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Nintendo posts full-year loss of nearly half a billion dollars as Wii U flounders

Published May 7th, 2014 7:35AM EDT
Nintendo Earnings Q4 2014
Image: Chris Sewell

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Nintendo’s Wii U is home to some of the best titles ever to hit any of the Japanese video game giant’s consoles. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough.

Nintendo has been unable to recreate the runaway success enjoyed by its first-generation Wii, and the second model continued to flounder in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. The company on Wednesday reported a full-year loss of $456 million as it managed to sell only 2.7 million units of its flagship Wii U console.

For some perspective, the new PS4 and Xbox One each sold more units than that in just a few weeks following their launches in November last year.

Nintendo also noted that it sold 12 million 3DS consoles during the fiscal year, and cumulative 3DS sales are now approaching 43 million units.

The company expects to return to profit in the current fiscal year.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.