Nintendo Wii U Still Selling Less Than Original Wii

Nintendo Has More Grim News For Wii U Owners...
The Nintendo logo is seen on the final day of the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles, California June 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
The Nintendo logo is seen on the final day of the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles, California June 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
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Nintendo's new Wii U console is still selling far less units than its original, seven-year-old Wii, the Japanese giant announced in its latest set of troubling financial results.

Nintendo said that just 160,000 Wii U consoles were sold globally in the last three months - with just over a million software units sold.

That's down 51.3% on the previous quarter - which itself represented a calamitous drop from the Wii U's launch.

In total Nintendo has sold 3.61 million Wii U's, which is less than half of what the company was hoping. It said the low sales were mainly down to a lack of key software releases - which is hard to argue with, even after the recent release of Pikmin 3.

By comparison more than 200,000 original Wii consoles were sold in the same three month period.

Overall the company made an operating loss of about $50 million on sales of $832 million. It made an overall profit, however, partly based on currency exchange gains.

At least the 3DS handheld is doing better. Nintendo said that 1.4 million 3DS consoles were sold in the last three months, with software sales up 49% on a string of big hits including Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Luigi's Mansion 2.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like the Wii U is going to turn things around any time soon, despite the upcoming launch of games like The Wonderful 101 and the HD remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Third party developers are fleeing from the device. Supermarket giant Asda recently announced it will no longer sell the console in its stores, while Currys PC World has also given the machine limited in-store support since launch. At its Tottenham Court Road flagship store, for instance, Currys still has the original Wii console in its demo case.

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