Video game behemoth Nintendo has reported its financial results for the last twelve months. When the fiscal year ended on March 31st 2014, the numbers showed the company had posted a loss of 46.4 billion Yen (approximately $457 million). Plus, Nintendo’s contribution to the new-gen market, the Wii U, sold only 2.72 million units over the past year; just under the revised estimates of 2.8 million predicted back in January 2014.
In a statement, Nintendo attributed the recent financial lull to poor sales of the Wii U:
The Wii U hardware still has a negative impact on Nintendo’s profits owing mainly to its markdown in the United States and Europe…and unit sales of software, which has high profit margins, did not grow sufficiently.
Worldwide sales of the console currently stand at 6.17 million units overall, a huge difference to the 9 million the big N was looking to have sold hitherto. For comparison, Sony’s PlayStation 4 sold more than 7 million units in the much shorter time of six months.
On top of this, the 3DS also experienced a drop in sales, having shifted 12.24 million consoles despite the company assuring investors an estimated 18 million units would be sold. However, software for the 3DS saw a slight improvement with more than 67.9 million games sold against the 66 million Nintendo originally predicted. Despite besting the forecast, it more than likely won’t be enough to show financial improvements.
Currently, Nintendo is not showing signs of optimism, with only 3.6 million Wii U consoles expected to be sold over the next 12 months. All may not be lost, though. With the release of Mario Kart 8 at the end of May and Super Smash Bros later in the year, can the company’s ever-popular plumber be enough to help the company through the next financial year?