Nintendo slashes Wii U & 3DS sales forecast: profits up, shares down

Nintendo has reduced its sales forecast for the year ending March 31st 2013, following less-than-expected sales of both its Wii U and 3DS consoles across the current financial year. Despite the cut, the company posted a nine-month profit and has increased its net income projection for the full year as a result.

In a report sent to VG247 by Nintendo, the company has posted net income of ¥14.5 billion for the nine-month period ending December 31st, and as such has raised its full-year net income projection from ¥6 billion to ¥43.2 billion. The company posted an operating loss of ¥5.85 billion for the period, which is a significant improvement over its ¥16.4 billion operating loss for the same period last year.

GI.Biz has added that Nintendo now expects to sell 4 million Wii U consoles by the end of March 2013, cutting its projection of 5.5 million made back in October. Up to and including December 31st, the Japanese company had shifted 3.3 million Wii U consoles, with 3.06 million of those consoles sold before the end of 2012.

The 3DS is in a similar situation, as Nintendo now predicts it will sell 15 million units, rather than the previously suggested 17.5 million. The Nintendo DS projection has also dipped from 2.5 million to 2.3 million consoles.

Software sales seem to be a big contributing factor in Nintendo's net income, thanks to a total of 11.69 million worldwide game sales on Wii U alone. However, Nintendo cut its Wii U software projection from 24 million to 16 million, as well as software goals for other formats, equating to a 17.3% dip in total game and hardware projections.

New Super Mario Bros U and Nintendo Land were the Wii U's biggest hitters, having sold 2.01 million and 2.33 million units respectively.

Finally, the Wii is still out-performing its successor, with 3.53 million hardware sales and 45.08 million software sales.

What do you make of the figures. Let us know below.