Wii U falls short of reduced sales forecast

Wii U sales fell short despite a reduced forecast as Nintendo posted losses of £135m for the year ending March 2014.

Nintendo had previously stated it expected to sell nine million Wii U consoles during the last fiscal year. It later reduced its forecast to 2.8 million.

Despite this, sales still fell slightly short of that, selling 2.72 million consoles during the last year. Software sales reached 18.86 million for the year.

Total Wii U hardware sales now stand at 6.17 million since its launch in November 2012.

The 3DS fared better however, selling 12.24 million units and 67.89 million games during the last fiscal year. Total 3DS sales now stand at 43.33m.

Overall, Nintendo reported losses of £135m, significantly down from last year’s profit of £41m. The console firm hopes to turn back to profit next year however and has forecast profits of £116m.

Nintendo admitted the Wii U “still faces a challenging sales situation”, but would continue to focus efforts on improving performance.

With Mario Kart 8 and a new Smash Bros on the horizon, Nintendo has forecast 3.6m Wii U sales for the year ending March 2015.