The Japanese game maker on Wednesday slashed its sales target for its new flagship game console by 27 percent, just months after it went on sale around the world. Nintendo had set a goal of selling 5.5 million units through March, the end of its fiscal year, but now aims for 4 million.
Nintendo also lowered its expectations for the handheld 3DS, which has struggled to maintain momentum despite price cuts and a push to flood the market with appealing game titles. The company cut its target for the device to 15 million this fiscal year, down from the 17.5 million it predicted in October. That is the second cut this year - Nintendo originally aimed for 18.5 million devices.
The sales numbers, released as part of Nintendo's earnings for the October-December quarter, offer a first glimpse at how gamers feel about the Wii U. The company has bet heavily on the successor to the Wii, one of its most successful products ever.
Nintendo said the poor sales will likely hurt its results for the fiscal year, cutting its revenue target by 17.3 percent to $7.4 billion and saying it now expects to fall into the red for operating profit. The company still targets a net profit, due in part to the fall in the yen versus foreign currencies, which can boost the effect of profits booked abroad.
For the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Nintendo said revenue slipped slightly compared to a year ago, while it booked a smaller operating loss and net profit recovered to 14.5 billion yen, up from a 48.3 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
The Wii U also acts as a home entertainment center, with access to streaming video services from providers like Amazon and Netflix, similar to rival game consoles from Sony and Microsoft. The company has also launched a social network around gaming, the "Miiverse," which allows players to interact online via their "Mii" avatars.
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