Nintendo slashes profit forecast on weaker-than-expected Wii sales

(NINTENDO/ SUPER MARIO)

Gaming giant Nintendo has slashed its profit forecast, blaming to weaker-than-expected sales of its Wii U console.

The Japanese firm said it now expects to make an operating loss of 35bn yen for the year-end March 31, against a previous forecast of a 100 bn yen profit. The struggling video game maker last year made 36.4 bn yen loss.

Nintendo also predicted that sales would be lower than last year, at 590 bn yen compared with 635.4 bn yen in 2013.

The company said a slower-than-expected uptake of both its Nintendo 3DS handset and Wii U console were to blame, as well as the knock-on effect this had on video game sales.

The company slashed its estimates for Wii U sales in the year from 9 million to 2.8 million.

President Satoru Iwata said sales of the console had picked up towards the end of the year thanks to discounting but admitted that it still “fell short of our targeted recovery by a large margin."

The follow-up to the popular Wii console faced tough competition in the key Christmas sales period from Microsoft and Sony’s next generation consoles, Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Once a trailblazer video gaming, Nintendo has struggled to maintain its prominence in the gaming field since the launch of the Wii console in 2006. Casual gamers, one of Nintendo’s key markets, have largely migrated to smartphone and tablet gaming, while Microsoft and Xbox have cemented their dominance of the console market.