Nintendo Loses Money, Lowers Sales Estimates For 2012

Nintendo, maker of many hit consoles and video games, posted losses through a good part of last year. The company is facing increased competition and sales of the 3DS, a handheld gaming device, among other devices, aren’t going as expected despite the price cut.

On the flip side, the Wii U, the next generation Wii console, is expected to be out by the end of this year right in time for the holiday season. It’s rumored to be twice as powerful as the Xbox 360 which, whether that’s true or not, wouldn’t be too hard of a feat considering the 360 has 6 year old technology.

Via Yahoo! News:

“The Japanese video game machine maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises said Thursday it now expects to sell far fewer of its 3DS machines, which feature three-dimensional images. It is forecasting sales of 14 million machines for the fiscal year through March 2012, down from an earlier 16 million. That’s despite a price cut for the 3DS in August.”

“Nintendo, which also makes the Wii home console, posted a loss of 48.35 billion yen ($627.9 million) for the first nine months through December. That was a reversal from a 49.56 billion yen profit the same period in 2010. Nintendo did not break down quarterly numbers.”

They’re expecting to sell just 10 Million Wii consoles which is quite the dip from the original estimate of 13 Million. Nine month sales for the company dropped 31.2 percent when compared to the year previous. Stock didn’t take too much of a hit from the news after dropping 0.6 percent.

Are planning on buying the Nintendo Wii U when it comes out?