14 DAY TRIAL // Video game hardware maker and publisher Nintendo has admitted that lower than expected sales of the Wii U home console are currently hurting its overall performance, but has failed to reveal any clear plans to deal with the situation.
For the first six months of the current fiscal year, the company has managed to generate a profit, but at the same time, the home console has only moved 460,000 units to gamers.
The only bright spot in the announcement is the fact that sales almost doubled during the second quarter, which might mean that gamers are finally understanding the new features offered by the Wii U.
Gamasutra quotes an official company representative as stating that, “The Wii U hardware still has a negative impact on Nintendo's profits.”
Neither the launch of Pikmin 3 nor The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, which have been well received by the player community, has managed to boost sales of the actual hardware.
Nintendo still has to deal with the costs that the Wii U has introduced for advertising and for research and development.
The publisher hopes that the coming November launch of Super Mario 3D World will attract attention to the home console and will allow it to compete with the coming Xbox One from Microsoft and PlayStation 4 from Sony during the crucial Christmas shopping period.
The fact that Nintendo remains in the black is mostly due to the 3DS handheld, which managed to get 3,89 million units to customers during the six-month period, reaching a worldwide total of 34.98 million since it was launched.
The number is expected to increase significantly during the coming six months, mainly because of the very successful launch of Pokemon X & Y.
Nintendo has reported revenue of 196.5 billion Yen, which is about 2 billion dollars (1.4 billion Euro).