Nintendo Say ‘U Are A Failure’

Wii U is seriously struggling Nintendo’s own figures show; just 300,000 consoles sold in last three months

Nintendo sold just 300,000 Wii Us in the first three months of the year.

The company revealed the number as it posted its financials for the last three months of its 2012 financial year.

Sales for the year hit ¥635.42bn (£4.2bn). That was 5.2 per cent lower than the company forecast. Analysts had predicted that the company would miss its targets.

However, it completely missed its net income prediction by almost 50 per cent. It had forecast a net income of ¥14bn (£920bn) for the 12 months ending March 2013, but made ¥7.1bn (£420.8m)

Nintendo blamed “weaker than expected sales” of both the 3DS and Wii U. It also said the currency markets had had an impact.

As a result, Nintendo made a loss of ¥43.2bn (£284m). That was down however on last year’s loss of ¥60.86bn (£403m).

However, it is the low sales figures for the Wii U that are grabbing the headlines.

The console has sold just 3.45m units since it was launched at the end of November.

In contrast to the Wii U, the Wii sold 2.65m units during the same point after launch (Jan – Mar 07 vs Jan – Mar 13). At the time, Nintendo simply couldn’t keep up with demand and the console was often sold out, with large waiting lists at retailers.

That statistic is made even more damning when you realise the Wii – despite being six year older than the Wii U – still managed to outsell its successor during the same three months.

According to Nintendo’s own figures, the 3.98m Wiis were sold since its new console launched. That’s 53,000 more Wiis sold than Wii Us.

Nintendo has said that it believes that when major software titles begin shipping later this year, sales will pick up.

However, with such low sales, it is feasible retailers may start scaling back the number of shelves they dedicate to the Wii U. If that starts happening before those games arrive, then the console will be in real trouble.