Nintendo’s Wii U Exits Production

Nintendo announced late last year that they would be stopping production of the Wii U shortly before the release of the Switch, and the last day of January was the day they followed through. As of now, no more Wii U units will be produced for any region of the world. The stock that’s left is all that will ever be.

What’s unusual about this console is that, unlike similar machines that failed to catch on (including those from Nintendo itself), the Wii U was never discounted from its $300-$350 base price. There were bundles and pack-in games which technically gave the consumer a better value, but Nintendo never budged on the 3 Benjamins as entry. The Virtual Boy was discounted several times, the Gamecube and N64 had their prices lowered and even the Wii eventually took a price cut. But the Wii U never did, and we may never know why.

It is already very difficult to spot one of the remaining Wii Us on store shelves. If you see a Wii U in the wild, and you still don’t have one, purchase it. In fact, if you do already have one, or you don’t even want one, you might want to buy it anyway because unopened Wii U boxes are only going to rise in value from this point. Don’t wait for a sale — it ain’t coming!