With all the talk of Nintendo’s upcoming NX console, it’s fair to speculate that the Wii U might be in its final days. Rumor has it that the console would cease production by the end of this year, but it turns out that’s just not true.

It was reported yesterday by Japanese news site Nikkei that the end was nigh, but today, a Nintendo spokesperson said to Japanese site IT Media, “From the next quarter and thereafter as well, production is scheduled to continue.”

Still, the rumors were easy to believe. As we previously noted, the Wii U has sold about 12 million consoles since its launch in 2012, which sounds OK until you compare it to the precedent Nintendo has set: Its two previous-gen consoles, the Wii and the DS, have sold 101.63 million and 154.01 million units as of December 2015, respectively.

In terms of sales and retail competition, the Wii U has experienced a fate similar to that of the Nintendo GameCube, which sold about 22 million units, as opposed to the 24 million units sold by the Xbox and the staggering 153 million PlayStation 2 consoles sold. Fast-forward to today, and the Xbox One has moved about 19 million units, while the PS4 has sold about 36 million consoles.

The rumors could be attributed to the buzz surrounding Nintendo’s next-gen console. There has been tons of speculation about the console’s hardware, its innovative (supposed) touch-screen controller, and launch titles, which may include a new Smash Bros. game. Nintendo’s closed-lip stance on talking about the console certainly hasn’t prevented misinformation from spreading.

Despite its relative lack of commercial success, the Wii U has a bevy of great titles, so give a shout-out to your favorites in the comments.

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HT: VG24/7

IMAGE: Sergey Galyonkin