Abysmal Nintendo $587M Quarterly Sales Report; ‘Wii U’ Practically None Material

Nintendo has experienced some down times before, so the company has certainly proven that it is capable of bouncing back time and again. However, with its most recent quarterly sales report posting abysmal numbers due to the slow hardware and software movement, it’s no surprise that investors are worried about the future of the company. Coupled with the loss of value after its statement that “Pokemon Go” would have little to no actual impact on profit margins, Nintendo has a lot of ground to cover.

Nintendo’s net profit is down by 31 percent compared to the same period in 2015, according to Ars Technica. As a result, profits went down from $853 million for the same quarter last year, to $587 million.

The company tried to downplay the severity of the implications surrounding the report by saying that foreign exchange rates contributed to the loss, along with the depreciation of the yen. However, it’s undeniable that slow hardware and software sales have contributed more to the hit that Nintendo’s profits took.

“Wii U” sales have practically ground to a halt during this quarter, with only 220,000 consoles sold. The “3DS” performed better, with 940,000 units sold; only a 7 percent drop. With regards to the “Wii U” in particular, the trend has been discouraging, largely due to the loss of games available on the console as well as the imminent arrival of the “NX.”

Kotaku made a piece about the titles that were made for the console, both by Nintendo and third-party developers based on the figures that the company itself released. According to the numbers, only 39 games were released for the console in the U.S. by Nintendo. Only 118 games were released by third-party companies.

In comparison, the “Wii” got 55 games from Nintendo and 1,206 from third-party developers. With the “NX” scheduled to arrive in less than a year, “Wii U” sales are expected to only get worse.