After announcements that production is about to end in Japan and the upcoming release of the Switch, Nintendo brings another nail to the Wii U's coffin. The upcoming Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, will be the last game for the lackluster device.

In a statement made after the launch event for the Nintendo Switch with Polygon, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Amie confirmed that there would be no new development for the Wii-U after the Zelda game. He also stated that the company is at the end of life for the device, which only sold 13.36 million units as of September 2016.

On the other hand, Fils-Amie has also said that online support for Wii U games won't be ending yet, IGN reports. He also adds that the online activity coming from games like Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon have been very significant, and they will be supporting the games for the time being.

Released in November 2012 as the successor of the Wii, the Wii u had a head start in the eighth generation video game console, coming out earlier than competitors PlayStation 4 from Sony and Microsoft's Xbox One.

As the first Nintendo console to have HD graphics, the device also introduced an interesting controller: the Wii U Gamepad. Sporting an embedded touchscreen, it could be used as a regular controller for the main system, a supplement to the main screen for multiplayer games, or as an independent unit for supported games. It is also backwards-compatible with most Wii accessories and online connectivity through the Nintendo Network and Miiverse.

Unfortunately, even though the game was praised for its Gamepad, the backwards compatibility and price, it was met poorly by consumers and had slow sales, in contrast to the other consoles, despite coming out first in the market. Nintendo's upcoming device, the Switch, is meant to recover the losses the company had with the Wii U.

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" is slated for a March 3, 2017 release, along with the Switch.

Related