Even with a price drop on its troubled Wii U game console – which has led to an increase in sales – Nintendo has once again failed to show a profit.
The company has reported an operating loss of 18.4 billion yen ($187 million) on sales of 115 billion yen ($1.17 billion) for this current sales quarter. For the time frame between July and September, the company has only managed to sell 300,000 Wii U systems. Though that’s an increase over the previous quarter, it’s still generally losing money on the system. Net profit for the year only showed to be about 600 million yen, or $6 million.
Software showed better signs of life, with 5.27 million units sold over the previous quarter, an increase of 400 percent over the previous period. Titles such as Pikmin 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD have done quite well on the Wii U front.
Over on the 3DS, Nintendo shuffled 2.49 million systems out during the period, a small loss of about 20 percent. Game sales, however, are on the rise, with 16.37 million units sold, a 40 percent increase. One of the leading sellers is Animal Crossing: New Leaf, a town simulator featuring various animal characters.
Nintendo has several titles that are leading the charge with this quarter, including Pokemon X & Y and the forthcoming Super Mario 3D World, along with a promotional campaign for a free trial period of Wii Fit U. That may turn sales around sooner rather than later. The company still expects to sell nine million Wii U systems this fiscal year (ending March 30, 2014), though the current total sold is less than 500,000 for the fiscal year (3.91 million since the Wii U launch).
Source: The Verge
