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Japan Ceases Wii Production

by on October 22, 2013
 

Nintendo has announced that, as of today, they will not be making any more Wii consoles in Japan.

As spotted by Polygon, the main Wii page on Nintendo’s Japanese site now reads ‘production ended’.

The Wii had a grand run. From its launch in 2006 the system sold more than 100 million units, but nowadays its sales figures aren’t anything to celebrate, with the system barely nudging 1000 units a week in its home territory (for context, the 3DS sold almost 300,000 systems in Japan upon the launch of Pokémon).

Will this mean that the system won’t be sold new worldwide? I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case. One way of funnelling consumers towards the Wii U would be to axe the significantly cheaper alternative with the almost identical name.

No more confusion if the only Wii you can buy is a Wii U…

And the name is important, more so than you might think. Skylanders Swap Force sold best on Wii last week, despite Minecraft pulling a lot of the teen market towards the Xbox 360. The name may be sullied in the eyes of some gamers, but parents still appear to hold some favour for it.

Good night sweet Wii. You served us well.

 

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James Bowden

If writing ability was a flavour, I would be the warming embrace of apple and cinnamon - wonderfully familiar and pleasantly spiced. Ever the optimist, I spend most of my game time diligently failing at fighting games (BlazBlue and Persona 4 Arena being the preferred titles), Monster Hunter and Dark Souls. As you can surely ascertain from such preferences I'm a gamer at my most content when a title is punishing me, abusing my feeble abilities and forcing me to improve myself in order to overcome life affirming challenges. Feel free to question my opinions and such on Twitter, @Dalagonash, or find me on every gaming network available as Dalagonash.