Andre Yoskowitz
17 Jan 2014 21:29
Nintendo has reversed its sales guidance expectations, with the gaming company now expecting an annual fiscal operating loss of 35 billion yen ($336 million) as compared to its previous forecast of a 100 billion yen profit.
The guidance is bad news for the company which will now have its third straight year of operating losses following half a decade of record sales.
"We failed to reach our target for hardware sales during the year-end, when revenues are the highest," says the company. "As a result, the sale of high-margin software fell far short of our projections."
The Wii U was once again the biggest culprit, as the company has reduced projections every months since the console's release in 2012. The company slashed its fiscal year Wii U sales forecast to 2.8 million from 9 million, a devastatingly low estimate. 3DS sales were guided down to 13.5 million units from 18 million units.
Revenues were even more disappointing than the profit, with the expectation down 36 percent from their previous forecast of 850 billion yen. Additionally, the company slashed its dividend. Nintendo's stock fell 17 percent today.