Nintendo has confirmed that the company is still selling the Nintendo Wii U console at a loss.
The Japanese company said it is recording a loss for every Wii U console sold, due to poor sales since the console launched late last month.
A Nintendo representative confirmed the news to GamesIndustry International that the company still loses money with every Wii U it sells, so anyone hoping for an official Wii U bargain later this year will be disappointed.
The Wii U pricing is a huge contributing factor as to why Nintendo posted a 36.4 billion yen (£239 million) operating loss for the 2013 financial year.
Within its annual report, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata promised that the company would “strive to regain ‘Nintendo-like’ profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 by providing many people with fascinating games and services.”
Just 160,000 Wii U consoles were sold last quarter, with the console only managing to sell 3.61 million units from its launch in November until March this year.
Nintendo originally predicted that it would sell 5.5 million Wii U consoles by March 2013, which is pretty far from the actual figures recording.
Before the Wii U launched, Iwata announced that Nintendo would be losing money on each Wii U sold causing a ripple of controversy in tech circles.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, went on to downplay the announcement saying that “as soon as we get the consumer to buy one piece of software, then that entire transaction becomes profit positive.”
However, the fact that the console is still selling at a loss suggests that neither Wii U hardware nor software are proving popular with consumers.
The Premium version of the Wii U console originally launched at £299 back in November, coming bundled with a controller dock and a copy of Nintendo Land.
The Basic package complete with an 8GB version of the Wii U console cost £249 at launch.
Both of these Wii bundles have had their prices dropped by an assortment of retailers, meaning they also sell the console at a loss in an attempt to shift units.
Next, read why the Wii U is Nintendo’s Dreamcast.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
