Nov 10, 2016 11:42 PM EST By Eileen De Santos, UniversityHerald Reporter

Nintendo has announced recently that it's ending Wii U productions in Japan. There are speculations that the Japanese company is canceling the Wii U in favor of the upcoming Switch.

The End Of The Wii U?

The Nintendo Japanese site announced that the production for the 32GB Wii U console will soon end in Japan. Industry observers are pointing out that this is the usual way Nintendo discontinues a product; however, the Japanese game maker still denies that it's totally stopping production for the Wii U.

Nintendo America Issues Wii U Clarification

Nintendo America clarified that all Wii consoles and its related accessories have already been distributed to all their retail partners in the North American market, according to Kotaku. However, the American Nintendo branch mentioned that the Wii U stocks are only estimated to last for the current fiscal year.

Nintendo Switch To Replace Wii U?

Nintendo is going to launch the Nintendo Switch on March 2017, which is a combination of a home console and handheld unit rolled into one. This new hybrid game platform may somehow render the Wii U obsolete, although the latter has some good attributes.

The Wii U has been criticized for being under powered compared to the other gaming platform rivals such as the Xbox One or the PS4. Game titles are also limited to Nintendo owned ones and a few outside developers.

What Will Happen To The Wii U?

Nintendo continues to deny it but most industry observers believed that it's only a matter of time before the Japanese company will make a formal announcement. It seems Nintendo wants to get rid of its current Wii U stocks before making the announcement but this is only a theory. Truth of the matter is that Wii U did not sell as much as Nintendo hope. It will be more difficult now since the Switch is coming up in a few months.

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