UPDATE: Nintendo has denied that it is stopping Wii U production any time soon.

In a statement to Japanese publication, IT Media, a Nintendo spokesperson shot down the report, according to Fortune.

"From the next quarter and thereafter as well, production (of the Wii U) is scheduled to continue," the spokesperson said.

Original story:

The Wii U may be on its last legs, with Nintendo rumored to cease production of the gaming console this year, according to a report in Japanese media.

Introduced in 2013 to compete with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the Wii U is Nintendo's first HD gaming console, but has struggled to compete against newer Xbox and PlayStation models.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports that the video game maker will stop shipping Wii U units by the end of 2016 before announcing a new gaming device, expected to be the NX, a next-generation platform unrelated to the Wii.

Moving away from traditional consoles is likely a smart move for Nintendo. When the Wii U was released, PCMag hailed its potential to disrupt the conventional living room game experience with its giant touchpad controller.

But after more than three years of weak sales, it's clear that consumers didn't agree. In January 2014, Nintendo essentially admitted the Wii U was a flop. Blaming part of the failure on the relative lack of games made for the Wii U, the company said that sales in the critical European and U.S. markets were much lower than it expected.

Even a significant price cut couldn't entice consumers, who instead flocked to the PlayStation and Xbox. A brief reprieve came in late 2014, when Nintendo released a Wii U version of its venerable Mario Kart franchise, which temporarily boosted sales.

Whether or not today's rumors of the Wii U's demise are true, it's clear that Nintendo is investing its resources in areas other than console gaming. Its first smartphone app, the social-media based avatar game Miitomo, launched in Japan last week to critical success. A U.S. launch is on the horizon.