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Nintendo ceases production of the Wii

Nintendo has quietly announced on its Japanese website that its most successful console ever is no longer in production.

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Nintendo has quietly announced on its Japanese website that its most successful console ever is no longer in production.

(Credit: Nintendo)

It has sold over 100 million units (PDF) in its lifetime, but Nintendo's Wii is soon to be no more. Via its Japanese product page, Nintendo has quietly retired the console: to the top right of the image are the words "生産終了", which translate to "Discontinued".

Nintendo announced the console's scheduled retirement in the same way just a few weeks ago.

Although the Wii, launched in 2006, didn't have the high-end specs of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and many were sceptical of its motion controller, it went on to outsell both its contemporaries, which to date have sold 78 million units and 78.2 million units, respectively — and which both released their own motion systems, the PlayStation Move and the Xbox Kinect.

Nintendo is now expected to concentrate its efforts on its 3DS, launched in 2011 and selling 32.48 million units to date, and the Wii U, launched in 2012 and selling 3.61 million units to date.