Nintendo is, unfortunately, hurting quite a bit in the sales department. It has recently posted a loss of nearly four hundred sixty million dollars for its fiscal year ending in March. The Wii U sold even worse than Nintendo thought it would. They adjusted their forecast from 9 million to 2.8 million, but the unit only sold a bit over 2.7 million worldwide over the last twelve months. Only 6.17 million units have been sold to date, which is lagging behind other next-gen consoles even though the Wii U had a head start. Software sales were high, selling 18.86 million games overall with hit titles like Super Mario 3D World , but compared to the original Wii’s sales in the same launch period (26.16 million) the Wii U is several million games behind.
At least Nintendo still has the 3DS to fall back on. 12.24 million 3DS units were sold, and 67.89 million 3DS games were sold just in the last financial year. Over 43 million 3DSes have been sold to date, way outpacing the Wii U in every way. This coupled with outstanding sales of hit titles like Pokémon X/Y , and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds makes the 3DS Nintendo’s primary money maker.
Nintendo is banking on the success of the upcoming Smash Bros. title to make the Wii U take off. This year at E3, Nintendo is holding their first Smash Bros. invitational. In the summer, the 3DS version will launch, followed by the Wii U version later in the year. Will this be enough to save the failing console? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Source: Nintendo