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Nintendo facing a Wii problem as sales slump [Scotsman, The (Scotland)]
[January 18, 2014]

Nintendo facing a Wii problem as sales slump [Scotsman, The (Scotland)]


(Scotsman, The (Scotland) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Japanese video game maker Nintendo has warned it will remain in the red this year amid weaker-than-expected sales of its Wii U and 3DS consoles.The forecast of a 35 billion (GBP205 million) operating loss for the year to March compares with its previous prediction of a 100bn profit and would mark the third consecutive year of losses for the group.Kyoto-based Nintendo said: "We failed to reach our target for hardware sales during the year-end, when revenues are the highest. As a result, the sale of high-margin software fell far short of our projections."Nintendo slashed its global Wii U sales forecast for the year by almost 70 per cent to 2.8 million units. The group expects its 3DS handheld game machine to sell 13.5 million units in the year to March, down from its previous 18 million forecast.Faced with competition from Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, the console has failed to emulate the success of its hugely popular predecessor, the Wii, which has sold more than 100 million units since it was launched in 2006.Best known for its Super Mario and Zelda franchises, Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a maker of playing cards. In 1983 the group moved into the home console market when it launched the Family Computer, known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System.



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