Nintendo, the company behind the iconic brand Mario, is set to report losses on its newish Wii U gaming system. During the last three months Nintendo reported selling only 310,000 units and have only sold 6.17 million total since its release over a year and a half ago. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone though. The Japanese gaming company has struggled to keep up with Microsoft and Sony since the release of the Wii. While the first generation motion sensitive console did fairly well during its initial release, both the Wii and Wii U have struggled to attract customers away from the Xbox and Playstation franchises. The Xbox One has already sold a little under 5 million units and the Playstation 4 has already surpassed the Wii U with 7 million consoles already purchased.
Compared with last year, Nintendo is already down 10% in sales. This equates to an estimated $228 million. A stark contrast to the $69.5 million the reported in net profit last year. Figures such as these have made Nintendo reduce their prediction of console units sold down to 3.6 million by the end of the year. Though there are rumors suggesting Nintendo will pursue a new console in the near future, the company continues to imply that their focus will be on integrating new and exciting games with their iconic Wii U GamePad. Maybe they shouldn’t though, as the Wii U is currently on pace to win the title of worst selling console of all time.
For those who are avid Nintendo fans, do not wallow in despair just yet for all is not lost. While Nintendo might have abysmal sales for their in-home console, they are absolutely dominating the portable gaming market with their Nintendo 3DS. This is largely thanks to the series of Pokemon games that are the exclusive property of Nintendo. Pokemon X and Y, the most recently released games, have already sold 12.26 million copies. Nintendo expects to sell 12 million of the hand held units by the end of the year. They have already sold 590,000 devices in the last three months and have sold 43.3 million units in its lifetime. Though strong sales from the 3DS will not be enough to make up for the significant losses from the Wii U, it will allow Nintendo a little breathing room as they desperately try to save their sinking ship.
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