nintendo is gearing down support on Wii hardware.
The Wii is a amazing console, the day they stop production is going to be a sad day. I wish for ones Nintendo would copy sony and keep there previous consoles on the market. Ok that’s enough complaining, Well done Big N and i always play my 3ds with the 3d on !!! Ethan and Noa.
BJ.