Wii U release date revealed as Nintendo announce profit drops
Nintendo have revealed they are still struggling after the rough launch of their Nintendo 3DS console. Posting shoddy financial results for October to December 2011, the veteran gaming company have now admitted to predicting annual losses 3 times higher than they’d initially anticipated.
Nintendo’s financial year ends in March, with the losses for the 12 months expected to be around the 65 billion yen mark ($840 million dollars, or around £535 million), more than triple the initial 20 billion yen deficit estimations.
Much of the blame has been centred on the strength of the yen in 2011 and the lacklustre sales of the 3DS, which despite a spike towards the end of 2011, only really began flying off shelves once it had been given a drastic price cut. The company are now aiming for 14 million 3DS units sold by the close of the year, lower than the initial 16 million units mark set at launch.
A saving grace comes from the Wii, which, despite being five years old, still manages to sell well. 8.6 million motion-gaming consoles were sold by Nintendo which, while down 35% year-on-year, is still a great achievement given the console’s age.
Nintendo’s profit hopes now lie with the Wii U console. Seemingly in an attempt to gloss over the profit losses experienced by the company, they took today to reveal the console was on track for a Q4 (October-December) 2012 release.
