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Nintendo turns a profit but misses sales forecast by half

Wii U sales stand at 3.45 million, with 3DS at 31 million.

184 Comments

Sales of the Wii U stand at only 3.45 million worldwide, but Nintendo has reported a profit of ¥7.09 billion ($71.3m/£46.7m) for the financial year.

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While the net income is almost half the company's previously estimated profit of ¥14 billion, the company has managed to turn around the whopping loss of ¥43 billion it reported last year--the first annual loss the company has ever posted.

3.45 million Wii Us have been sold globally as of March 31 2013, with fewer than 400,000 being sold in the last three months. The Wii U was outsold by the Wii, which sold 3.98 million units across the company's financial year.

Nintendo blamed poor sales of its devices in North America and Europe, though noted that the 3DS has now become the console of choice in Japan.

Wii U worldwide software sales stand at 13.42 million units as of March 31. Nintendo Land makes up 2.6 million of that figure, while New Super Mario Bros. U has also shifted 2.15 million copies.

Meanwhile, the 3DS has sold 31.09 million units and 95.03 million games. Super Mario 3D Land remains the 3DS sales king with 8.29 million copies sold worldwide, and recent release Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has managed to gain 1.22 million buyers since launch.

Nintendo's net sales were also slightly down on last year, but damage to the company's bottom line was mitigated slightly thanks to financial gains made by the currency exchange.

For the next financial year the publisher predicts it will sell 9 million Wii U consoles worldwide. 3DS expectations are higher at 18 million.

Previous reports had suggested Nintendo would announce a loss of ¥18.7 billion for the financial year.

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Avatar image for SpaceDr00ze
SpaceDr00ze

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I, for one, am happy that Nintendo turned a profit. Even if most of their "new" games are just copies of their old games, at least playing Nintendo clones gives me a break from the clones released every day on the other consoles. And now that Nintendo is selling the 3DS for less than GameStop is, I will gladly give Nintendo some of my money and thank them for the countless hours of entertainment they gave me up until the Wii, and raise a glass in hopes that whatever comes out after the WiiU isn't completely retarded.

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craigprime

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Hey, the analysts were wrong! What a surprise...

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silvergol

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Nintendo 3ds don´t was 30 millions days ago.

Lol, Gamespot!

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mario113

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Edited By mario113

@FlameEmperor @Queuing_is_back it's a shocker to me as well 0_0

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Avatar image for hadlee73
hadlee73

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I'm unsure whether people realize what it means when a company turns a profit but doesn't meet forecast. Its nothing to celebrate, and the low stoke value means Nintendo cannot rely on outside investment. Which simply means, most of the profits will vanish as expenditure (as Nintendo's annual reports show they have still not managed to lower their operating costs over the last 5 years). Still, nice to see it wasn't as bleak as the estimates given a couple of days ago, so all is not lost.

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S_Pac_316

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It's only been less than a year. Stop jumping to conclusions and try to be hopeful.

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dussan2

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Edited By dussan2

@S_Pac_316 Yes, be hopeful that Nintendo will continue to offer substandard entertainment and value for the money you fork out.

Nintendo loves it when the sheep follow the shepard.

2 • 
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hystavito

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That analyst prediction from an article yesterday was way off :).

2 • 
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brainiac1988

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Edited By brainiac1988

They just need to make a proper console again with decent hardware that is as good as/better than those of MS and Sony. Like the SNES or N64 was back in the day.

Make the biggest and most beautiful Zelda to date and the most dark, eerie, realistic looking Metroid ever. That alone would bring old skool fans back.

Gamecube was my last nintendo console and im not coming back until all that motion stuff with silly graphics has blown over.

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abHS4L88

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Edited By abHS4L88

@brainiac1988

You do realize back then the other companies were basically going at the pace Nintendo had laid out? Before Sony/Microsoft decided to take a huge leap, any developer that had done that previously had failed miserably. Microsoft is easily the wealthiest company to enter the gaming industry so they could handle making a super powerful console, Sony on the other hand suffered greatly with the PS3 (which is weird because they didn't do that with the PSone and PS2 and was met with astronomical success for both, suddenly when they break away from that and go overboard, they begin to struggle). Nintendo has always recognized that focusing more on cutting edge technology is an easy way to become irrelevant and ultimately fail, and the two times they've done this (the Virtual Boy and Gamecube), they did poorly. Nintendo's not going to run themselves into the ground trying to keep up with an industry that apparently doesn't care if it wastes all its resources on production/cinematics over more important things (not saying all developers are like that, but the focus has shifted to that WAY more this generation).

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mechag2

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Way to go, Bloomberg. lol You nailed it again. *facepalm*

On a serious note, Nintendo really does need to do something about getting the kind of quality 3rd party support for Wii U that's on par with Sony and Microsoft's. Wii U is a fantastic system, but a system is nothing without lots of quality games. Even though Nintendo has always been great with quality 1st and 2nd party titles, that's not enough.

Some 3rd parties are putting some of their great titles on Wii U (which is awesome), but certain accompanying services are being left out of the Wii U version. Usually DLC support. This is one example of an issue that Nintendo needs to address.

2 • 
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GamerofMario1

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Good to see they turned it around. Nintendo will always be just fine...

6 • 
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hatieshorrer

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Edited By hatieshorrer

@Queuing_is_back @MAD_AI @troll_eat_troll

"Denial of the facts is more funnier than anything. LOL."

Thats why everyone is laughing at you.

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Avatar image for hatieshorrer
hatieshorrer

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Time to FIRE Micheal Bloomberg.

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nurnberg

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What? Yesterday, the article claimed that they lost like 150 millions. Please stop posting stupid troll rumors as articles.

3 • 
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nomadski69

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Edited By nomadski69

Nintendo need to get back to basics. Stop releasing so much hardware, get some third party partnerships in that rival those in the 90's (RARE etc) and concentrate on 5 key areas both in house and with their partners....


1. Games

2. Games

3. Games

4. Games

and finally

5. Games

4 • 
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eva02langley

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Wasn't there a news about a second yearly loss?

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Chico86_basic

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Edited By Chico86_basic

@eva02langley Yeah, I think it was at GameSpot.

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AMG

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Glad to hear that they didn't have another loss. Hopefully they can turn things around and give Sony and Microsoft a good run for their money. Competition is good for us consumers.

6 • 
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RedLegZeff

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I do love my 3ds. Maybe that should be a hint for nintendo. Success requires GOOD GAMES. Take note for the wii u.

5 • 
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matrixman2k

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Edited By matrixman2k

I'm Grievous over the lamentable news, my condolences are yours. With losses such as this, you will spoil soon. Such a fate will be most disheartening, I was merely a lad when I enjoyed your titles, truly the best interactive entertainment. To lose you will mean an era of endless repetitive genre of gaming and repetitive shooting games that are indistinguishable, endless crime sims, bizarre "innovations" and more graphics and more hardware and more graphics and more hardware, truly losing artistic appeal and gaming innovations. Without you we would have used that same game pads of the snes and with little innovation in the way we interact with the games. I hope Nintendo does well and picks itself up soon, without it gaming won't be the same.

This is in no way "Flame Bait", an uneducated way of saying provocative biasness and prejudice. But rather an inner statement from the depths of my childhood, it wouldn't have been the same without Disney and Nintendo, and countless fantasies and daydreams that followed.

5 • 
Avatar image for deactivated-619fad301e84e
deactivated-619fad301e84e

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@matrixman2k But.. They made a profit, not a loss?

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Avatar image for deactivated-60510cd00304f
deactivated-60510cd00304f

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If nintendo wants to hit their sales forecast they should release a new console with a steady flow of 1st party games instead of having them barely trickle in, 3rd party has really helped keep the Wii U afloat

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CaptainGamespot

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Edited By CaptainGamespot

ouch. maybe nintendo shouldn t make such strange hardware decisions to keep cost down.

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onixevil

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Lovestash .

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the_real_VIP

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Dirty Sanchez?

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larz_1234

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This shows how NOT to listen to every rumor you hear because just yesterday gamespot said there would be a huge loss for nintendo this year and as it turns out they instead post a profit. Hopefully nintendo keeps it up and wii u sales increase.

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ronnet

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Edited By ronnet

@larz_1234 But it does sound like the currency exchange saved them. That might not have been taken into consideration.

You also have to understand that while sales are slightly down, they are down again. In 2010 sales declined by more then 50% as well as in 2011. So right now Nintendo is at a fraction of three years ago.

They really need to change course because even if sales only go slightly down or even slightly up, at this point that isnt anything to be happy about. The Wii U was supposed to do that. A new console to help Nintendo get back to the heydays of the Wii.

But I dont think Nintendo will go down under very soon. The Gamecube didn't kill them so they can survive the Wii U. But if the next console isnt a succes then on the long-term things arent looking good for them.

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dre256x

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They jump the gun early to release the device ahead of competition without a lot of 1st party games so that when the competition is ready to launch there systems/games, they will have there heavy titles ready.. Not a bad strategy but early adopters do suffer as a result..

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JRLennis

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@dre256x It ISN'T a good strategy. A few 1st party games are not enough to keep up with Sony and Microsoft's upcoming marketing push. They'll be able to tread water for a little while, but when the competing systems finally do come out, they'll flounder.

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Chico86_basic

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@dre256x I think that's about their strategy too (if there ever was one regarding competition).

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ethanm1834

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Well good Im glad the prediction was incorrect. I still stand by my thought process for the Wii U, more games I want and I'll buy one. I expect that announcement at E3 with all my favorites being announced. I don't want any console maker to go down, competition means more games for the consumer. Keep moving forward Big N.

11 • 
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emperiox

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@ethanm1834 Not just more games, but more variety. I want to see a new Gladius game!

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CaptainGamespot

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@emperiox @ethanm1834 gladius isnt owned by nintendo, they have no control of that ip.

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Serpentes420

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You go Nintendo, while the naysayers (particularly these uppity kids) keep saying how you are in trouble and how you are going to go the way of Sega, you keep making profits, consoles, and games. Once your first party and console exclusives start rolling out and you start selling more WiiU's profits will be even better.

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jobo52

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Edited By jobo52

@Serpentes420 If Nintendo couldn't pull off their sales forecast this past financial year, they sure as hell aren't going to do it in the next one. We're going to have two completely new, widely different consoles coming to market by the end of the year. Nintendo is going to tank. They will keep the guys in it for nostalgia, but a large amount of the fanbase are going to go toward the next-gen consoles.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo becomes a handhold only hardware manufacturer in the future.

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Avatar image for Chico86_basic
Chico86_basic

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@jobo52 @Serpentes420 I wouldn't be so sure about that. Personally I didn't make my mind on WiiU, PS4 or 720 yet, but it's true I would rather buy a 3DS at this point out of those and Vita.

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Avatar image for mariokart64fan
mariokart64fan

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wow im looking at all the comments the amont of butthurt is funny

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mariokart64fan

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ya that article was predicting the loss all the system wars got owned lol no 2 yr of losses

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jsmoke03

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turns a profit....then another article saying loss....uh what?

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Avatar image for deactivated-5eea5a5a83edd
deactivated-5eea5a5a83edd

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@jsmoke03 That last article was just a prediction. Nintendo turned a profit this time.

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Avatar image for ZetA_LatA
ZetA_LatA

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Edited By ZetA_LatA

I've said all I need to say about you Nintendo. Someone wake me when Mario is a multi-plat.

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deactivated-5eea5a5a83edd

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@ZetA_LatA Nintendo said they aren't going software only. They are going to continue making hardware whether you people like it or not. Nintendo would rather go bankrupt/out of business then become a software only company.

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Avatar image for ZetA_LatA
ZetA_LatA

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@GSJones1994 @ZetA_LatA zzzzzz

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mario113

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Edited By mario113

@ZetA_LatA you will be sleeping a long time then

17 • 
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YearoftheSnake5

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Edited By YearoftheSnake5

Beat the odds. A small profit is certainly better than a loss. Won't stop people from saying "Nintendo be doomed", but the numbers stand.

19 • 
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borelarox

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Edited By borelarox

I see many comments here changed after E3... For better or for worse...

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