Wii U sales plummet as Nintendo records quarterly profit

Nintendo has announced a profit of ¥8.62 billion (approximately $88.2 million/£58 million) for the three months from April to June, but sales of the Wii U were disappointing.

The Wii U sold just 160,000 units worldwide for the three-month period: 90,000 in Japan, 60,000 in North America, and 10,000 in Europe. As of June 30, worldwide sales of Wii U hardware stand at 3.61 million.

1.03 million Wii U games were sold in the same period, which doesn't account for the recent release of Pikmin 3. Nintendo said the lack of consumer interest in the Wii U was "mainly due to the release of few key first-party titles this quarter to strongly drive the hardware sales."

Despite the slow sales of Wii U hardware, Nintendo has stuck to its previous forecast of selling 9 million Wii U's worldwide before March 2014. The publisher expects to shift twice as many 3DS' units before then, however.

Nintendo saw far better fortunes with the 3DS, which sold 1.4 million units worldwide in the same time period. The handheld shifted 640,000 units in Japan, 400,000 in Europe, and 360,000 in North America.

The publisher attributed its "brisk" 3DS hardware sales to releasing "key titles one after another." Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which was recently released in North America and Europe, sold 1.54 million copies during the quarter, which means the town management game has now shifted 4.54 million copies worldwide since being released in Japan last year.

Nintendo added that Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is now sitting at 1.43 million sales worldwide, and 11.01 million 3DS games were sold worldwide in total for the three-month period.

In net sales, Nintendo took ¥81.5 billion ($834.4 million/£548.4 million), down slightly from the ¥84.8 billion it made this time last year. All in all, Nintendo's ¥8.62 billion is an improvement on the ¥17.2 billion loss it posted for the same quarter last year.

In the coming months, Nintendo is hoping Wii U hardware sales will be stimulated by the launch of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Mario 3D World, and Wii Fit U.