Weak Wii U Sales Keep Nintendo's In Red - Printer Friendly version without Comments

Appeared on: Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Weak Wii U Sales Keep Nintendo's In Red

Nintendo reported a loss in the latest quarter as sales of its Wii U game console remained weak and consumers shift to gaming on smartphones and tablets.

The Kyoto-based company reported an 8 billion yen ($81 million) loss Wednesday for the three months ended Sept. 30. Sales totaled 115 billion yen, a slight drop from the same quarter last year.

Quarterly Wii U sales nearly doubled to 300,000 units from 160,000 in the previous three months, but the total remained far short of the company's goal of 9 million units for the fiscal year ending next March.

The company cut the price of Wii U console last month.

"The Wii U hardware still has a negative impact on Nintendo's profits," the company said, "owing mainly to its markdown in the United States and Europe."

Sales are likely to pick up over the year-end holiday season, but the Wii U will face competition from Sony's new PlayStation 4, due out next month, and Microsoft's coming Xbox One.