Nintendo announces the end of production of the Wii console - Tech & Net

TOKYO (AFP), the Japanese manufacturer’s gaming console Nintendo said Friday it will stop producing its Wii console to the Japanese market, but it will continue to produce internationally, at least for now. Details on production schedules to Europe and North America were not disclosed.

The decision to abandon the home console, is due to the strong competition that exists in the Japanese market, regarding Microsoft Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 from Sony. Thus, Nintendo wants to concentrate all their efforts on the Wii successor, the Wii U .

“Our new generation of console Wii U is already in the market and allows users to play games with software originally developed for the Wii. So, this is part of the transition of new products for new models “, said a spokesman from Nintendo, in an attempt to justify the end of the Wii in the Japanese market.

Wii U was launched last year and has struggled to date, selling 3.61 million units to date , a value that is well below internal expectations of Nintendo . Thus Nintendo made a price cut on the console for about two weeks, getting the final price for the 32GB model, Nintendo has implemented a price cut of the console, two weeks ago, dropping the suggested retail price for the model 32GB for $ 300 ie € 221.976 euros .